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Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming many professions, and career development is no exception. Tools such as ChatGPT can help career advisors generate ideas, analyze information, identify transferable skills and support career exploration. However, the most effective use of AI in career advising is not as a replacement for professional judgment, but as a tool that enhances and amplifies human expertise.
The following case example illustrates how AI can be integrated responsibly throughout the career advising process while preserving the uniquely human elements of counselling, coaching and relationship-building.
A student seeking direction
Consider a graduating history student who has been unsuccessfully searching for employment for several months. The student has six years of experience helping operate a family business that hosts international students and has a strong interest in working in museums or the cultural sector. At the same time, financial responsibilities make additional education unrealistic in the immediate future.
This situation presents several common career development challenges: uncertainty about career direction, difficulty recognizing transferable skills, discouragement from repeated rejection, and tension between personal interests and financial realities.
Rather than immediately turning to AI for answers, the advisor begins with a human-centred conversation.
Human exploration comes first
Effective career advising starts with understanding the person behind the problem. Before introducing AI, the advisor explores the student’s experiences, motivations, concerns and emotions.
Questions might include:
- What attracts you to museum work specifically?
- What aspects of supporting international students did you enjoy most?
- How have the job search challenges affected your confidence?
- What financial responsibilities are influencing your decisions right now?
These conversations allow the advisor to uncover important contextual factors that AI cannot fully understand. The advisor assesses whether the student is discouraged, narrowly focused on a single career path, underestimating their experience or constrained by financial pressures.
At this stage, human skills such as empathy, active listening, rapport-building and emotional attunement remain essential.
Using AI to identify transferable skills
One of the most common challenges students face is defining themselves too narrowly. This student may see themselves as “just a history major” with little relevant work experience.
A career advisor, however, recognizes valuable competencies developed through years of helping run a family business, including:
- Intercultural communication
- Customer service
- Conflict resolution
- Event coordination
- Relationship management
- Administrative support
- Operations management
- Student support services
AI can be used to quickly identify and articulate these transferable skills. For example, an advisor might prompt AI to analyze the student’s background and suggest industries where these competencies are valued.
The value of AI is not simply producing a list of skills. Rather, it helps surface experiences that students often overlook and provides language that can later be adapted for resumes, cover letters and interviews.
The advisor’s role remains critical in validating the results, contextualizing the information and helping the student recognize the significance of their experiences.
Expanding career possibilities
Students often become attached to a single career goal without fully understanding the realities of the labour market.
In this case, museum work may remain a meaningful long-term aspiration, but the cultural sector can be highly competitive and often requires significant networking, volunteer experience or additional education.
AI can help broaden the student’s perspective by identifying related pathways that align with both their interests and transferable skills. Potential options might include:
- International student services
- University administration
- Community outreach
- Cultural organizations
- Visitor experience positions
- Tourism
- Settlement services
- Educational programming
- Non-profit coordination
- Student recruitment
- Client relations
The purpose is not to discourage the student’s interest in museums. Instead, AI can help generate alternative pathways and stepping-stone opportunities that provide financial stability while building relevant experience.
The advisor then helps the student distinguish between immediate employment needs, long-term career aspirations and realistic progression pathways.
Supporting labour market exploration
AI can also assist with labour market research and information gathering. Advisors may use AI to:
- Summarize entry pathways into specific sectors
- Compare occupations requiring different levels of education
- Identify adjacent industries hiring similar skill sets
- Generate networking strategies and outreach ideas
At the same time, advisors must help students critically evaluate AI-generated information. Labour markets vary significantly by region, and AI responses may contain outdated, incomplete or overly generalized information.
This creates an important educational opportunity: teaching students how to use AI as a research assistant rather than an unquestioned authority.
Improving career storytelling and application materials
Many students struggle to describe their experiences in professional language.
AI can be particularly effective in helping transform informal experiences into resume content, interview examples and professional narratives.
For example, a student who has spent years helping coordinate housing and support services for international students may not initially recognize the professional competencies embedded in those experiences.
AI can generate draft resume bullet points and achievement statements, providing a starting point for further refinement.
However, the advisor remains responsible for ensuring that application materials remain authentic, accurate and reflective of the student’s actual experiences. Professional judgment is essential to prevent exaggerated claims, generic wording or overreliance on AI-generated content.
Encouraging reflection and meaning-making
Career development is not solely about obtaining information. It also involves identity, purpose, uncertainty and personal growth.
Students facing prolonged job-search difficulties may experience disappointment, self-doubt or anxiety about the future.
AI can assist by generating reflective coaching questions such as:
- What would meaningful work look like if it did not need to be perfect immediately?
- Which aspects of museum work are most important to you?
- What would meaningful progress look like over the next six months?
While AI can generate thought-provoking questions, it cannot interpret emotional responses or create psychological safety. Advisors remain responsible for helping students process uncertainty, navigate setbacks and build confidence.
Co-creating an action plan
AI can also support practical planning activities, including:
- Drafting networking outreach messages
- Creating informational interview questions
- Structuring job-search schedules
- Developing LinkedIn summaries
- Researching organizations and industries
A collaborative action plan for this student might include:
Immediate actions
- Revise resume to emphasize transferable skills
- Apply to adjacent sectors as well as museum-related opportunities
- Conduct informational interviews with professionals in the cultural sector
- Explore positions within post-secondary student services
Medium-term actions
- Build relevant experience through community or cultural organizations
- Expand professional networks
- Develop sector-specific knowledge and connections
Long-term actions
- Reassess graduate education options when financially feasible
- Continue building experience aligned with museum and cultural interests
What AI does well – and what still requires human expertise
This case demonstrates that AI can make career advising more efficient and expansive by:
- Identifying transferable skills
- Generating career options
- Supporting labour market exploration
- Assisting with resume development
- Creating reflective prompts
- Accelerating brainstorming and information gathering
However, the most important aspects of career advising continue to require human expertise:
- Building trust and rapport
- Understanding personal context
- Interpreting emotions
- Addressing motivation and confidence
- Balancing hope with realism
- Navigating ambiguity
- Supporting decision-making
- Helping clients find meaning and purpose
Conclusion
The future of career advising is unlikely to be a choice between human advisors and artificial intelligence. Instead, it will involve thoughtful collaboration between the two.
When used responsibly, AI serves as a powerful tool that expands possibilities, accelerates information processing and supports career exploration. At the same time, advisors continue to provide the judgment, empathy, ethical guidance and contextual understanding that technology cannot replicate.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into career development practice, the value of career advisors may shift away from information delivery and toward higher-order functions such as interpretation, meaning-making, emotional support and helping individuals navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain labour market, and build resilience.
