Employment counsellors help people to find work that is best suited to their needs, skills and interests. As a career counsellor, you might find yourself working in a Canada Employment Centre or government social agency. You might also work in a high school, college, university or for a large company experiencing lay-offs and reorganization. Employment counselling is a growing field with plenty of new opportunities.
Employment counsellors provide information on educational and other entry requirements to various jobs. They assist their clients with the job search process, the resumé writing, and job interviews. They also advise people on training programs. They use assessment tools such as interest inventories and general aptitude tests to find out about the abilities and interests of the people they help.
You can specialize and work with groups such as youth, the disabled, or residents of correctional institutes. You might even work for an insurance company encouraging injured workers to return to the workforce once their injuries have healed. Some employment counsellors have successfully opened their own consulting or guidance businesses.
Employment counsellors are normally paid a salary. Language requirements vary according to the people you serve.
You will thrive in this position if you enjoy working with and helping other people. You should be open and highly motivated. Since most of your time is spent working one-on-one with your clients, you must be comfortable dealing with all types of people.
This job requires exceptional communication skills, strong analytical and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to be persuasive. You work with your clients to help them to determine realistic goals, and then encourage them to plan how to achieve these goals. You also need to be creative in finding ways around barriers to employment. Employment counselling is challenging yet very rewarding.
You must be well organized to keep up with the vast amount of information on educational and training opportunities, financial assistance, as well as government and social programs. You also need to keep detailed records on each client. You may also need to keep detailed records on each client. You may be required to work closely with social or government agencies that refer people to you. Also, you may find yourself working with local businesses to set up job placements.
Most of those working in the field have a college diploma or bachelor's degree in the social sciences or social work.