What ChatGPT and Career Exploration Have in Common

I have no idea where to begin.

This is how career coaching sessions often start. Clients (many after years of contemplating a career change) simply don’t know where to start. Exploring a new career can be exciting for many reasons: gaining new skills and knowledge, meeting new people, or entering a different field. However, the process can also be overwhelming and lead to uncertainty.

Career exploration can be overwhelming because there are many ways to begin, and the process is ever-changing. How career exploration begins depends on the client’s needs and what they want to achieve – what outcome they want to derive from the exploration process.

Maybe your client has strong values and wants to exercise those values through work. You might begin the career exploration journey by having your client complete a values card sort or read a book on values-based career decision-making. Perhaps your client enjoys working with computers, is good at organizing, and wants to refresh their skills. Their career exploration might include taking short courses to learn more about systems administration or network security, or other computer-related fields of interest.

Career exploration can be overwhelming because there is a barrage of content to comb through. A simple Google search using the terms ‘career’ and ‘exploration’ yielded 346M results. Include the term ‘activities’ narrowed the results to 123M.

Search aborted!

Getting to know Chat GPT is kind of like exploring a new career. I have gained new skills and knowledge, met new people in various industries not related to my area of expertise, and am getting better acquainted with a new field: AI! Yet, the journey has been overwhelming and at times, uncertain.