What does an academic guidance specialist do?
An academic guidance specialist conducts individual planning, interviews, and aptitude assessments to evaluate learners' interests and abilities. They identify issues affecting the student's performance, like not attending all classes. Besides working with parents, administrators, and teachers to help learners succeed, academic guidance specialists also help learners create a program to attain career goals and academic objectives. They help learners develop skills like effective learning habits, time management abilities, and organizational abilities. Moreover, these professionals maintain records as needed.
Academic guidance specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real academic guidance specialist resumes:
- Utilize Salesforce to manage advertising programs for business owners.
- Demonstrate ability to plan a program of study that meets the individual student's need, interest, and ability.
- Provide learning enhancement in reading and mathematics to children.
- Develop statistical methodologies for study design and data analysis.
- Monitor and report academic progress and continuing eligibility of student-athletes in accordance with NCAA and university policy.
- Evaluate transferable credits on incoming students.
Academic guidance specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Academic Guidance Specialists are proficient in Professional Development, Social Work, and Student Retention. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Listening skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Academic Guidance Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Professional Development, 13%
Provided professional development on comprehensive mathematics programs that helped to close the achievement gap.
- Social Work, 10%
Supervised graduate and undergraduate social work interns.
- Student Retention, 7%
Executed strategies for lead-generated list of prospective students, promoted student retention to drive the percentage of graduating students.
- Academic Support, 7%
Provided academic support, enrichment service, and instruction to elementary students.
- Mathematics, 6%
Developed and implemented an instructional program for high school students that emphasized problem solving skills in mathematics and stressed critical thinking.
- Curriculum Development, 5%
Develop a scope and sequence for curriculum development.
"professional development," "social work," and "student retention" are among the most common skills that academic guidance specialists use at work. You can find even more academic guidance specialist responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for an academic guidance specialist to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "school and career counselors and advisors interpret student records, schoolwide data, and assessments to match interests and abilities with potential careers. ." Additionally, an academic guidance specialist resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "provide instructional support to students that are identified as eligible for intervention services through the use of triangular data. "
Listening skills. Many academic guidance specialist duties rely on listening skills. "school and career counselors and advisors need to give full attention to students and clients in order to understand their problems.," so an academic guidance specialist will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways academic guidance specialist responsibilities rely on listening skills: "communicated and enforced expectations and standards for behavior and academic performance aligned with the school district's guidelines. "
Speaking skills. academic guidance specialists are also known for speaking skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to academic guidance specialist responsibilities, because "school and career counselors and advisors must communicate effectively with clients and students." An academic guidance specialist resume example shows how speaking skills is used in the workplace: "conceptualized, completed, and presented course syllabus, course lectures, and examinations. "
Interpersonal skills. academic guidance specialist responsibilities often require "interpersonal skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "school and career counselors and advisors must be able to work with people of all backgrounds and personalities." This resume example shows what academic guidance specialists do with interpersonal skills on a typical day: "assist students in developing self-understanding, self-acceptance, effective interpersonal skills, career exploration, and educational planning. "
The three companies that hire the most academic guidance specialists are:
- Distinctive Schools6 academic guidance specialists jobs
- The Medicus Firm
6 academic guidance specialists jobs
- Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi3 academic guidance specialists jobs
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Academic guidance specialist vs. Job coach
A job coach is responsible for evaluating people's skills and qualifications, advising them with career paths, helping with their aspirations, and promote employment opportunities. Job coaches help the clients build self-confidence and explore their maximum potentials to develop their professional growth. They provide counseling, understanding the clients' strengths and weaknesses, analyzing clients' personal goals, and guiding clients through job interviews and assessments. A job coach must have excellent communication, listening, and analytical skills to handle their clients' challenges and match their interests for the best career suited for them.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between academic guidance specialists and job coach. For instance, academic guidance specialist responsibilities require skills such as "professional development," "social work," "student retention," and "academic support." Whereas a job coach is skilled in "developmental disabilities," "cpr," "rehabilitation," and "customer service." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Job coaches tend to make the most money working in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $38,362. In contrast, academic guidance specialists make the biggest average salary, $50,998, in the education industry.On average, job coaches reach lower levels of education than academic guidance specialists. Job coaches are 14.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Academic guidance specialist vs. School counselor
A school counselor is responsible for monitoring the students' social and personal development, advising them of their career aspirations, and assisting them with their academic achievements and goals. School counselors also ensure that the students receive the highest learning standards to pave their way towards society's advancement and global competitiveness. They evaluate students' behavior through personal counseling, understanding their challenges, and develop strategies to overcome their needs. A school counselor must have excellent communication and decision-making skills, supporting students with their goals, and honing their skills efficiently.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that academic guidance specialist responsibilities requires skills like "student retention," "mathematics," "curriculum development," and "student performance." But a school counselor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "crisis intervention," "behavioral issues," "cpr," and "child abuse."
On average, school counselors earn a lower salary than academic guidance specialists. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, school counselors earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $52,385. Whereas academic guidance specialists have higher pay in the education industry, with an average salary of $50,998.In general, school counselors achieve higher levels of education than academic guidance specialists. They're 11.8% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Academic guidance specialist vs. College program internship
A college program intern is responsible for performing actual duties and observations within the industry of choice. Typically, a college program intern works under the supervision of tenured staff, shadowing on the workflow processes, gaining feedback to refine skills, developing work ethics, and building self-confidence. College program interns may also assist in innovating strategic procedures to maximize productivity and improve processes. In some cases, organizations absorb an intern with the highest potential to deliver the best results towards the company's long-term goals and objectives.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, an academic guidance specialist is likely to be skilled in "social work," "student retention," "academic support," and "mathematics," while a typical college program internship is skilled in "math," "twitter," "customer service," and "hr."
College program interns earn the best pay in the media industry, where they command an average salary of $35,108. Academic guidance specialists earn the highest pay from the education industry, with an average salary of $50,998.When it comes to education, college program interns tend to earn lower degree levels compared to academic guidance specialists. In fact, they're 18.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 1.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Academic guidance specialist vs. Student representative
A student representative takes the role of listening, collating, and communicating student's views. Student representatives attend meetings and escalate matters which affect the students. They demonstrate honesty and integrity in academics. They take part in labs, seminars, and classes as well as assign work on time. These students need to develop responsible behaviors, including honesty, respect, compassion, courage, accountability, and fairness. Also, they should have the ability to lead and manage a group of students.
Types of academic guidance specialist
Updated January 8, 2025











