An employment counsellor advises, coaches, provides information to, and supports people who are planning, seeking and managing their career and life/work direction. Traditionally, employment counselors help their clients deal with vocational decisions concerning choice, changes in, or adjustment to work.
Terminology
Employment counsellor may also be spelled "employment counselor". The job is also known as a career development professional.
Duties
development professionals help clients of many age categories to:
Find employment or self-employment opportunities, write résumés, develop portfolios and prepare for interviews.
Working with clients individually or in groups, career development professionals may:
Help people develop a better appreciation of their unique characteristics and how those characteristics relate to career choices
Use various assessment tools to help clients identify their interests, values, beliefs, lifestyle preferences, aptitudes and abilities, and relate them to the world of work
Help clients identify educational requirements and develop training plans
Help clients deal with barriers to achieving their career plans
Help employed clients plan career laddering within organizations, cope successfully with job dissatisfaction, or make occupational or job changes
Provide current labor market information to help clients make realistic occupational or employment decisions
Market clients to potential employers and help clients find job or work experience placements
Assist clients with implementing effective employment search strategies, writing résumés, and developing career portfolios and interview skills
Plan and implement career and employment-related programs
Refer clients to appropriate services to address their particular needs
Work co-operatively with community groups and agencies, businesses and other organizations involved in providing career planning resources
Use computers to write reports and proposals, and research information on the Internet
Perform related administrative tasks such as keeping records.
Working conditions
Career development professionals may work in a variety of settings but usually work in offices where they can conduct private interviews with clients and in classrooms or boardrooms where they conduct group sessions. Depending on the organization, their hours of work may include some evening and weekend work.
Personal characteristics
Career development professionals need the following characteristics:
a genuine interest in and respect for people from all walks of life
patience, understanding and the ability to listen non-judgementally
