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College adviser vs career advisor

The differences between college advisers and career advisors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a college adviser has an average salary of $46,038, which is higher than the $40,067 average annual salary of a career advisor.

The top three skills for a college adviser include financial aid applications, colleges and professional development. The most important skills for a career advisor are customer service, career development, and professional development.

College adviser vs career advisor overview

College AdviserCareer Advisor
Yearly salary$46,038$40,067
Hourly rate$22.13$19.26
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs16,94272,536
Job satisfaction-3
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age4242
Years of experience--

What does a college adviser do?

The main role of a college adviser is to assist students in evaluating and realizing their career and educational options. College advisers offer intensive advising support to their advisees on a regular basis. They help them find their academic interests, determine additional support and information resources, and establish study plans for educational goals. Part of their job is to approve the academic study program of the students. Also, they facilitate the relationships between students and other advisers to career development.

What does a career advisor do?

A career advisor inspects the clients' career uncertainties, concerns, and aspirations and guides them through the adjacent test completion, personality, and aptitude test completion. They review the clients' educational undertaking and personal undertakings and how their manifestation can affect their job choices. Besides proposing career options congruent with the clients' substantiated insights, career advisors also inform clients about their potential skill set shortcomings and devise strategies to correct these shortcomings. Moreover, career advisors advise clients on the right way to compile and present their resumes.

College adviser vs career advisor salary

College advisers and career advisors have different pay scales, as shown below.

College AdviserCareer Advisor
Average salary$46,038$40,067
Salary rangeBetween $33,000 And $63,000Between $30,000 And $52,000
Highest paying CityAmherst, MALos Angeles, CA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsCalifornia
Best paying companyNew York UniversityEmerson College
Best paying industry-Government

Differences between college adviser and career advisor education

There are a few differences between a college adviser and a career advisor in terms of educational background:

College AdviserCareer Advisor
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 69%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common majorPsychologyBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

College adviser vs career advisor demographics

Here are the differences between college advisers' and career advisors' demographics:

College AdviserCareer Advisor
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 39.2% Female, 60.8%Male, 34.1% Female, 65.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 3.7% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 14.2% Asian, 3.7% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between college adviser and career advisor duties and responsibilities

College adviser example responsibilities.

  • Manage presentations, assemblies, and club meetings to offer services and emphasize the necessity of post-secondary study.
  • Help interview, evaluate, select and mentor AmeriCorps applicants.
  • Communicate with graduating seniors on a regular basis over the summer by phone, Facebook and in person.
  • Utilize a CRM database (Salesforce) to update student contacts and to help leadership team to better support students.
  • Maintain and update student database in Salesforce.
  • Work with supervisor to complete volunteer activities for AmeriCorps.
  • Show more

Career advisor example 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.

College adviser vs career advisor skills

Common college adviser skills
  • Financial Aid Applications, 16%
  • Colleges, 13%
  • Professional Development, 11%
  • FAFSA, 7%
  • Admissions Process, 6%
  • School Administration, 5%
Common career advisor skills
  • Customer Service, 12%
  • Career Development, 9%
  • Professional Development, 7%
  • Social Work, 6%
  • Career Services, 6%
  • Career Planning, 4%

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