Career Adviser
"I am a professional career adviser who loves working with undergraduate university students. My job involves working with people from a variety of ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. I help people find career opportunities that fit their interests and job needs. I also help with resume development, interview skills and how to develop the professional skills needed for a particular career path."
Salary Range:
$54,793
The Tip
Always remember you are more than your undergraduate degree. Volunteer, travel and learn as much as you can from your employment experiences while you are in school.
Priority Knowledge & Skills
Evidence-based Decision Making
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Select appropriate avenues of career exploration based on research and best practices
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Provide appropriate resources for determining a potential career path
Advanced Research & Analysis Skills
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Critically analyze the current employment market
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Synthesize key trends from multiple sources about possible employment opportunities for students in the future
Knowledge of Human Behaviour
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Able to relate to a wide range of individuals
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Support clients to explore motivations, behaviour, emotions, thoughts and patterns regarding their career planning
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Support growth and development
Sensitivity to how views on employment are shaped by circumstances, privilege, experience & attitudes
Advanced Communication Skills
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Sensitivity to how communication is shaped by circumstances, authorship and intended audience
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Formulate and defend positions
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Write for a specific audience
Inter-personal Skills
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Work with diverse populations
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Support individuals to discuss difficult topics
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Empathetic and uncritical of a person’s career choices
Intra-personal Skills
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Able to manage stress
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Self-aware, able to manage biases
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Excellent ability to manage giving advice with an understanding of the people receiving advice need to forge their own paths
Additional Skills
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Strong organizational skills
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Intentional curiosity and thoughtful creativity about potential career paths for students
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Fundamental time management skills
Self-motivated, independent, ethical
Building Block Experiences
Education & Learning:
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Bachelor of Arts (Psychology–Honours)
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Completed certification to become a Certified Career Strategies.
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Attend conferences, workshops and training seminars each year to improve skills and enhance knowledge about career advising and planning
I remember listening avidly to my family members on Friday nights as they sat around and planned their careers and developed businesses. My cousins and I never lacked for family advice about what we should be doing with our lives. I’m sure that inspired me to want to help others—especially as I listened to the stress of my friends while in university who had no idea what they wanted to do. I have always been curious about human behaviour and development and the ability to thrive and succeed in the world.
Employment Experiences:
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I worked in a family-run fast food restaurant. I learned about working with the public and loved the ethnic diversity of our neighborhood.
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Late in the second year of my undergraduate degree I was in the university career planning office and asked if I could volunteer with them
All of my jobs revolved around helping people—even the early ones working for my family in fast food. As an undergraduate I was able to do “real” research work with our on-campus career planning centre and experiencing firsthand the struggles that many students face when trying to plan their careers after their undergraduate degree. As a volunteer in the career planning office, I began to learn about the incredible diversity of career options that are available to students that many of them knew nothing about. This sparked my interest in pursuing career counselling as a career.
Community Experiences:
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I worked for three years as a volunteer in a not-for-profit community-based counselling practice. One of the main drivers of this not for profit was providing career skills training for their clients—many of whom did not have a high school diploma and were dealing with mental health and drug addiction issues.
Volunteering for a nonprofit assisting their clients in building resumes and preparing for interviews reinforced for me that career advising was the path I was meant to follow after completing my undergraduate degree.
Contextual Experiences:
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I think it was good that I stayed home to attend university; it allowed me to pursue volunteer opportunities that I would not have been able to if I had needed to work full time to support living on my own
I think growing up in a large family that had recently moved to Canada helped me develop the empathy I need for my clients. Seeing my family start from very little and succeed in business and life has been the best encouragement for me to follow my own career path.
Relationships:
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I had a really great mentor in the university career planning centre. She also had an undergraduate degree in psychology and was incredibly patient with me as I figured out my own path.
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The best supervisor I ever had was the one at the not-for-profit agency. We’re still in touch and she’s someone I can always turn to for professional advice. She’s always calm and full of good suggestions.
While I was trying to finish my degree, a close cousin was laid off and I took the skills I had gained while in university to help her build her resume and look for new work. It was so rewarding when she found a new job that was even better than her old one.