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Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor resume example

A resume for a Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor needs to show the work itself: advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services. Day to day that means work like this: 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. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • Academic Advisor
  • Career Counselor
  • Guidance Counselor
  • School Counselor
  • Academic Counselor
  • Admissions Counselor
  • College Counselor
  • Elementary School Counselor
  • Student Services Coordinator
  • Vocational Counselor
  • OES
  • OWDS
  • Vocational Rehab Counselor
  • Adult School Counselor
  • Advisor
  • Articulation Officer
  • Assessment Specialist
  • Career Advisor

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • 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.
  • Refer students to outside counseling services.
  • Refer students to degree programs based on interests, aptitudes, or educational assessments.
  • Evaluate students' or individuals' abilities, interests, and personality characteristics, using tests, records, interviews, or professional sources.
  • Provide students with information on topics such as college degree programs and admission requirements, financial aid opportunities, trade and technical schools, and apprenticeship programs.
  • Conduct follow-up interviews with counselees to determine if their needs have been met.
  • Instruct individuals in career development techniques, such as job search and application strategies, resume writing, and interview skills.

35 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Counsel students regarding educational issues, such as course and program selection, class scheduling and registration, school adjustment, truancy, study habits, and career planning, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at schools, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Counsel individuals or groups to help them understand and overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational or vocational situations, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • ACT Discover
  • ACT WorkKeys
  • Adobe ActionScript
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Athena Software Penelope Case Management
  • Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
  • Blackboard software
  • Blackboard Wimba
  • Bloomz
  • Career Cruising
  • Career decision-making programs
  • Career Dimensions Focus 2
  • Career management systems CMS
  • Career Zone

78 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Audio recorders
  • Desktop computers
  • Digital video disk DVD players
  • Laptop computers
  • Liquid crystal display LCD projectors
  • Overhead display projectors
  • Personal computers
  • Personal digital assistants PDA
  • Photocopying equipment
  • Projection equipment
  • Video cassette recorders VCR
  • Video recorders

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

  • Student information systems SIS

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Active Listening
  2. 02Social Perceptiveness
  3. 03Speaking
  4. 04Service Orientation
  5. 05Critical Thinking
  6. 06Reading Comprehension
  7. 07Writing
  8. 08Active Learning
  9. 09Complex Problem Solving
  10. 10Learning Strategies

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Customer and Personal Service
  • English Language
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • Education and Training
  • Psychology
  • Administrative

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 56%Bachelor's Degree
  • 41%Master's Degree
  • 3%Associate's Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Extensive Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

Common questions

What does a Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor do?
Advise and assist students and provide educational and vocational guidance services. Day to day that includes work like maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations and Counsel students regarding educational issues, such as course and program selection, class scheduling and registration, school adjustment, truancy, study habits, and career planning.
What skills should a Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor put on a resume?
O*NET rates Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Speaking, Service Orientation, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes ACT Discover, ACT WorkKeys, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe Photoshop, and Athena Software Penelope Case Management. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor work?
O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Academic Advisor, Career Counselor, Guidance Counselor, and School Counselor. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 56% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisor role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.