Most commonly reported Work Activities

• Assisting and Caring for Others Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
• Getting Information Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems Analysing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Organising, Planning, and Prioritising Work Developing specific goals and plans to prioritise, organise, and accomplish your work.
• Interacting With Computers Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information.
• Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.
• Documenting/Recording Information Entering, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
• Provide Consultation and Advice to Others Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.

The Work

Adult Guidance Counsellors provide young adults and adults with suppport on learning, training and employment opportunities. 

Guidance counsellors may work with clients through in-depth face-to-face and in recent years on-line interviews, which usually last for one hour. There may also be 'drop-in' sessions where a client can discuss an issue, usually for between 20 and 30 minutes. Often Guidance Counsellors talk to clients over the telephone. Some give presentations to groups, or run courses or workshops to support people in the community. They may work with adults who have particular needs, for example, because of learning or mental health difficulties.   
  
Adult Guidance Counsellors provide information on the availability of courses, their content and how access them. They may use booklets and printed sheets, or audio and visual materials. They may use a computer database to find educational and vocational training courses (e.g. fetchcourses.ie). They guide their clients through assessment techniques such as psychometric tests. Guidance workers encourage client self-assessment. The information they give must be impartial, and must help clients to make their own decisions.   
  
Building a trusting relationship with clients is essential. For example, an adult may have to address factors in their lives that have prevented them from making educational achievements in the past. By listening carefully, the guidance worker can begin to understand any difficulties from the client's point of view. The guidance worker may ask questions to help clients explore various aspects of their life and feelings, encouraging them to talk as freely and openly as possible.   
  
It is very important that the guidance worker does not make judgements or attempt to impose solutions on their clients. Their aim must always be to enable people to talk about and clarify their problems, and then to help them act for themselves to resolve them.   
  
Some duties of Adult Education Guidance Counsellors include:

• to provide guidance, counselling and information services to individual clients and to groups, and provide referral services to other agencies as appropriate
• to provide support and advice in the field of guidance counselling to staff of Further Education Centres, and support the development of an integrated curriculum of career learning, guidance and progression
• to broker services with educational bodies and other institutions as emerging client needs are identified
• to share good practice from the sector and supporting the mainstreaming of relevant lessons into national policy and practice 

Most commonly reported Work Tasks

• Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at schools.
• Confer with parents or guardians, teachers, administrators, and other professionals to discuss children's progress, resolve behavioral, academic, and other problems, and to determine priorities for students and their resource needs.
• Identify cases of domestic abuse or other family problems and encourage students or parents to seek additional assistance from mental health professionals.
• Counsel individuals to help them understand and overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational or vocational situations.
• Counsel students regarding educational issues, such as course and program selection, class scheduling and registration, school adjustment, truancy, study habits, and career planning.
• Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
• Prepare students for later educational experiences by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
• Teach classes and present self-help or information sessions on subjects related to education and career planning.
• Provide special services such as alcohol and drug prevention programs and classes that teach students to handle conflicts without resorting to violence.
• Conduct follow-up interviews with counselees to determine if their needs have been met.

This occupation is typically suited for people with the following Career Interests:

Social

The Social person's interests focus on interacting with the people in their environment. In all cases, the Social person enjoys the personal contact with other people in preference to the impersonal dealings with things, data and ideas found in other groups.

Many will seek out positions where there is direct contact with the public in some advisory role, whether a receptionist or a counsellor. Social people are motivated by an interest in different types of people and like diversity in their work environments. Many are drawn towards careers in the caring professions and social welfare area, whilst others prefer teaching and other 'informing' roles.

Creative

Creative people are drawn to careers and activities that enable them to take responsibility for the design, layout or sensory impact of something (visual, auditory etc). They may be atrracted to the traditional artistic pursuits such as painting, sculpture, singing, or music. Or they may show more interest in design activities, such as architecture, animation, or craft areas, such as pottery and ceramics.

Creative people use their personal understanding of people and the world they live in to guide their work. Creative people like to work in unstructured workplaces, enjoy taking risks and prefer a minimum of routine.

Enterprising

Enterprising people like situations that involve using resources for personal or corporate economic gain. Such people may have an opportunistic frame of mind, and are drawn to commerce, trade and making deals. Some pursue sales and marketing occupations. Many will eventually end up owning their own business, or in management roles in larger organisations. They tend to be very goal-oriented and work best when focused on a target. Some have an entrepreneurial inclination.

The qualification in guidance and counselling is a postgraduate course. To satisfy the entry requirements one must have a basic undergraduate degree NFQ level 6-8. Employers place importance on the right personal qualities. Relevant life and work experience are also highly valued. You may have gained this in an area such as: Teaching, Youth and Community work, Social work, and Probation work or personnel work.   
  
Training & Development pathways

FET Centre Traineeship & PLC courses: Training & Development 'Train the Trainer', Youth & Community work, Social work, Counselling, Probation work, HR & personnel work NFQ level 5-6 Search FET Courses

CAO Higher Education entry: Arts, Social sciences, Teaching, Youth and Community work, Social work, and Probation work or personnel/ HR NFQ level 6-8 Search CAO courses 

Professional Development 

Posgraduate Options: Career Guidance & Counselling NFQ Level 7 [special purpose] & post grad NFQ level 9

Dublin City University (DCU) MSc in Guidance Counselling 2 year part time (contact DCU directly regarding entry criteria) 

University of Limerick (UL) MA Guidance Counselling & Lifespan Development 2 year part time (contact UL directly regarding entry criteria)

Maynooth University (MU) 

Certificate in Adult Guidance Theory and Practice

1 year part time (contact MU directly for more information and entry criteria)

Post Graduate Diploma in School Guidance Counselling 1 year part time - SCHOOL ONLY (contact MU directly for more information and entry criteria)

Master of Education - School Guidance Counselling 1 year part time - SCHOOL ONLY (contact MU directly regarding entry criteria)

Post Graduate Diploma (Arts) in Adult Guidance Counselling 2 year part time - FURTHER EDUCATION ONLY - (contact MU directly regarding entry criteria)

Recognizing Foreign Guidance Qualifications

NARIC Ireland provides advice on the academic recognition of foreign qualifications by comparing them, where possible and appropriate, to a major award type and level on the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). A comparability statement for each qualification listed is available for download on the NARIC website. 

Professional Associations & CPD

Institute of Guidance Counsellors 

Adult Guidance Association 

National Centre for Guidance in Education

Last Updated: April, 2023

Salary Range (thousands per year)* €46k - €71k

Salaries are linked to ETBI Salary scale and accompnaying practice circular. Salaries vary by employer, location, experience, and duties.

Data Source(s):
ETBI/ Gov.ie/ Forsa

Last Updated: July, 2024

* The lower figures typically reflect starting salaries. Higher salaries are awarded to those with greater experience and responsibility. Positions in Dublin sometimes command higher salaries.

View Salary information from Indeed.ie
Note: data not aways available

This information has been derived from the Solas National Skills Bulletin (2023).

Employment growth was below average over the five-year period, with little growth since 2020. It should be noted that career guidance professionals working in the second level system are most likely captured in the secondary teaching occupations. Employment permits issued in 2022 were all intra-company transfers and related to roles outside of the education sector.

• Institute of Guidance Counsellors

  • The Basement, 17 Herbert Street, Dublin 2
  • (01) 676 1975
  • [email protected]
  • Click Here

• AGA Adult Guidance Association

  • [email protected]
  • Click Here