AI in Support of Career Exploration and Discovery
Start with Yourself: The Career & Life Design Framework
Career exploration in the Career & Life Design framework begins with empathy, and in this case, you are designing for yourself. Before turning to any tool, it is worth pausing to reflect. What is important to you? What are your personal and academic interests, your values, your goals, your skills, and your strengths? The clearer you are on these inputs, the more useful any exploration process will be, including one that involves AI.
From there, try framing your exploration as a design problem: “How might I discover career roles and industries that could be a good fit for me personally?” That framing keeps the process open and generative, which is exactly where AI can help.
One particularly promising use of AI is career exploration. Because LLMs function through pattern recognition, they can be excellent supports for surfacing new career ideas that align with your distinct personal preferences and abilities. Providing your interests, values, skills, strengths, and goals to an AI can direct the tool to surface career roles and industries that could be a great fit. While not a definitive list, the ideas produced can be great starting points for further research.
Think of the AI as a brainstorming partner in the ideation phase. The goal is to generate many ideas, not to land on the right answer. Stay curious, follow threads that interest you, and don’t filter too early.
As always, we recommend that any ideas discovered through AI be thoroughly researched and discussed with people most familiar with those roles or industries. Reality test your ideas with a career coach, professor, alum, or another knowledgeable professional.
The prompts below have been developed by the Center for Career Design for use with LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, and others. To get the best results:
- Customize the fields [bolded here] before using. Sample content has been included to show you the format; replace it with your own information. You can either cut and paste directly into the LLM and customize the fields before sending, or cut and paste into another document to customize first. Either way is fine, just make sure the LLM receives your personal preferences.
- Evaluate the results critically. Look for ideas that resonate, and flag anything that seems off or worth questioning.
- Iterate. Follow up with additional questions. Speak conversationally with the LLM to dig deeper into any ideas that interest you. For example: “Tell me more about [career idea]“
- Feel free to experiment, changing the prompts as you see fit!
The Career Discovery Prompt is a great place to start. Once you have your results, the Expand Your Options Prompt can take you further: pick a role or field from your first list that excites you and use it as a new starting point to generate a set of related ideas you might not have considered.
Remember, generative AI should not replace guidance from humans. The coaching team at the Dartmouth Center for Career Design brings years of experience, knowledge of Dartmouth, and access to our expansive alumni network. Meet with a career coach to further discuss, research, and prototype your career ideas.
Prompt:
Based on my interests in [Literary analysis, Creative writing, Theater and performance, Social justice and activism, Live music production]; my major(s) and academic interests in [English] and [Studio Art]; my values of [fairness, integrity]; my strengths in [leadership and public speaking]; and the transferable skills outlined in my resume (do not fixate on roles) [pasted below/uploaded]; current career ideas [including role xxx in the field of yyy]; suggest 12 potential career ideas. Please weigh all aspects equally and consider how my transferable skills might align with each option. The suggested career ideas should be internally validated against the OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (see: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/a-z-index.htm). Include a range of sectors including corporate, non-profit, and others. This information will be used for career exploration. For each career idea, provide a brief description, including common projects, tasks, duties, typical entry-level job titles, and typical companies/organizations/contexts. Resume: [paste] or upload
Paste the full prompt at once into the AI.
Prompt:
Suggest 12 alternate career ideas to the role of [analyst] in the field of [management consulting] that align with my top strengths [empathy, intellection, woo, connectedness, strategic].
Additionally, integrate the following inputs to tailor the career suggestions:
- My interests in [Literary analysis, Creative writing, Theater and performance, Social justice and activism, Live music production]
- My major(s)/academic interests in [English] and [Studio Art]
- My values of [fairness, integrity]
- My transferable skills (but not tied to a specific role) as detailed in my resume [pasted below/uploaded]
Each suggested career idea must be internally validated against the Occupational Outlook Handbook (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/a-z-index.htm).
For each career idea, provide:
- A brief description of the role.
- Common projects, tasks, and duties.
- Typical entry-level job titles.
- Typical industries, companies, organizations, or work contexts.
The suggestions should span across multiple sectors, including corporate, non-profit, and other relevant fields.
The following prompts are simpler and more open-ended. They work best when you add a bit of personal context before sending, so the LLM can tailor its response to your specific background and interests.
Prompt:
What careers combine [field or subject] and [field or subject]? I am a Dartmouth student majoring in [major] with an interest in [area].
Prompt:
What does a typical career trajectory look like for someone starting out as a [entry-level role]? What are common next steps, and over what timeframe? I am a Dartmouth student majoring in [major] considering this path.
Prompt:
I am a Dartmouth student majoring in [major] with experience in [relevant experience or activity]. What are typical entry-level roles or job titles I should be researching and targeting?
Prompt:
I am drawn to work that involves [value or type of impact, e.g. environmental justice, public health, financial inclusion]. I am majoring in [major] and my relevant experiences include [brief experience]. What career paths tend to attract people with these motivations, and what kinds of organizations do this work?
Prompt:
I have an informational interview coming up with a [job title] at [type of organization]. I am a Dartmouth [year] majoring in [major]. Suggest 5 questions I could ask to better understand their day-to-day work, career path, and advice for someone just starting out.
Prompt:
I am a Dartmouth student exploring careers in [field], majoring in [major]. What are the most common misconceptions students have about working in this field, and what do people who work in it wish they had known earlier?
Exploration is most valuable when it leads somewhere. Here are some concrete next steps once you have a list of ideas to work with:
- Make a running list of career roles and industries of interest. Research them further using our job and industry research prompts. Use one of our career idea trackers to organize your career discovery journey: Career Idea Tracker 1 | Career Idea Tracker 2
- Set up saved search filters on Handshake for roles and industries you are enthusiastic about, so you are alerted to new internship and full-time opportunities as they are posted. A career coach can help you set this up.
- Talk to people. A high-impact way to learn more about a particular role or field is to speak with someone working in it. The Dartmouth alumni network is excellent for this. Use connect.dartmouth.edu and/or LinkedIn to find alumni within specific roles and industries for an informational interview. Please refer to our networking resources and/or schedule an appointment with a coach for more.