One of my kid’s advisor’s knew about a fellowship that kid qualified for. Wasn’t a university sponsored program, didn’t get a lot of PR, wasn’t one of the Fulbright/Marshall famous ones. But a fantastic opportunity. Advisor picked up the phone to ask a colleague at another institution “the deadline has passed but I have a talented student who qualifies” and the answer was “send in the application today”.
Agree with you. Advising is not about following the flow chart. Advising is about the stuff that ISN’T readily available. And my kid would have been fine without the fellowship (although loved every minute of it) but it would be life-altering for someone else.
It’s so easy to decide that another person’s department is overstaffed.