Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
Advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Therapy and Counseling
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
- Sociology and Anthropology
What the work involves
- Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at schools.
- Prepare students for later educational experiences by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- Provide students with information on topics such as college degree programs and admission requirements, financial aid opportunities, trade and technical schools, and apprenticeship programs.
- Teach classes and present self-help or information sessions on subjects related to education and career planning.
- Conduct follow-up interviews with counselees to determine if their needs have been met.
- Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration.
- Plan and conduct orientation programs and group conferences to promote the adjustment of individuals to new life experiences, such as starting college.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Conventional, Enterprising.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (56.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (38.4%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (40.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 90% of occupations compared | 87% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 76% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 95% of occupations compared | 86% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 62% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 58% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 97% of occupations compared | 48% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 89% of occupations compared | 35% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 50% of occupations compared | 26% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.33%
- Contact with others most of the time: 12.57%
- Constant contact with others: 87.1%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 1.4%
- Fairly important: 9.84%
- Important: 9.64%
- Very important: 36.27%
- Extremely important: 42.85%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 1.6%
- Very important: 12.24%
- Extremely important: 86.16%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 1.23%
- Limited freedom: 23.2%
- Some freedom: 49.37%
- A lot of freedom: 26.2%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 33.71%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 55.65%
- Every day: 10.31%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.33%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.37%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.92%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 22.83%
- Every day: 47.55%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 11.25%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 34.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 20.21%
- Every day: 33.59%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2024
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 17.27%
- Fairly serious: 25.97%
- Serious: 19.09%
- Very serious: 19%
- Extremely serious: 18.68%
n = 29, Incumbent 08/2024
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O*NET-SOC 21-1012.00 · SOC 21-1012 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8