Career Counselor Career Description

Career Counselor Career Description

Career counselors have an indispensable presence in schools and colleges. Armed with information about academic and extracurricular strengths and weakness, a career counselor coaches and guides students to launch the right rewarding careers.  For instance, students with excellent mathematical or computational abilities are counseled to go into engineering, accounting and other fields where their talents can be highlighted and where they can excel.

• He designs and administers career tests or aptitude tests to objectively assess where a career lies and these are often administered in the senior high.
• College students can benefit from learning early if they are indeed suited for the course they are taking, especially if they are having problems passing it.  A career counselor can open up other courses that the student may not be aware of.
• Career counselors working in companies use performance metrics and feedback from immediate superiors to point out to employees their key strengths they can exploit for better use in their current jobs or be trained for new careers.  Their weaknesses are also identified for prompt correction or employment in other positions.

Education and Licensing

Depending on the state, the educational background may require a master’s degree to get a license or be a certified career counselor especially if working in a private company.  But generally, a career counselor in a college career center need not get a license.

A career in career counseling is all about helping young adults get on the right career paths for them.  It requires a high level of authoritative competence to inspire trust and confidence and should therefore have a high level of morality and ethical behaviour.

Employment Opportunities

Apart from schools and universities, career counselors are also found in HR departments of many companies.  They are often involved in training and career path development for employees.  Those working in colleges and schools enjoy a median salary of about $51,000 annually as of 2008 with the lowest 10% earning $29,400.