The Datum Report

Occupation 3572 · Associate professional occupations

Careers advisers and vocational guidance specialists

Half of full-time careers advisers and vocational guidance specialists in the UK earn more than £32,418 a year, and half earn less.

Careers advisers and vocational guidance specialists give advice on careers or occupations, training courses and related matters, direct school leavers and other job seekers into employment and assess their progress.

How people enter it

Entrants often possess a degree, an approved diploma or equivalent qualification. Professional Qualifications are available at Leve 4 and 6. NVQs/SVQs in Advice and Guidance at levels 3 and 4 are also available. Those working with young people or vulnerable adults will require a DBS check.

What the work involves

• uses an interview, questionnaire and/or psychological or other test to determine the aptitude, preferences and temperament of the client
• advises on appropriate courses of study or avenues into employment
• visits educational and other establishments to give talks and distribute information regarding careers
• liaises with employers to determine employment opportunities and advises schools, colleges or individuals accordingly
• organises careers forums and exhibitions and establishes and maintains contact with local employers, colleges and training providers
• monitors progress and welfare of young people in employment and advises them on any difficulties

Also called

Careers adviser · Careers consultant · Careers teacher · Personal advisor · Placement officer

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for careers advisers and vocational guidance specialists, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 6 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Human resources and industrial relations officers · Information technology trainers · Other vocational and industrial trainers