Job Description

SUMMARY OF FUNCTIONS:

The Senior Career Counsellor is the University's specialist practitioner in career counselling and career assessment. The role provides expert individual and group counselling that helps students make informed career decisions and build career pathways aligned with their academic programs, and develops and maintains the counselling methods, assessment practice and counselling content used by MASAR Career Excellence. Working closely with faculty, academic advisors and MASAR colleagues, the Senior Career Counsellor evaluates the effectiveness of counselling services and recommends improvements that support the unit's targets for early and structured student engagement.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

Career Counselling

• Deliver individual and group career counselling on career exploration, decision-making and multi-stage career pathway planning, aligned with students' strengths, interests, values and long-term aspirations.
• Manage an assigned caseload, including complex cases, and refer students to the University's counselling and wellbeing services where needs fall outside career counselling.
• Develop and maintain the unit's structured counselling model, including intake and triage, session frameworks, follow-up standards and referral pathways, for approval by the Senior Manager.

Career Assessment

• Select, administer and interpret career assessment tools (interest, personality, strengths, values and skills inventories), and integrate results into evidence-informed career plans.
• Recommend assessment tools for adoption, oversee their ethical and appropriate use, and train MASAR colleagues and academic advisors in their use within their level of qualification.

Career Content & Programs

• Develop and update the counselling and self-assessment content of the Early Career Readiness Toolkit, in coordination with the Senior Officer, Career Readiness and Experiential Learning, and advise students and colleagues on its use within individual career plans.
• Design and deliver experiential, hands-on career workshops and group programs, including tailored sessions for specific colleges and student groups.
• Translate UAE and international labour market information into practical guidance and resources for students.

Academic Partnership

• Advise faculty and academic advisors on integrating career learning outcomes into courses and co-curricular programs, and deliver in-class career sessions at their request.
• Provide professional guidance and case consultation to MASAR colleagues and academic advisors on career counselling matters.

Service Evaluation

• Analyze counselling activity and outcome data to evaluate the effectiveness of counselling services and recommend improvements to the Senior Manager.
• Provide counselling outcome data to the Career Data and Engagement Officer for the Career Readiness Scorecard and unit reports.
• Propose and deliver early-engagement initiatives that increase student participation in one-to-one counselling.

Professional Practice

• Maintain confidentiality, appropriate professional boundaries and adherence to recognized counselling and coaching codes of ethics, and promote these standards within the unit.
• Keep professional knowledge current through training, professional networks and continuing professional development.
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned by the line manager.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Counselling, Education or a related field. A Master's degree in Career Counselling, Counselling Psychology, Educational Psychology or a related field is preferred.
• Professional credential: A recognized credential in career development or coaching (e.g. GCDF, ICF, BCC, CCC, CCSP, CMCS, EMCC or equivalent), and certification or training in the career assessment tools used, are required. Candidates without a credential must obtain one within 12 months of appointment.
• Experience: Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience, including at least 3 years delivering one-to-one career counselling and using career assessments, preferably in a university setting.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

• In-depth knowledge of career development theories, counselling models and coaching techniques.
• Advanced knowledge of career assessment and psychometric tools, their validity and their ethical use.
• Knowledge of UAE and international labour market trends, graduate destinations and evolving professional competencies.
• Advanced counselling, active listening and facilitation skills, with sensitivity to diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Ability to design and deliver experiential, hands-on learning programs rather than lecture-style workshops only.
• Analytical and research skills, with the ability to evaluate service outcomes and present recommendations.
• Ability to advise and influence faculty and colleagues without direct authority.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; proficiency in Arabic is an advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and student or career management systems, and the ability to handle confidential information with discretion.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Work is normally performed in a typical interior work environment, which does not subject the employee to any unpleasant elements. The position may entail work after duty hours, on weekends and during University events (e.g. career fairs and orientation).

SUPERVISION:

Report to: Senior Manager, Career Advising Unit

Subordinates: None