Student counsellor

Briefly explain what you do for a living. 

I work as a student counsellor at Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, where my responsibilities include individual and group counselling of students. Students look for guidance, for example, on graduation, career planning and various choices as well as to find the smooth flow of studies. In addition to guidance and counselling, I’m responsible for administrative work, such as preparing decisions and arranging entrance examinations. I'm also involved in a multi-professional student well-being group whose task is to promote the well-being of students.

How have you ended up in the profession of your choice? 

Guidance has played an important role in my previous tasks and studies. For example, I have completed a housing advisor training and worked in the housing advisory services of the Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region. After graduating as a Master of Social Sciences in Sociology, I ended up working as a planning officer at the university of applied sciences. I once again noticed that the work requires guidance competence. I became more and more interested in guidance and counselling, so I decided to apply for the student counsellor studies.

Describe your typical working day or week. 

I’ll start my day by going through e-mails. After that, I usually have a couple of hours of student counselling, either in groups or individually. The topics of the meetings vary depending on the stage of the studies. Common topics with bachelor’s students include study skills and motivation. With master’s students, we often focus on identifying strengths and career planning. A typical day also includes various meetings and administrative tasks. I try to leave a little leeway in my schedule, as students may have urgent needs for help. I feel that student counsellors need to be easy to reach both by message and by phone.

What kind of work environment or working hours do you have? 

I work mainly at the school. Nowadays, it's not always necessary, as the demand for remote guidance has increased.

Student counsellors have annual working hours in Finland, so the hours are flexible. However, I try to get my work done on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

What kind of competence or qualities are required in the profession? 

Flexibility, patience, understanding and cooperation skills. You need to get along well with both students and colleagues. Having the attitude that nothing human is alien is an advantage. A good student counsellor is always ready to help.

I feel that my strength is the ability to throw myself into anything and improvise. It’s very helpful with students as you can't always know where the discussions lead to. Information retrieval skills are an essential part of the profession, as you can't be a walking databank in today’s day and age.

What is the best thing about your profession? 

I enjoy working with students—and the spontaneous humour and surprises that come with it. The best thing is when you can help students and they benefit from it. Our work community is also wonderful. We have a great time together.

What are the downsides of the profession or what seems challenging? 

Sometimes I feel inadequate when I’m unable to meet the expectations of students. That’s when I find myself thinking “What could I do differently?” Sometimes there's also a conflict between the individual's interests and education policy objectives. Students should graduate quickly, but work, among other things, can slow down the progress of studies. For students, working during studies is often not only economically necessary but also an important way to gain experience and contacts that promote employment in their field after graduation. Such conflicts can feel challenging.

What would you tell a person considering the profession of a student counsellor? 

If you think that you have a sure-fire sense of human nature and are good at finding solutions on behalf of others, this profession is probably not for you. Student counsellors must be humble and able to listen. You have to think critically about possible distortions in your own thinking and not just push through with your own views. You cannot give ready-made answers when the student needs to make a choice but guide them in finding the answers themselves.

I meet students in my work who have previously adopted an idea related to their learner identity. For example, a student may think that they don’t have a head for languages or studying. Later on, they can find themselves in situations where they realise that the idea they have adopted is not true. It’s a good example of how easily the words of others affect young people in particular.

How do you see the future of your profession? 

The nature of guidance and counselling will change in higher education institutions. The number of remote guidance sessions is increasing, making it more fast-paced and intensive. Major reforms are already being prepared, such as the Digivision 2030 project. In other words, a student counsellor must have good digital guidance skills, and there is no room to miss out on this development. The need for guidance competence will also spread out even further to different tasks and professions, not just student counselling.