Skills
School Counselor Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in school counselors, and how to build and show them.
School Counselors need technical skills such as counseling techniques, academic planning, and college and career guidance, plus people skills like empathy and listening. They also use tools such as Student information systems and College and career planning platforms such as Naviance.
Technical (hard) skills
- Counseling techniques
- Academic planning
- College and career guidance
- Crisis intervention
- Group facilitation
- Data use
People (soft) skills
- Empathy
- Listening
- Confidentiality
- Communication
Tools, equipment and technology
- Student information systems
- College and career planning platforms such as Naviance
- Assessment tools
- Scheduling software
- Referral resources
- Video meeting tools
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how school counselors put their skills to work:
- How to help a student build a college plan
- How to respond to a student in crisis
- How to lead a small counseling group
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Counseling techniques” and “Academic planning.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “empathy,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as State school counselor certification near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our school counselor glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our School Counselor training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.