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Job placement counselor skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical job placement counselor skills. We ranked the top skills for job placement counselors based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.9% of job placement counselor resumes contained assess training as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a job placement counselor needs to be successful in the workplace.

13 job placement counselor skills for your resume and career

1. Assess Training

Here's how job placement counselors use assess training:

Interviewed clients to assess training needs, educational background, and work experience for appropriate job placement.

2. Background Checks

Here's how job placement counselors use background checks:

Work with outside agencies to process background checks with any new short-term employee.
Completed reference and background checks for candidates.

3. Mental Health

Mental health is the state of wellbeing in which an individual can cope with the regular stresses and tensions of life, and can work productively without having any emotional or psychological breakdown. Mental health is essential for a person of any age and helps them make the right decisions in their life.

Here's how job placement counselors use mental health:

Facilitate permanent housing for transient and homeless clients, in addition to coordinating medical and mental health needs.
Conduct individual and group counseling sessions in order to address mental health diagnoses and independent skills.

4. Vocational Rehabilitation

Vocational rehabilitation stands for a set of services that aim to restore individuals with disabilities to their optimal mental, physical, vocational, economic, and social ability. Some of the programs include refresher courses, vocational assessment and evaluation, career counseling, on-the-job training, etc.

Here's how job placement counselors use vocational rehabilitation:

Job development, placement and retention assistance for adult vocational rehabilitation clients and other handicapped and/or disadvantaged adults.
Assisted in the management of the complex reporting, budgeting and fund management requirements of a vocational rehabilitation program.

5. Community Agencies

Community agencies stand for the organizations operated to provide human service in the community.

Here's how job placement counselors use community agencies:

Interacted with community agencies advocating for the developmentally disabled.
Refer clients to community agencies, and develop job sites though direct contact with possible employers.

6. Cold Calls

Cold calling is a kind of business solicitation from customers who didn't express interest in their product and services before. In this technique, a salesman conducts a call with potential customers with whom they haven't had a prior interaction. Cold calling can include phone calls or telemarketing. However, in-person visits like door-to-door marketing are also a type of cold calling

Here's how job placement counselors use cold calls:

Conducted cold calls to national corporations to obtain potential candidate information and conducted phone interviews.
Initiated calls to potential clients from various leads including member and non-member referrals, seminar follow-up, and cold calling procedures.

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7. Employment Services

Here's how job placement counselors use employment services:

Participate in periodic Employment Services trainings.
Conducted observations of overall operations including: case-management, education, security, employment services, and substance abuse treatment.

8. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how job placement counselors use community resources:

Conducted assessments and developed individualized treatment plans and discharge planning; prepared thorough documentation and established communication with other community resources.
Referred individuals and family members to community resources or to specialists as necessary for community or social service programs.

9. Career Development

Career development is a term referring to the process and idea of furthering one's career or otherwise altering its path by a number of processes and methods. A career development plan can be unique to the individual and might simply be to continue working the job one does in a singular company and moving up, in terms of positions and salary. Or it might be an entirely different plan, such as moving on from the position, the company, and perhaps even the industry as a whole, and doing other work somewhere else.

Here's how job placement counselors use career development:

Worked with students and alumni to develop job-search strategies and increase career development.
Facilitated career development workshops for job seekers, including one-on-one support on topics in relation to obtaining and securing job placement.

10. Competitive Employment

Competitive employment is a job that is performed on a full/ part-time basis in which entities are paid for their work, according to the job. However, the compensation must be at par or above the standard of the minimum wage. The cost of compensated benefits by the employer should be at the same level for similar work performed by abled people.

Here's how job placement counselors use competitive employment:

Selected and compiled relevant information and resources for clients to support them in overcoming mental and emotional problems in competitive employment.
Conduct consumer Work Evaluations by observing and documenting consumers' ability to engage in competitive employment and identify needs for accommodations.

11. Training Programs

Here's how job placement counselors use training programs:

Facilitated regular orientations and informational meetings at various job training programs and employment agencies.
Monitored student progress in retraining programs.

12. Phone Screens

A phone screen refers to the stage of the recruiting process that occurs after narrowing the applicant pool through candidate's resumes and before they are asked for a face-to-face interview. Phone screenings are typically conducted over a call from a recruiter or talent acquisition team coordinator at a company to assess the applicant's suitability for a specific position and discuss basic qualifications and information about a job. This is usually a short call that lasts between 15 and 30 minutes. Phone screens can also be useful for employers to get a picture of realistic market expectations from applicants for a specific job.

Here's how job placement counselors use phone screens:

Led to approximately 50 phone screens.

13. Career Exploration

Career Exploration refers to the process of learning about and investigating various jobs and long-term careers. This exploration is typically seen in younger individuals about to enter the job market or in people attempting to change their career paths. Career exploration may include taking personality tests to see what job may be best suited to one person, or even simply discussing various opportunities with a career specialist or guidance counselors.

Here's how job placement counselors use career exploration:

Conducted career counseling with adults including assessment, career exploration, training, education, job placement, and follow-up.
Instructed individuals and groups in areas of appropriate work place communication, career exploration and job readiness skills.

What skills help Job Placement Counselors find jobs?

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What type of skills will young job placement counselors need?

Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Indeed, the way we work is changing. The skills that young graduates will need are diverse. Transferable skills and soft skills will certainly be marketable. These include traditional crafts such as communication, but I also think the world expects more empathy from its employees. Young graduates with an understanding of racism, sexism, and environmental responsibility will become increasingly important.

Do you want to know more?

List of job placement counselor skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a job placement counselor resume and required skills for a job placement counselor to have include:

Assess Training
Background Checks
Mental Health
Vocational Rehabilitation
Community Agencies

Cold Calls
Employment Services
Community Resources
Career Development
Competitive Employment

Training Programs
Phone Screens
Career Exploration

Updated January 8, 2025

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.

Updated January 8, 2025

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