Post job

What is a career advisor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Shelley Sadin,
William Hill

As a Career Advisor, you will give advice and guidance services to those who need help making choices about their working lives. Clients include young people, adults, unemployed, career changers, and students in colleges. You need to help clients explore career options and teach them how to search for a job, write a resume, and administer career assessments. As a Career Advisor, you will give advice and guidance services to those who need help making choices about their working lives.

Clients include young people, adults, unemployed, career changers, and students in colleges. You need to help clients explore career options and teach them how to search for a job, write a resume, and administer career assessments. You will also need to conduct career advisement sessions for students and respond to student questions about career development, exploration, and placement. You will help students with job searches and show them how to research industry trends. You will also assist in organizing advisory board activities, orientations, and graduation functions. The median salary you can expect as a Career Advisor is $44,000. It is a rewarding and highly needed career.

What general advice would you give to a career advisor?

Shelley SadinShelley Sadin LinkedIn profile

Associate Dean of Professional and Career Development, Quinnipiac University

Communicating clearly, both orally and in writing.
It is identifying and analyzing legal and factual issues with an open, thoughtful, and creative mind.
Working collaboratively with clients, colleagues, opponents, and others involved in a case to solve problems.
Being meticulously ethical and professional in all interactions. This includes treating everyone involved in a matter with respect, recognizing, and honoring their different backgrounds and perspectives.
Being self-disciplined, motivated, resilient, courageous, kind, and flexible.
ScoreCareer AdvisorUS Average
Salary
3.1

Avg. Salary $40,067

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
9.0

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
6.0
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.62%

Asian 3.74%

Black or African American 10.64%

Hispanic or Latino 14.20%

Unknown 3.76%

White 67.03%

Gender

female 65.90%

male 34.10%

Age - 41
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41
Stress level
9.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level
9.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
5.7

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Career advisor career paths

Key steps to become a career advisor

  1. Explore career advisor education requirements

    Most common career advisor degrees

    Bachelor's

    61.9 %

    Master's

    16.5 %

    Associate

    11.5 %
  2. Start to develop specific career advisor skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Customer Service12.19%
    Career Development9.48%
    Professional Development6.71%
    Social Work5.57%
    Career Services5.52%
  3. Complete relevant career advisor training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New career advisors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a career advisor based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real career advisor resumes.
  4. Research career advisor duties and responsibilities

    • Develop and facilitate outplacement programs across healthcare, scientific research and higher education sectors.
    • Contract to provide MBTI workshops for corporations.
    • Identify personal abilities, individual strengths and transferable skills for government, private and non-profit sectors.
    • Perform system conversion from Quickbooks to Yardi accounting and property management software.
  5. Prepare your career advisor resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your career advisor resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a career advisor resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable career advisor resume templates

    Build a professional career advisor resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your career advisor resume.
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
    Career Advisor Resume
  6. Apply for career advisor jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a career advisor job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first career advisor job

Zippi

Are you a career advisor?

Share your story for a free salary report.

Average career advisor salary

The average career advisor salary in the United States is $40,067 per year or $19 per hour. Career advisor salaries range between $30,000 and $52,000 per year.

Average career advisor salary
$40,067 Yearly
$19.26 hourly

What am I worth?

salary-calculator

How do career advisors rate their job?

3/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Career advisor reviews

profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Dec 2019
Cons

Want to be able to do more


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019
Cons

nothing this job is great


profile
A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019
Pros

Helping people find their own paths, incorporating values and interests. I love it when people identify what they really want and get excited about working towards it.

Cons

I'm in private practice so there's always some task that needs doing: bookkeeping, marketing, etc. It's a lot but it's not unbearable.


Working as a career advisor? Share your experience anonymously.
Overall rating*
Career growth
Work/Life balance
Pay/Salary

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse community and social services jobs