KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- A career assistance advisor has many roles and responsibilities. They are first and foremost a counselor to all Airmen with regards to career paths, re-enlistments, retraining opportunities and are a one-stop-shop for career guidance.
CAA’s also provide numerous courses that assist Airmen with benefits and entitlements, career opportunities and provide advanced leadership tools to Airmen through a wide variety of methods including briefings, exploring other career avenues, leadership courses and providing personal career advice.
“We have a lot of duties that members aren’t aware that we do,” said Master Sgt. Tracey Riley, 403rd Wing career advisor. “We do a lot of personnel actions so we touch base on a lot of programs within the personnel realm. Someone could come in here for a reenlistment but we could end up talking about so many different other things like incentives, retraining into a different AFSC (Air Force Specialty Code) or them wanting to go into the inactive reserve. We pretty much encompass your personnel actions as a whole, and we also serve as advisors to our commanders.”
As well as being an outlet of useful information for members’ themselves, the position is also equipped to provide career counseling and mentorship to Airmen when it comes to their career.
“Some feel more comfortable talking to us about their personal goals because of our personalities and that we are going to give them honest advice,” said Riley. “It’s great knowing that we have the ability to help Airmen and make a positive impact on their career and that’s what is so rewarding about being a career advisor.”
Master Sgt. Judith Davis, 403rd Maintenance Group career advisor, reiterated what Riley said and added how each person’s situation is different and is treated as such.
“It’s important to have someone that you can talk to about your career and what direction they see their career going,” said Davis. “We counsel them and ask them questions to help them figure out what their options are and lead them to make the best decision for them. If someone is not happy in the career field they are presently in, instead of getting out we can discuss retraining or other options. We look at each individual’s situation and make recommendations that are best for that individual.”
Davis stated that she receives all different kinds of questions and that versatility and having an outgoing personality are some of the traits that lead to being a successful career advisor.
“We get a lot of different types of questions and if we can’t personally answer them then we have to know who to send them to help answer their question or find resources for them,” said Davis. “If I can’t mentor that person in sense of their job I will try to hook them up with someone within their job who can help. An advantage we have is that we get to network with everybody versus an individual who comes in might not know who they can turn to.”
Davis, Riley and Master Sgt. Callie Hubbard, 403rd Operations Group career advisor, all stated that they encourage every Airman to talk to their CAA no matter where they are in their career.
"The best part of being a CAA is the interaction I have with Airmen. I enjoy talking to Airmen every day, learning about them and their jobs and helping them be successful in their career paths,” said Hubbard. “I want to make sure they are fully aware of all their options before making any career decision. Before making a decision on your own, come to your career advisor.”