Mediator Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a mediator. Feel free to use our mediator job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a mediator.
Who is a Mediator?
A mediator is a trained professional that acts as a neutral facilitator during mediation. Mediation occurs when parties talk about their disputes and the mediator (an impartial third party) helps them reach an agreement.
Mediation is a familiar term. It is a method of dispute resolution that employs the guidance of an impartial third party. This helps to bring the disputing sides to a negotiated solution. It is also used to refer to the term “conciliation”.
The mediator is a neutral third party who helps both parties settle. The mediator opens the meeting by initiating it. After that, the mediator discusses the problem and assists the parties in finding solutions. Mediators must remain neutral and impartial. The mediator is not able to offer any solution. Each party agrees to certain terms. A mediator helps parties to communicate their positions, listens to them, and seeks out solutions that meet all of their needs. The decision-makers are the parties.
The mediator’s main role is to facilitate communication between conflicting parties, to help them find a mutually acceptable solution. While the mediator oversees the meeting and takes charge of the proceedings, they should not force or impose any solutions. The parties should reach an agreement. They are responsible to resolve the dispute. Even if he/she is a lawyer, a mediator doesn’t have any right or duty to offer legal advice. Only the parties should seek advice from their legal counsel. The mediator can help parties explore their options and raise questions.
Mediator Job Description
Below are the mediator job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a mediator job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of a mediator include:
- Facilitating communication between disputing parties to help them reach a mutually agreeable solution
- Instructing disputing parties through introductory meetings about the arbitration process
- Interviewing witnesses, disputing party, or other parties.
- Examining documents as required to gain information about the dispute.
- Handling different ADR procedures, including witness and time requirements
- Determining which context features are responsible for the present conflict.
- Establishing ground rules with clients and defining your role in the mediation process.
- Giving the aggrieved parties time to explain their understanding of the disagreement.
- Assisting clients with their thinking on the matter at hand. This includes other perspectives and the implications.
- Facilitating open and honest dialogues that aim to find judicious, sustainable answers.
- Assisting clients in their conversations to find a clear way forward.
- Organizing an initial meeting with everyone involved to discuss the situation and to conduct background research.
- Letting everyone know about the mediation process and allowing them to have equal access to it.
- Getting written consent from everyone involved in the sessions that you are responsible for to confirm their willingness to engage.
- Facilitating mediation by organizing sessions, communicating directly with each client, and maintaining the confidentiality
- Concentrating on what everyone says and what each person wants out of mediation
- Making accurate and objective notes after each session. These notes will reflect any issues that remain, as well the outcomes, which you can then give to your clients for them to review.
- Decide when and how to evaluate whether mediation is effective.
- Let any final agreement be written and ensure that everyone is clear about its meaning.
- Spending time in building relationships across sectors and organizations
- Maintaining your website or professional profile online
- Conversing with potential clients and replying to their emails, giving them additional information before they decide to use you.
- Building your reputation and increasing your availability
- Managing your finances: Invoices, fees, expenses, salary, tax, and taxes.
Qualifications
- High school diploma.
- Successful completion of an accredited training program in mediation.
- Remarkable track record in facilitating amicable conflicts resolutions.
- Perceptive of unsaid feelings.
- Ability to correct distortions in emotion or cognition
- Strong communication skills and containment skills.
- A decisive, impartial, and flexible disposition
- Capacity not to make unneeded interjections.
Essential Skills
- Establishing Transparency
It is crucial that mediators guide parties through mediation. They should explain what they can expect, what behavior will not be tolerated, and how the outcome will look. They must also be patient and clear in explaining the rules and setting expectations from the beginning.
This allows you to assert your credibility and authority as a mediator while keeping the process transparent for all participants.
Transparency is the first step towards making everyone feel more comfortable and open to collaboration.
- Maintaining Neutrality
If you allow your neutrality to wane as a mediator, you won’t be seen as credible or professional. This is not an easy task, as all people are susceptible to emotions and opinions. No one can be objective about everything!
Your goal is to control your impulses and hide your thoughts during meditation. No matter how you feel, you must always appear neutral.
- How to manage your emotions
Management of emotion is closely tied to maintaining neutrality. The mediator who lacks self-control may show his true feelings about a participant or issue, which could undermine his credibility as a facilitator.
Emotional displays can even include subtle body language. Mediators must have exceptional self-awareness to not betray their thoughts and opinions.
- Building of Trust
It can be difficult to establish trust with participants while still maintaining a neutral appearance. Mediators need to be careful not to play favorites and give equal attention to all participants. Parties will pay close attention to your gestures and tone of voice.
- Facilitating Collaboration
To reach a mutually agreeable resolution, the participants must work together. A mediator is a facilitator and guide who helps parties communicate and negotiate towards a mutually acceptable solution.
This requires a range of tactics to diffuse hostility, encourage full disclosure, focus on positive outcomes, and remind parties that they have agreed to work together in the process.
A mediator can bring together opposing parties and facilitate collaboration.
- Steering Parties towards Shared Goals
Clients will be more open to sharing, collaborating, and negotiating if they are open to resolving conflicts.
The process is not always smooth. Talks can quickly turn sour and degenerate into arguments. The mediation slows down as the parties withdraw to their respective corners and walls rise.
The mediator must refocus the process on mutually beneficial outcomes and shared goals. They must coax participants to let go of their protective stances and embrace openness and collaboration.
- Deep Listening
Deep listening is a strategy that goes beneath the surface to reveal the true nature of every dispute. It is your job as a mediator to discover the true source of conflict. This is often not what the client tells.
Many times, the root cause of the dispute is a powerful and painful grievance. Good mediators are skilled detectives who can pick up subtle clues and identify markers that others might miss.
Without exceptional listening skills, this cannot happen. This will lead to effective questioning and other “approach” strategies.
- Take the pulse
Are you ready to shift your tactics? Are you close to a solution? Are you exhausted? Do both sides need a break? A skilled mediator can “take the pulse” and adapt to the mediation.
A mediator can anticipate and diffuse rising hostility before quitting.
- Organization & Time Management
Mediation is often a cheaper and faster option to litigation. However, this is only true if the mediator works well and efficiently.
This includes everything, from arriving on time and being prepared to help clients get settled.
A skilled mediator will know how to avoid time-wasting traps, and keep the process moving along.
How to Become a Mediator
- Select a professional specialty
Mediators can choose to specialize in conflict management, which allows them to provide expert advice and help parties reach a successful outcome. If you are considering a career with mediation, it is important to research all of the available specialties and choose one that best suits your career goals. You could focus on:
- Amateur or professional sports
- Environmental concerns
- Financial services
- Real estate
- Healthcare
- Intellectual property
- Media and communication
- Public policy
- Earn a relevant graduate degree
Most mediator positions require a bachelor’s degree. You should consider what area you want to specialize in when choosing the undergraduate degree. The following are the most commonly pursued bachelor’s degree options for mediators:
Business
This degree provides a solid foundation in business principles as well as the practical application of communication theories at work. These elements can help prepare you for both corporate mediation and general mediation roles.
Finance
This degree program provides a deeper understanding of financial principles, risk, and management, as well as potential conflicts around money. You can use this information for preparation for mediations in the financial industry or other professional areas.
Communications
This type of degree usually involves observation of communication with a focus on the diversity of people, settings, and topics. It may help you to build a foundation of communication theories and techniques that can be used to resolve conflicts in many fields.
- Gain relevant work experience
Most mediators have years of experience in many roles in their profession. Some can work for several decades and then rise to the top in their field. Then they use their industry knowledge for mediation. Mediation is your goal, but you also need to be an expert in your field before you focus on conflict resolution.
You can start your career as a mediator by selecting an entry-level job in your industry. Then, move on to more senior positions that give you more work experience and leadership responsibilities.
- Improve essential soft skills
Work experience will help you to develop soft skills mediators use often. Many of these skills can be improved at work.
Negotiation skills
Mediators are adept at communicating their arguments verbally. Practice building arguments by listening to the opposing viewpoint, presenting objective information, and then addressing your concerns with additional facts.
Written communication skills
A mediator must know how to communicate effectively in writing. You will be communicating with clients via email and will need to prepare written agreements. You can improve your communication skills by practicing writing, expressing your ideas and recommending things, and proofreading.
Active listening skills
Professional mediators must be good at listening, which is essential for the negotiation process. Practice active listening to increase your listening skills. Repeat the key points and wait until the other person finishes a thought before you interrupt or ask a follow-up question.
Critical thinking skills
You have to analyze both sides of the dispute. Ask clarifying questions. Guide both parties towards a solution. You can improve your critical thinking skills by empathizing with different perspectives and anticipating the outcome.
Decision-making skills
Mediators need to be able to make decisions and productively guide agreements. Practice researching the issues you are negotiating and drawing conclusions from cost/benefit analyses to improve your ability to make decisions.
- Complete mediation training
Once you have years of experience and the soft skills required to be a mediator, it is possible to start training with an expert. A mentor is someone who has been working in the field for at least a year. Then, they can help you find independent work. You can expect to learn about mediation, help with cases, and resolve disputes effectively during this period.
There may be many training options available depending on where you are located and what your expertise is. Private training programs can be accessed by joining associations such as the National Conflict Resolution Center, the Mediation Training Institute, and other relevant fees. You can also choose to work with an independent mediator or join a general program run by a community group.
- Be certified in mediation
A certification to practice mediation is required in addition to education, training, and experience. Each state has its standards. They can require you to have a bachelor’s degree or a specialized certificate.
Where to Work
A lot of mediators work for the state governments, universities and schools, legal service providers, insurance carriers, corporations, and other organizations. Mediators usually work in private offices or meeting rooms. Alternately mediators can travel to neutral locations for ADR negotiations.
Mediator Salary Scale
Many factors can affect the salary of mediators, such as where they live and how experienced they are, and whether they work for government agencies or private companies. The Mediator’s median annual salary in the United States is $60,670
