Guidance Counselor Job Description | Duties & Responsibilities

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If you want to know what duties and responsibilities to expect as a guidance counselor, you should read this job description carefully.

Guidance and counselor are responsible for counseling students, assessing their academic performance, and identifying behavioral problems.

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Performing these responsibilities requires possessing certain skills and attributes.

Successful candidates should have solid communication and interpersonal skill.

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They should also be tolerant, given details, and trustworthy.

The first step to becoming a guidance counselor is obtaining a bachelor’s degree.

In most countries, before you can become licensed, you will need to have a master’s degree as well.

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 According to all psychology schools, when deciding on the guidance and counseling school to attend, here are some things to put into consideration:

  • School’s reputation
  • Location
  • Programming

If you want to know more about guidance and counselors, what they do, and how much they make, keep reading this job description.

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What-is-the-job-description-duties-responsibilities-and-salary-of-a-guidance-and-counsellor

What do Guidance and Counsellors do?

Guidance and counselor are specialists who help students from elementary to tertiary institutions make both academic and personal decisions.

Before helping students, they assess their academic performance, behaviors, and potential.

Counselors usually have the paranormal ability to read another person’s emotions psychically.

As such, they can understand what their client is feeling and going through at every point.

They listen to their clients, and encourage and motivate them to live better lives.

Some of the problems clients face include the following:

  • Drug addiction
  • Disabilities
  • Alcoholism
  • Depression
  • Bulling
  • Anxiety
  • Fear
  • Trauma

Guidance and counselors also support clients diagnosed with terminal illnesses such as cancer.

It is important to note that a counselor does not advise his or her client.

Rather, they help them understand themselves and live better.

Whenever there is a need, a counselor may also refer clients to other healthcare professionals or act as a liaison with their clients and other agencies.

The process of guiding and counseling involves a periodic formal meeting at a particular place where both parties discuss the client’s problems.

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What are the Duties and Responsibilities of a Guidance and Counsellor?

Guidance and counselors are important to staff in every educational institution.

Both children and adults need to be counseled from time to time.

Some of the typical duties and responsibilities of guidance and counselor include:

1. Listening to Student’s

During counseling sessions, the counselor is not the only person whose duty is to talk.

A counselor also must listen to the issues sensitively and the needs of their clients.

This way, they can understand things from their point of view and figure out a good way to help them.

2. Assess Student’s Academic Performance

Most guidance and counselors work in schools.

In such settings, counseling involves assessing the academic performance of students.

As well as identifying areas that need improvement and encouraging the students to improve.

Also, they work with academic boards to develop a better learning plan that would promote students’ academic performance.

3. Counseling

As the title implies, one of the primary duties of guidance and counselors is counseling students or clients.

Proper counseling is done after listening to students and identifying their needs.

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4. Working with Families

Aside from working directly with students, counselors also work with their families and support groups.

They help their family members deal with the student’s behavior and educate them on supporting their wards.

5. Referral

Not every student may need to be referred to other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists.

So, a counselor refers students to healthcare providers who can help them whenever needed.

Other Duties and Responsibilities of Guidance and Counsellor usually Featured in their Job Description Includes:

  • Acting as mediators between students and their teachers in the case of a conflict.
  • Helping students understand their parents more and vice versa.
  • Organizing programs.
  • Maintaining updated records of their clients.
  • Helping students plan and implement goals.

A job description’s duties and responsibilities section is usually one of the most important.

This is because it contains what your employer expects of you.

Therefore, you will be doing well by familiarizing yourself with your duties.

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What Qualifications do I need to become a Guidance Counsellor?

The first step to becoming a guidance counselor is obtaining a bachelor’s degree in guidance and counseling or sociology.

A bachelor’s degree in any of the two courses takes at least four years.

Those with a bachelor’s degree but not in sociology or guidance and counseling are not completely off track.

But obtaining a bachelor’s degree in a related field is usually preferred.

Whether you have a bachelor’s degree in sociology or guidance and counseling, you must pursue a master’s degree in counseling.

Master’s degree training offers both classroom learning and practical experience.

Usually, a master’s degree takes about two to three years to complete.

In most countries and States, before becoming a licensed counselor, you must have a master’s degree and two years of experience.

Also, in some States and countries, school guidance and counselors must have a teaching certificate.

The requirements for becoming a licensed counselor vary from country to country and state.

Therefore, it is important that you know what is peculiar to your location and go for it.

After becoming a guidance counselor, you could pursue a doctorate in psychology and advance to becoming a school psychologist.

What skills should Guidance and counselor have?

Although the duties and responsibilities section is usually one of the most important sections in every job description.

You will have difficulty performing your daily duties without knowing and developing the essential skills a guidance counselor should have.

As such, this is another section of this job description you may want to have serious

Here are the essential skills a good guidance counselor should have:

1. Communication Skills

From the duties and responsibilities of guidance and counselor, you can obviously tell that communication skills will be relevant to them.

Good guidance and counselor should be able to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.

Good communication involves speaking and listening as well.

Therefore, a successful guidance counselor should possess good listening ability.

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2. Interpersonal Skills

Students can be challenging to work with, and the only way to make things easier for yourself is to develop good relationships with them.

Therefore ideal guidance and counselor should have solid interpersonal skills.

3. Trustworthy

It is expected that a student will be confined to their counselor.

They may even open up and tell them things they have never told anyone else.

Therefore, a good guidance counselor must be trustworthy.

He or she must keep students’ records confidential.

4. Empathy

Whether a student is wrong or not, a good counselor must be able to see things from his or her point of view.

When the student is wrong, the counselor helps him, or her see things better.

5. Attention to Detail

Counselors must be detail-oriented.

They should be able to see through actions and body language.

Also, they should be organized when carrying out their duties.

6. Tolerance

As I already said, students can be very difficult to work with.

As such, a good counselor needs to be capable of being patient with students, as well as enduring their bad behavior.

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7. Non-Judgemental Behavior

No matter what a student has done, a good counselor will never try to be judgemental.

A judgemental manner of approach can outrightly turn a student off.

Where do Guidance and Counsellors work?

Guidance and counselor may be self-employed, but this only works well if they have developed contact with potential clients.

Typically, guidance and counselors work in schools.

From elementary to tertiary institutions, guidance and counseling are required.

Vacancies are usually advertised in local and national newspaper publications.

Also, adverts for guidance and counselors may be placed online on social media platforms and the website of schools.

How much do Guidance and Counsellors make?

On average, guidance counselors who work in the United States make up to$49,103 per year, according to indeed.com.

This figure is likely to vary in your geographical location.

Some of the factors that influence the salary of guidance and counselor include;

  • Location
  • Employers
  • Experience
  • Qualification.

Conclusion: Guidance and Counsellor Job Description Guide

According to the U.S bureau of labor statistics, I expected job opportunities for guidance and counselors to increase.

This increase will be promoted by increasing the number of children enrolled in schools.

Therefore, there is no better time to enter this career path than now.

Feel free to use this job description to create your professional resume.

Also, employers can use this guide as a template for creating their own guidance and counselor job descriptions.

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