- A guidance counselor can spend a lot of time during the workday meeting with students, parents and teachers to help formulate educational goals and career plans for each student. Guidance counselors meet individually or in group sessions with students to teach them about all the possibilities available to them as they move through the years of their primary and secondary education and focus on further education after graduation.
- Guidance counselors can spend a portion of the workday developing and implementing special programs within their school and the community in which they work. Programs that target at-risk children, teen mothers and drug addicts and give them tools to set goals and get a solid education are sometimes developed.
- A guidance counselor spends a lot of time learning about and sharing her knowledge of subjects such as college admissions procedures, financial aid processes, work/study programs and other aspects of education that students need to know in order to move forward beyond graduation.
- Guidance counselors, depending upon the state of residence, may also be required to participate in continuing education programs in order to remain qualified for their position. This may include attending workshops and classes or testing on new developments in the education field.
- Guidance counselors also spend part of the workday meeting with teachers, school psychologists, school administrators, parents and students who have learning disabilities and need further assistance to make progress. This can include helping to develop and administer an Individualized Educational Program (IEP), finding resources outside the school to give aid and following up on a regular basis with the student in question.
