Financial Counsellor (Community)
What the work is
Assists individuals, families and groups by assessing financial situations, and supports them by creating plans with a focus on resolving financial difficulties and improving their skills to develop financial stability.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Supports individuals in the community to resolve or alleviate financial stress
- Creates assessments of financial situations and assists with resolutions if necessary
- Provides information and options to address financial problems, and advocates and negotiates with creditors where required
- Improves financial capabilities and resilience by fostering improved use and management of money, including pathways to safe and affordable credit
- Facilitates referrals to other useful services in the community and provides information about government assistance
- Relays relevant information about consumer credit and bankruptcy
- Provides community training sessions on financial literacy and wellbeing
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a community welfare centre with a drop-in counter and small interview rooms. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A person who arrived in tears leaves with a plan and a phone number to call
- A family you helped find a home sends a photo of their kids in their own bedrooms
- A stack of letters that overwhelmed someone becomes a list they can manage
Hard days
- Having nothing available to offer someone who clearly needs it today
- A day of back-to-back crises and no time to eat or think
- Hearing a client's story and still having to go to the next appointment
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 411633, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.