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Careers consultant: Ronnie

This Case Study belongs to Careers consultant.

Ronnie has a BA in Business Management as well as a PGDip in Careers Guidance, which he obtained from Edinburgh Napier University. He chose this profession because he is passionate about helping people to find work that makes best use of their skills, aptitudes and aspirations.

I’m a careers consultant at The Careers Studio, based in Scotland. To work as a careers consultant, the postgraduate careers guidance qualification is in my view essential and I don’t think there is any substitute for it.

The qualification is a good mix of theory and practice; you gain a theoretical understanding of one-to-one work with a range of people including young people, vulnerable groups and professionals. It is also very practical in nature. You get to practise skills which you need to use every day when you are a consultant. Some careers consultants enter the profession with recruitment or human resource qualifications. These are valuable but it is the guidance skills and an understanding of education and learning that I have found to be the most important.

I chose this profession because I am passionate about helping people to find work that makes best use of their skills, aptitudes and aspirations. Increasingly, this is about helping people to develop their own career management or planning skills. To work privately, it’s important to develop a range of specialist areas as you need to be able to generate your income in different ways. I have three specialist areas; working with professional adults, work with young people in schools, and also employer engagement, whereby I help to develop links between schools and industry.

When you first qualify with the diploma, it is useful to develop a broad range of skills and also work in the public sector. I would say that there are two main tips for getting on in this job. Firstly, you need to be very good at listening and asking the right questions, following your intuitions and applying your analytical skills. Secondly you also need to be interested, knowledgeable and resourceful about the world of work. You need to be able to find and help people access information; so you can add value to the decision-making process.

My work involves various tasks such as one-to-one work, relationship building, interview work and the use of counselling and analytical skills. In a typical week I might meet three or four clients, have a meeting with an industry body, be in a school, have telephone conversations with executives and teachers, write a report, prepare a tender, update a website and perhaps prepare a tutorial.

The role develops with you; so if you acquire new skills and further your areas of expertise, the role will naturally progress. It is important to keep professional development at the forefront of what you do, so being an active member of a professional body like the Institute of Career Guidance is essential. 

It is very satisfying to help other people, but you do need to ensure you fulfil your promises and obligations. Eventually, I would like to set up my own careers-based business and also help the careers sector to develop.

Case Study sourced by Monira Ahmed of University of Liverpool, 19 February 2010.