In a way, there’s nothing particularly significant about the advances in text generative AI with respect to career support. Over the years, careers services have taken advantage of technological advances, such as creating online content, giving access to practice online tests, recommended spelling and grammar checking and utilising social media to make careers activities as quick, engaging and effective as possible. We’ve also used and recommended other methods to help students too, such as mentoring, having friends proofread applications, reviewing example CVs and gaining advice from practitioners.
With all these aides we have consistently said that they are useful to support your process to, for example, draft a covering letter or choose a career path, but that you must carefully and critically check and personalise/improve these drafts and options yourself before submitting or deciding.
Generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Bard, are just the latest technological improvements, and they too can be used to help find and secure fulfilling careers. And, just like any other aide, you will always need to work on their output.
So, how can you use text generative AI to support your career thinking?
Identifying your transferable skills
If you work in a restaurant, or a shop, or play a sport, for example, you can ask the AI to suggest the skills that you are using. That’s a great base for thinking about which of those you enjoy – the first step in identifying your strengths.
Understanding your career options
If you aren’t sure what you want to do for the next stage of your career, you can ask the AI what people with your interests and degree background go on to do. If you have a goal – say, to help save the planet from the climate crisis – you can ask the AI to suggest career paths you can follow. You’re likely to get quite a diverse list of options, so you’ll still need some help to make sense of them, but it’s a good start.
Looking for vacancies
If you are using an AI that is based on up to date information, you can ask it to suggest the best websites to check for job vacancies. The more information you give it the better the output – for example, “entry level data science roles in the UK” would lead to better results than “jobs in data”. Even with a better prompt, it might be that a simple google search will give you better answers, so don’t rely on it.
Generating drafts of applications and suggested interview questions
If you are making an application, uploading the job description and a de-personalised version of your CV (take care not to input your personal info) can help you generate drafts of covering letters, supporting statements, and application form answers. One thing many people struggle with is ‘Why are you applying for this role?’, so asking AI will give you lots of options to consider.
You can also ask the AI to suggest interview questions based on the job description, and answers to those questions based on your CV.
As ever, all these responses must only be used as first drafts for you to work on and improve as they won’t be good enough to use in an application or interview.
Time for a change?
As we go through our working lives most of use get to the point of considering a change in career. Maybe because you need a new challenge, need more money, or what you’ve been doing is becoming obsolete. You can ask the AI for options to consider, and when you like the look of an option, ask how you can make the change.
Use responsibly and ethically
Text generative AI is going to be a wonderful tool, but as with all tools, they can be used well or badly.
To use the tool well, make sure that you always critically assess its outputs and build on them. Avoid plagiarism by citing AI content appropriately, and use it ethically.
These are just a few ways that you can use text generative AI to help your career thinking, I’m sure you’ll find many more – enjoy playing with it!
Graham Philpott, Head of Careers Consultancy