Careers Adviser
What the work is
Assists individuals and groups in managing their careers, making occupational and educational decisions, and skill development.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Advises individuals with educational, occupational, employment and career options
- Assists individuals in developing job-seeking strategies, resumes, applications, interviewing skills and career portfolios
- Utilises career assessment instruments where appropriate to assist individuals in identifying their interests, skills, values, aptitudes and abilities
- Advises students with career planning and assists them to make informed decisions for pathways following school completion
- Facilitates and delivers workshops and programs to a diverse range of individuals and groups
- Develops and facilitates programs for career education and occupational training
- Consults with educators, training providers, community organisations, government agencies, businesses and employers
- Assists individuals in navigating career transitions and locating industry immersion placements
- Liaises with employers to identify job opportunities and help jobseekers to connect with potential employers
- Prepares reports and maintains client records
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a careers office at a fictional senior secondary school. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A student who was sure they had no options leaves with three ideas they like
- A past student pops in to say the path you helped plan worked out
- A parent and teenager leave a meeting agreeing, which they did not at the start
Hard days
- A rush of subject choices that all have to be signed by the same Friday
- A student who wants a job you know is very hard to get into
- Being asked for certainty about the future when nobody has it
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 259932, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.