Guidance.help

Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors

Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors is the O*NET name for people who advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services. The skills rated most useful are active listening, speaking, and social perceptiveness. The job can ask you to maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations. Interest ratings put Social on top at 7.0 out of 7 and Conventional second, so the code is SCE and the day leans toward helping, teaching or caring for people. Getting in usually takes graduate school and often five years or more of related experience, a level O*NET calls extensive preparation. People who want helping, teaching or caring for people usually fit better here than those who need hands-on work with tools, machines or the physical world.

What they do

Advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services.

Main tasks

  • Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
  • Counsel students regarding educational issues, such as course and program selection, class scheduling and registration, school adjustment, truancy, study habits, and career planning.
  • Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at schools.
  • Counsel individuals or groups to help them understand and overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational or vocational situations.
  • Review transcripts to ensure that students meet graduation or college entrance requirements, and write letters of recommendation.
  • Prepare students for later educational experiences by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.

Skills

  • Active Listening
  • Speaking
  • Social Perceptiveness
  • Service Orientation
  • Writing
  • Reading Comprehension

Who this career fits

May suit you if

  • You get energy from helping other people move forward.
  • You like clear rules and getting the details right.
  • You are prepared for graduate-level study and a long training path.
  • You are comfortable relying on active listening and speaking.

May not suit you if

  • You find a full day of dealing with people draining.
  • You want to work with your hands for most of the day. Realistic rates 1.0 out of 7 here.
  • You want to be working in the field within the next few years.

Interest profile

O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code SCE takes the three highest, and Social comes first here.

Preparation

Extensive preparation. Many jobs here need graduate study, and people often spend five years or more building specialist experience.

Most-reported requirement in the O*NET survey: Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree. This reflects what workers reported most often and is not a legal minimum. Licensing rules can differ by state or industry, so confirm what applies where you plan to work.

Also called

  • Academic Advisor
  • Academic Counselor
  • Admissions Counselor
  • Career Counselor
  • College Counselor

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.