Career And Guidance Counsellor
About the school
The Royal Grammar School Guildford Qatar is a co-educational British international school for pupils aged 3 to 18. The school provides a broad and challenging British curriculum within an ambitious, inclusive, and supportive learning environment.
We are seeking an experienced, knowledgeable, and student-focused careers and guidance counsellor to lead the school’s careers education and university guidance provision.
The role
The careers and guidance counsellor will provide impartial, accurate, and personalised guidance to help students make informed decisions about subject choices, further education, higher education, vocational pathways, and future careers.
The successful candidate will develop a comprehensive whole-school careers programme, with particular responsibility for students in the secondary school and sixth form. The role includes individual counselling, university applications, career assessments, employer engagement, work experience, careers events, destination tracking, and collaboration with students, parents, teachers, universities, and external organisations.
The postholder must remain informed about international university admissions, including applications to universities in the United Kingdom, Qatar, Europe, North America, and other common international destinations.
This is primarily a careers and university guidance position. It does not include clinical or therapeutic counselling unless the appointed candidate holds the necessary professional qualifications and is specifically authorised by the school to provide such support.
Key responsibilities
Careers education and strategic leadership
Develop, implement, and regularly evaluate a comprehensive careers education, information, advice, and guidance programme.
Establish a clear careers programme for appropriate year groups across the secondary school and sixth form.
Ensure that careers education is integrated effectively into the wider curriculum and pastoral programme.
Develop an annual careers calendar covering individual guidance, workshops, university applications, employer engagement, careers events, and important application deadlines.
Advise the school’s leadership team on developments in careers education, university admissions, vocational pathways, and employment trends.
Work with academic and pastoral leaders to ensure that students receive timely guidance at important transition points.
Establish measurable objectives for the school’s careers provision and report on its effectiveness.
Maintain appropriate careers policies, procedures, resources, and records.
Promote equal access to careers guidance and challenge stereotypes that may limit students’ educational or professional choices.
Ensure that guidance is impartial and based on each student’s interests, abilities, aspirations, and individual circumstances.
Individual student guidance
Conduct individual careers and university guidance meetings with students.
Help students identify their interests, strengths, skills, values, and long-term aspirations.
Support students in researching appropriate educational and career pathways.
Provide guidance on subject selection, including GCSE, IGCSE, AS Level, A Level, and other relevant pathways.
Help students understand the relationship between subject choices, university entry requirements, and career opportunities.
Create individual action plans and monitor students’ progress towards agreed goals.
Provide appropriate guidance to students who are uncertain about their future pathway.
Support students considering university, vocational education, apprenticeships, employment, entrepreneurship, or gap-year opportunities.
Provide guidance that is realistic, ambitious, and responsive to students’ academic profiles.
Refer students to the appropriate safeguarding, pastoral, inclusion, or wellbeing team when concerns fall outside the scope of careers guidance.
University applications and admissions
Lead and coordinate the university application process for students applying to institutions in the United Kingdom and internationally.
Provide expert guidance on university selection, entry requirements, application procedures, deadlines, and supporting documentation.
Support applications through UCAS and other national or institutional application systems.
Guide students through the preparation of personal statements, application essays, portfolios, résumés, and supporting materials.
Provide guidance on admissions tests, interviews, auditions, portfolios, and other selection requirements.
Coordinate the preparation, review, and timely submission of school references and predicted grades.
Work with teachers and senior leaders to ensure that references are accurate, professional, and completed on time.
Monitor the progress of each student’s applications, offers, conditions, acceptances, and final destinations.
Support students in understanding conditional and unconditional offers.
Advise students regarding application outcomes, alternative choices, clearing processes, and contingency planning.
Provide guidance on scholarship opportunities, financial-aid applications, and university funding options.
Support students applying to highly selective universities, specialist programmes, medical courses, and other competitive pathways.
Maintain accurate and confidential records of applications, offers, scholarships, acceptances, and destinations.
Careers information and resources
Maintain current, accurate, and accessible careers and university information.
Develop and manage careers resources, including digital platforms, university guides, occupational information, application materials, and labour-market information.
Ensure that careers resources reflect local, regional, and international opportunities.
Provide students with access to reliable information about qualifications, entry requirements, salaries, employment prospects, and career progression.
Use appropriate careers assessment tools to support student self-awareness and informed decision-making.
Help students interpret assessment results without using them to restrict or predetermine future choices.
Communicate important careers and university information to students, parents, and staff.
Maintain a careers noticeboard, online portal, newsletter, or other communication platform as required.
Careers events and external engagement
Plan and deliver careers fairs, university fairs, workshops, information sessions, guest-speaker events, and employer presentations.
Build effective relationships with universities, colleges, employers, professional organisations, training providers, and alumni.
Coordinate visits from university representatives and external careers professionals.
Arrange student participation in relevant university events, exhibitions, competitions, and workplace activities.
Develop opportunities for students to engage directly with professionals from a range of industries.
Support the development of mentoring, job-shadowing, internship, and work-experience opportunities.
Ensure that external speakers and organisations comply with the school’s safeguarding and visitor procedures.
Evaluate events and use feedback to improve future careers provision.
Work experience and employability
Coordinate suitable work-experience opportunities for students where included within the school programme.
Liaise with employers, parents, students, and school staff regarding placements.
Ensure that required safeguarding, risk assessment, consent, and health and safety checks are completed.
Prepare students for workplace expectations, professional conduct, communication, punctuality, and confidentiality.
Support students in developing employability skills, including résumé writing, interview preparation, presentation, teamwork, problem-solving, and professional communication.
Monitor placements and obtain feedback from students and employers.
Maintain accurate records of placements, employer contacts, risk assessments, and evaluations.
Encourage students to reflect on their experiences and connect them to future education and career decisions.
Student and parent workshops
Deliver age-appropriate careers lessons, assemblies, workshops, and information sessions.
Provide guidance sessions on subject choices, career exploration, university selection, applications, scholarships, interviews, and employability.
Organise information sessions for parents regarding university admissions and careers pathways.
Meet with parents when appropriate to discuss a student’s options and application strategy.
Communicate clearly and sensitively when student aspirations and current academic performance do not align.
Help families understand the differences between university systems, entry requirements, costs, and application timelines.
Ensure that students remain central to decisions concerning their future plans.
Collaboration with school staff
Work closely with senior leaders, heads of year, form tutors, subject teachers, the examinations team, the SENCO, and pastoral staff.
Provide staff with information and training to support careers conversations with students.
Liaise with teachers regarding predicted grades, references, student progress, and university entry requirements.
Contribute to transition programmes between different year groups and phases of education.
Support students with additional educational needs by working with the inclusion team to provide appropriate and accessible guidance.
Attend relevant meetings and contribute to school improvement planning.
Support the school’s wider enrichment and personal development programmes.
Monitoring, evaluation, and reporting
Maintain confidential and accurate records of student meetings, action plans, applications, and outcomes.
Track student destinations after leaving the school.
Analyse data relating to university applications, offers, acceptances, scholarships, and destinations.
Identify students who require additional guidance or intervention.
Collect feedback from students, parents, staff, universities, and employers.
Evaluate the impact of the careers programme and recommend improvements.
Prepare reports for the principal, senior leadership team, governors, owners, or inspectors when required.
Provide evidence of careers provision for school inspections and accreditation processes.
Ensure that documentation is organised, current, and available for internal review.
Safeguarding and professional responsibilities
Promote and safeguard the welfare of children and young people at all times.
Follow the school’s safeguarding, child protection, safer recruitment, confidentiality, data protection, and health and safety procedures.
Report safeguarding concerns immediately through the school’s established reporting procedures.
Maintain appropriate professional boundaries with students and families.
Handle student records, applications, academic information, and personal circumstances with strict confidentiality.
Ensure that advice is ethical, impartial, and free from conflicts of interest.
Never accept incentives that could influence the guidance provided to students.
Participate in safeguarding training and other mandatory professional development.
Contribute positively to the professional culture and wider life of the school.
Undertake any other reasonable duties appropriate to the role and assigned by the principal or line manager.
Person specification
Essential qualifications
A bachelor’s degree from a recognised university.
A relevant qualification in careers guidance, counselling, education, psychology, student support, human resources, or a related field.
Evidence of relevant professional development in careers education or university admissions.
A strong standard of written and spoken English.
Essential experience
Relevant experience in careers guidance, university counselling, student advising, recruitment, education, or a related field.
Experience supporting young people with educational and career decisions.
Knowledge of university application processes and admissions requirements.
Experience organising workshops, presentations, events, or guidance activities.
Experience maintaining accurate, confidential student records.
Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office and relevant digital platforms.
Desirable qualifications and experience
A recognised professional qualification in careers guidance or university counselling.
Previous experience as a careers counsellor or university guidance counsellor in a British curriculum or international school.
Experience supporting UCAS applications.
Experience supporting applications to universities in the United Kingdom, Qatar, Europe, North America, and other international destinations.
Knowledge of GCSE, IGCSE, AS Level, and A Level pathways.
Familiarity with the Gatsby Benchmarks and recognised international careers-guidance practices.
Experience supporting applications to highly selective universities and competitive academic programmes.
Experience coordinating work placements, internships, university fairs, or employer-engagement programmes.
Experience using careers assessment and university application platforms.
Knowledge of scholarship, financial-aid, and student-visa processes.
Experience working with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Arabic language skills would be advantageous but are not essential.
Skills and personal attributes
The successful candidate will:
Be student-focused, approachable, and committed to helping young people achieve ambitious but realistic goals.
Demonstrate excellent interpersonal, listening, counselling, and communication skills.
Provide objective and impartial advice.
Possess strong organisational and administrative skills.
Be able to manage multiple applications, deadlines, and individual student needs.
Demonstrate excellent written English and careful attention to detail.
Be confident delivering presentations to students, parents, staff, and external audiences.
Exercise discretion and maintain confidentiality.
Demonstrate cultural awareness and sensitivity.
Build effective professional relationships with students, parents, colleagues, universities, and employers.
Work independently while contributing effectively to a team.
Remain calm and professional when handling sensitive situations.
Demonstrate initiative, sound judgement, and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Support the school’s values, policies, and safeguarding culture.
Safeguarding
RGS Guildford Qatar is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All employees are expected to share this commitment.
The successful applicant will be subject to safer recruitment procedures, including identity checks, qualification verification, employment history checks, professional references, and appropriate criminal-record and safeguarding checks. International applicants may be required to provide police-clearance certificates from countries in which they have lived or worked.
Any offer of employment will be conditional upon the successful completion of all required safeguarding and pre-employment checks.