Diverse Careers Options: Careers Consultant

At our December 3rd Academic Adjacent Careers Online Panel Session, we met Dr Ben Carter from the University of Manchester careers service.  Ben started his career as a researcher in chemistry, but an accumulation of public engagement, student support, employability activities and others encouraged him into an academic adjacent careers as a Careers Consultant.  Ben joined the St Andrews Careers Service for his first role, supporting the careers of research staff and students, as well as undertaking a professional guidance qualification.  Below is just a brief peek into the rich and varied work of a careers consultant.

What do Careers Consultants do?

Careers Consultants support clients to reflect on their values, interests, skills, motivations, and aspirations.  The work of a careers consultant helps clients to make more informed decisions, develop career management strategies, and plan for their futures.  On the more practical side, they guide and coach clients through recruitment and selection processes through eg., feedback on CVs or mock interviews.

Careers consultants run workshops and events on a wide range of topics, from career management skills, CVs, information sessions about particular career areas, ‘meet the professionals’ types of event and more.  Many collaborate with colleagues across the sector through professional bodies to deliver training to colleagues about careers specific sectors; equality, diversity, and inclusion topics; CPD, and more.  An important part of the role is liaising with employers to get up to date labour market information, as well as co-create events for the benefit of clients.  Careers consultants might also have specialisations such as working with, e.g., International Students, Graduates, Care Leavers, or Researchers.

This is just the tip of the iceberg – you can find out more on the Prospects website about day to day work of a Higher Education Careers Consultant – you may be surprised at just how diverse the role is, and find a surprising number of activities that could appeal to you.

Why might someone want to become an (HE) Careers Consultant?

Careers consultants fall under the general category of the ‘helping professions’ – careers that generally involve working directly with people to help them improve their lives.  Training for becoming a careers consultant involves learning, e.g., career development theories, and practical training in, e.g., guidance interviewing skills. This is to ensure Careers Consultants can provide the highest standard of person-centred impartial information, advice, and guidance to clients.

The work of an HE Careers Consultant is varied and challenging – including 1:1 work, group work, research, sometimes teaching on courses, membership of institutional committees, collaborating with academic or other colleagues to deliver services, the potential for active involvement in professional bodies, event planning and delivery, employer liaison, to name just a few activities that might occur in a week.

In addition to Higher Education, careers consultants (or careers advisers, or employability advisers, or other job titles) work in colleges, schools, local authorities, along with private sector employers.

There are a range of other roles across HE under the category of “student services” – if not careers consulting: you might be interested in finding out more about the experience, qualifications, and training needed to become a disability advisor, autism mentor, international students support officer, student engagement coach – and others. Check out the Students Services category on jobs.ac.uk.

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