University Guidance and Career Counselling

University Guidance & Student Profile Lead

Career Exploration | Student Profile Building | University Admissions – India & Global

The NEST School | Chennai | Full-time

The Opportunity

At The NEST School, we believe university guidance begins long before Grade 12.

We are looking for a University Guidance & Student Profile Lead to own the journey of our learners through high school — from understanding their interests and strengths, to exploring careers, building a meaningful student profile, identifying the right university pathways and successfully navigating applications in India and around the world.

This is not a conventional university counselling role. We are looking for someone who can combine deep student understanding with exceptional systems, organisation and execution.

What You Will Do

· Build a deep understanding of each student's interests, strengths, aspirations and potential.

· Guide students through career exploration and informed academic/pathway choices.

· Develop individual student profiles and multi-year action plans.

· Identify meaningful opportunities for students to build their profiles through projects, research, internships, competitions, leadership and other experiences.

· Guide students and families in identifying right-fit universities and courses in India and globally.

· Manage the university application process end-to-end, including shortlisting, timelines, documentation, essays, recommendations, submissions and follow-up.

· Build rigorous systems to track students, applications, requirements, deadlines and stakeholder responsibilities.

· Work closely with students, parents, teachers and universities, ensuring clear and timely communication.

· Build and continuously improve the school's University Guidance & Career Counselling framework.

Who We Are Looking For

We are looking for someone who is:

· Exceptionally organised, systematic and detail-oriented.

· A strong communicator and relationship-builder with teenagers and parents.

· Analytical and able to connect student interests, academics and aspirations to realistic pathways.

· Proactive, with strong ownership and follow-through.

· Comfortable managing multiple students, applications and deadlines simultaneously.

· Passionate about careers, higher education and helping young people discover their potential.

Experience

Strong preference for candidates who have worked in structured student guidance environments, particularly organisations that take students through:

Career Exploration → Profile Building → University Guidance → Application

Relevant backgrounds include:

· University / college admissions and counselling organisations

· Student profile-building organisations

· Career & university guidance organisations

· IB / Cambridge / international schools

· Higher-education institutions

Experience working with IB, Cambridge or international-school students, and guiding applications to both Indian and international universities, will be strongly valued.

What We Are Really Looking For

We are looking for someone who has personally managed students through a structured, step-by-step journey, rather than someone who only provides university information or application support.

You should be able to bring together:

The empathy of a counsellor + the thinking of a strategist + the rigour of an operations professional.

If you believe great university outcomes are built over several years, not during application season, we would like to hear from you.

Location:

Chennai | Employment:
Full-time