Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors
SOC Code: 21-1012
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors carries a 41% AI exposure score (High automation risk), with a median annual wage of $65,140 and +3.5% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS), affecting approximately 376,300 workers. Full task breakdown, skills, and employer data are below.
Proportion of tasks susceptible to AI automation (O*NET analysis)
At 41% AI exposure, Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors sits 4 points above the 37.2% average across 832 U.S. occupations - more exposed than 71% of them. Most of its core tasks still require human judgment.
Career outlook score
51/100
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of median wage, projected growth, and AI-automation security (inverted exposure), each benchmarked against every other tracked occupation. It describes this occupation's standing across those three dimensions, not a guarantee of future outcomes.
- Median wage C+ $65,140
Annual median wage, percentile rank vs all tracked occupations
- Projected growth C+ +3.5%
Projected employment change, 2024-2034, BLS Employment Projections
- AI exposure (inverted) F 41% exposure
Lower O*NET task-automability scores lower risk; this dimension scores security, not exposure
Home health and personal care aides is #1 of 832 occupations by employment (4.3M, AI exposure rank #392 at 35%) vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks #1 by AI task exposure (95%, employment rank #17 at 1.6M).
Automation-risk inventory
Exclusive cut of 832 occupations by PlainWorkforce automation-risk band. Orthogonal to the continuous AI-exposure distribution chart below and to this occupation's single risk badge, this is the corpus band mix, with Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors in the High band.
Credential × growth standing
Graduate credential among the thinner entry shelves
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors is in the Graduate band (113 of 832) with BLS pace Average (378/832). Graduate entry is a minority shelf - pairing it with average growth is the standing that separates this SOC from bachelor-dominated neighbors.
Where Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors sits among all occupations
AI-exposure score distribution across 832 U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis). This occupation is marked in rose.
Where Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors sits by AI exposure
AI-exposure score distribution across U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis)
41% Around the middle lower than 29% of 832 occupations
Occupations, banded by AI-exposure score
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more occupations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor) · BLS 2024–2034
Source: O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor); AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis. As of BLS 2024–2034.
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors vs. its occupational neighbors
AI exposure (horizontal) vs projected 2024–2034 growth (vertical) for occupations in the same SOC group. Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors is marked in rose; the top-left corner is the most future-proof.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 (growth) and O*NET (AI-exposure analysis by PlainWorkforce).
Employment Projections
Where This Score Comes From
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors's High automation-risk tier is computed from O*NET Database 30.0 task-level analysis, where each documented task the occupation performs is evaluated against current generative AI, robotic process automation, and machine-learning capabilities. A score in the 40–70% range indicates meaningful automation pressure on specific task categories, but the role as a whole still requires human judgment for coordination, exception handling, or client interaction.
The employment, wage, and education figures above come from a second, separate federal source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, matched to the O*NET task data by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 21-1012) code, with the wage figure cross-validated against the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 survey. BLS figures are presented exactly as published, with no adjustment on our part; the SOC-code match is what lets Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors be compared directly against every other tracked occupation on the same basis, not just roles that happen to share a job title.
For career planners, this profile should be read alongside the task, skill, and knowledge breakdowns below and the list of employers whose workforce composition includes Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors. Adjacent occupations shown further down offer lateral moves that preserve industry knowledge while potentially reducing exposure.
Education & Entry Requirements
Top Tasks (O*NET)
- 1. Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- 2. Counsel students regarding educational issues, such as course and program selection, class scheduling and registration, school adjustment, truancy, study habits, and career planning.
- 3. Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at schools.
- 4. Counsel individuals or groups to help them understand and overcome personal, social, or behavioral problems affecting their educational or vocational situations.
- 5. Review transcripts to ensure that students meet graduation or college entrance requirements, and write letters of recommendation.
- 6. Identify cases of domestic abuse or other family problems and encourage students or parents to seek additional assistance from mental health professionals.
- 7. Prepare students for later educational experiences by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- 8. Refer students to outside counseling services.
- 9. 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.
- 10. Refer students to degree programs based on interests, aptitudes, or educational assessments.
Key Skills Required
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Social Perceptiveness
- Service Orientation
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Learning Strategies
- Monitoring
Knowledge Areas
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Therapy and Counseling
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Computers and Electronics
- Public Safety and Security
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors?
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors has an AI exposure score of 41%, indicating a high level of automation risk. Some tasks in this role can be augmented or partially automated by AI, but core responsibilities require human judgment.
What is the job outlook for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors?
According to BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034, Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors is projected to grow by 3.5% over the decade. Current employment stands at approximately 376,300 workers.
What skills are needed for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors?
Key skills for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors include Active Listening, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, and others. Typical entry-level education is Master's degree.
How much do Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors earn?
The median annual wage for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors is $65,140, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024). Actual earnings vary by location, experience, industry, and employer. The BLS publishes detailed wage percentiles by region in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
What education is required for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors?
The typical entry-level education for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors is Master's degree. Employers generally expect None of related work experience. On-the-job training typically involves None. Requirements can vary by employer and specialization.
Which companies employ Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors?
Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors roles exist across many industries and employers. Workforce composition is estimated from BLS industry-occupation employment distributions matched to SEC-registered public companies.
AI Exposure Rating
High automation risk based on 10 analyzed tasks. A moderate share of tasks may be augmented by AI tools.
Nationwide occupations with similar workforce profiles
Two data-derived peer sets for Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors: AI-exposure neighbors and BLS 2034 growth neighbors (distinct comparison neighborhoods, cross-occupation).
Similar AI exposure score
Nearest O*NET task-automability scores nationwide (41% here).
- Computer and information research scientists · AI exposure 41%
- Cooks, fast food · AI exposure 41%
- Cooks, institution and cafeteria · AI exposure 41%
- Cooks, restaurant · AI exposure 41%
Similar projected growth (2024–2034)
Nearest BLS employment change rates nationwide (+3.5% here).
- Biological technicians · growth +3.5%
- Healthcare support workers, all other · growth +3.5%
- Landscape architects · growth +3.5%
- Life, physical, and social science technicians, all other · growth +3.5%
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published BLS + O*NET metrics among occupations with ≥10,000 workers in 2024; corpus ranks above sort the full tracked set.
Related Occupations
Showing 6 of 221 occupations with a comparable automation-risk profile.
What to do with this
Use Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors' numbers above to compare, not just read in isolation.
- Compare Educational, guidance, and career counselors and advisors side by side against another occupation on wage, growth, and AI exposure. Workforce comparison tool
- Understand how the AI exposure score above is actually calculated before treating it as a verdict. Reading AI exposure scores
- See the full ranked list of occupations with the lowest automation exposure nationwide. Safest occupations from AI
AI exposure scores estimate task automatability from O*NET data; they are not a certainty of job loss, and BLS growth projections are estimates, not guarantees.
Data sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET Database 30.0. Employment figures are rounded. Wage data from BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).