Career Counselor Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a career counselor. Feel free to use our career counselor job description template to produce your own. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a career counselor.
Who is a Career Counselor?
Choosing a career path is an important stage in an individual’s life; career counseling plays a crucial role in such decisions. Depending on professional goals, vision, passion, and targets, an individual seeks the services of professionals to make the right choice with regard to starting a career. Ideally, career counseling should begin from junior high school; worst, a student or individual should know where his or her preferred career path lies at the completion of senior high school. Thankfully, some professionals have dedicated their lives to helping people make wise career choices; they are called career counselors.
A career counselor advises individuals and the populace to make good career choices, grow in their careers, and resolve and manage their careers accordingly. Career counseling is a form of group or one-on-one intervention aimed at lifelong career progression and development. Sometimes, individuals find it difficult to set career goals; interacting with a career counselor can help assuage the problem. He or she will work through the goals with the client based on passion, interest, and enthusiasm. They provide advice on interviewing and how to draft excellent resumes and cover letters. When individuals want to switch careers or jobs or plan for retirement, career counselors provide life-changing guidance and support and enlighten the client on the appropriate strategy to adopt.
In addition, these professionals help individuals or clients to shape or create a lasting professional path. They introduce clients to networking and recommend mentors that can help them develop and advance. Whether they are job hunting, looking for career progression, or trying to change careers, individuals employ the services of a career counselor to see them through the process. Career counselors explain the available options to clients and highlight the pros and cons of the proposed decision on their career to enable them to make tough choices. These professionals recommend techniques, administer mock tests, and provide resources to clients to help their growth and preparedness.
Relatively, a career counselor uses theories for growth and development, formal test, and informal assessment to identify the strengths, fortes, and abilities of clients. This is essential for goal setting and career growth. Significantly, these experts emphasize a positive work-life balance; they educate and inform clients on the need to have a healthy balance between personal and professional life.
Career Counselor Job Description
The responsibilities of a career counselor revolve around providing guidance and direction on career choices to individuals. Historically, the role of a career counselor became prominent in the nineteenth century when Frank Parson published a book in 1909. Afterward, the field expanded and became a major force in psychology and counseling. If you plan to return to work after taking a break and are unsure what to do, then you need a career counselor. If you are thinking of switching careers, you can also contact a career counselor for direction. Hence, a career counselor is responsible for the following duties;
- Offer career advice and guidance: A career counselor will be responsible for providing advice and direction to either fresh graduates looking to start new jobs and careers or employees planning to switch careers. They interact with the clients, help them identify their goals and interests, and help them make great career decisions.
- Prepare the client for interviews: Most organizations perform interviews to determine the best candidate from a pool of applicants. The career counselor will provide tips on how to prepare for and attempt simple, difficult, behavioral, and technical interview questions.
- Provide or assist the client in writing curriculum vitae and resume: A resume is an essential tool for a job application. An attractive curriculum vitae or resume can hasten an individual’s chances of getting a job. Therefore, the career counselor will provide tips and guidance on how to draft an outstanding resume. Guidance should encompass formatting, sectionalizing, and organization.
- Give advice on career switch or job change: Sometimes, an individual might feel like changing careers. For example, an engineer might choose to switch or change careers to lecturing after years of working in the field. A career professional must be able to guide them through the process, help them reset their goals, and make them see the available options in the new career or job.
- Provide tips on how to approach salary negotiation: Regardless of an individual’s passion for the job, salary is an integral aspect of every career. There are several ways to negotiate and renegotiate payments and salaries as you work in an organization. However, every salary negotiation process must be done professionally and with decorum. Thus, a career counselor will provide tips on how to best approach salary negotiations. They will guide the client on how to request additional perks and compensation confidently.
Additional duties of a career counselor are;
- Provide guidance and counseling and assist clients in adequately recognizing the elements that affect career growth.
- Assist and recommend tools and strategies for career development.
- Enlighten clients on how to search for jobs including having a professional network.
- Help clients to discover the impediments to their career plans and train them on how to overcome them.
- Refer clients to psychologists if necessary.
Qualifications
Normally, an aspiring career counselor will undergo an education in counseling, pass through rigorous training, gain experience in the field, and present certifications and a license to practice in the industry. Career counseling is an integral aspect of the counseling sector; thus, a prospective career counselor needs proficiency with counseling techniques and tools. He or she should be able to use exercises to assess the capabilities of a client, perform personality tests, develop and record interest inventory, and interview individuals to determine their areas of interest and talent. Since they help people to make career choices and build careers, career counselors must be good at what they do. Thus, employers and hiring managers prefer candidates that possess the following industry-specific qualifications;
- Training in career coaching or counseling: An individual must undergo industry-based training to qualify for a position in career counseling. Training should encompass career choices, interest stimulation, child therapy, young people or adult career therapy, and career growth and development. Several organizations provide training for aspiring career counselors. Also, there are resources on most career websites for coaching and training.
- A license to practice and related certifications: Simply, an individual must have a license to practice in counseling. Whether it’s rehabilitation, addiction or career counseling, you must possess a license to be employed or to go into private practice. The international career development association offers certification courses for aspiring career counselors. Depending on your location, you will have to register for and pass a licensing examination. An advantage of licensing and certification is that you will learn advanced skills needed for growth in the field. You will learn how to coach clients to search for jobs, how to facilitate workshops and seminars on career choices, and how to evaluate and assess career progression.
- Education: After the compulsory high school education, a prospective career counselor must pursue a bachelor’s degree in counseling with a focus on career coaching or counseling. Degrees in guidance and counseling and educational psychology can suffice. However, a minimum of a master’s degree is required in most settings; the ideal candidate must provide proof of a master’s in psychology, counseling, or sociology.
- Work experience: You must be an experienced professional to be hired as a career counselor. There are numerous ways of accumulating years of work experience. Most recruitment managers favor experienced career counselors. To build experience in career counseling, undertake an internship with an experienced counselor or firm. Also, an apprenticeship or assistant career counselor position can help you build years of experience in the field.
Skills
Apart from the basic human and soft skills, an individual needs career counseling-related skills to thrive in the field. When combined appropriately, these skills enable the career counselor to mould and shape the next generation of leaders, doctors, actors, engineers, and other professionals. Enumerated below is a set of the core skills an individual needs to succeed in career counseling.
- Confidentiality; This is an important skill for career counselors. Since most counseling activities or sessions are one-on-one, a career counselor must be professional and maintain confidentiality at all times. They must not disclose sensitive and personal information to other clients. A professional boundary is compulsory in career counseling. It builds trust, confidence, and order.
- Active listening: Most career counseling sessions involve the exchange of information in-person, online, or via texts or phone calls. Therefore, a career counselor must be an active listener. Such skill is essential when interviewing clients to decipher their dreams and career goals. Active listening is also pivotal for extracting information as well.
- Analytical skills: A career counselor must possess outstanding analytical skills to succeed in the role. Sometimes, these experts need to make connections and disparities between individuals and their career options. Analytical skills can help the career counselor to determine the appropriate path for a client based on identified abilities, values, and interests.
- Research skills: Incessant research is part of the responsibilities of a career counselor. They need to retrieve and source information on emerging career trends, paths for growth, and career options in a particular sector. This requires excellent research skills.
- Communication skills: He or she should be able to relay information clearly to the client verbally or in written form. Proficiency in communication enables the career counselor to update clients on how to strategically search for jobs, how to prepare for interviews, and how to write catchy cover letters and resumes.
- Lastly, a career counselor must be patient, resilient, and humble always. They should be genuinely interested in a client or cause and approach issues raised non-judgmentally.
How to Become a Career Counselor
The role of a career counselor is interesting, fulfilling, and stimulating. Career counselors help individuals to achieve their career plans both short-term and long-term. They focus on progression, growth, advancement, and development. He or she is a counseling professional with expertise in making people choose the right career path and option. Therefore, the tips below can help an individual start a career as a career counselor;
- Complete a career counselor education: Pursue an education in counseling or related fields after high school to begin your journey as a career counselor. Important courses you can study in the university include sociology, psychology, and behavioral or social science. These courses will provide the necessary information, skills, and know-how needed for career counseling.
- Pursue a master’s degree: Advanced and sensitive careers require advanced education. To be employable as a career counselor, pursue an additional master’s degree in counseling. A master’s degree provides advanced knowledge on theories, best practices, principles, standards, procedures, and skills in career counseling. A master’s degree is also necessary for industry-specific certifications and licensing.
- Gain relevant work experience: Real work experience is mandatory for career counselors. Therefore, apply for entry-level positions in the field to build work experience. You can work as a counseling assistant or junior counselor to gain years of relevant experience. An internship or apprenticeship is another way of obtaining work experience in career counseling.
- Be certified and obtain a license to practice. Certification and a license to practice are essential for a career counselor. Hence, present your master’s education in counseling, register for certification and licensing exams, and gain the necessary licensing credential. To go into private practice, you will be asked to present evidence of professional certification and a license. Your employability in companies and institutions also depends on the aforementioned.
- After completing your education, getting certified, and obtaining a license, apply for career counselor positions.
Where to Work as a Career Counselor
Private practice is the norm in career counseling; most career counselors tend to work independently. However, some career counselors are employed by educational institutions such as primary schools, secondary schools, colleges, and universities. Others can find work in vocational and technical citadels of learning as well. Relatively, a career counselor can be employed by a healthcare facility, community clinic, primary health care, hospital, or surgery. In addition, a career counselor can be employed by a non-governmental, community-based, and non-profit organization.
Career Counselor Salary Scale
It has been estimated that the career counseling sub-sector will experience a growth of about 8% in the next few years. This is a result of the emerging techniques and the need for career guidance globally. Salary-wise, these professionals make an approximated $42,974 yearly. Similarly, commissions, bonuses, profit-sharing, tips, and other benefits amount to $16,155 per annum. A senior career counselor earns an average yearly salary of $60,650. However, differences exist in the pay structure due to location, employer, and years of experience.