TL:DR – It is possible to prompt ChatGPT to provide careers advice, and while its output seems staid and obvious it could be used as the basis for further exploration or discussion with a careers advisor.
Bots, such as the now well-known ChatGPT, are really just sophisticated autocomplete machines…instead of suggesting the next word for your text message though they generate the most statistically likely set of words to follow your prompt. Indeed, even ChatGPT agrees: “Yes, that’s a simple way to describe what language models like ChatGPT do. They use statistical patterns learned from large amounts of text data to generate text that is coherent and consistent with the input prompt. The goal is to generate text that resembles human-like language and can be used for various natural language processing tasks, such as text generation, conversation, translation, and more.
So, how do you get the best autocomplete from a prompt? Well, here’s an example. I prompted ChatGPT with the following phrase:
“You are to act as expert life coach and to advise me on work-life balance, adding details about what I do for a living and my two main creative hobbies, photography and music.”
This is what my AI careers advisor suggested:
Set clear goals: Determine what you want to achieve and set specific, measurable, and achievable goals.
Prioritize: Make a schedule and prioritize your time to ensure that you are dedicating enough time to the pursuits that interest you.
Be efficient: Utilize tools and techniques to make your workflow more efficient, so you can get more done in less time.
Network: Connect with other creatives in your field, attend events and workshops, and share your work on social media to build a following and gain exposure.
Take care of yourself: Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential to avoiding burnout and staying motivated. Make sure to take breaks, exercise, and get enough sleep.
Be patient: Building a successful creative career takes time and effort. Stay motivated and keep working towards your goals, even when progress seems slow.
I then asked it how I might set my goals:
When setting goals, it’s important to start with a clear understanding of what you want to achieve. Here are a few tips for determining your goals:
Reflect on your passion and interests: What do you enjoy doing in your free time? What are you passionate about? Your goals should align with your passions and interests.
Assess your current skills: What are you currently good at? What do you need to improve? Your goals should challenge you to develop new skills and improve your existing ones.
Consider your long-term vision: Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years? Your goals should help you work towards that vision.
Research your field: Look at what other successful creatives in your field are doing and what they have accomplished. Use that as a guide to set realistic goals for yourself.
Be Specific, Measurable and Achievable: Make sure your goals are specific, measurable and achievable, so you know exactly what you need to do to achieve them.
Make them time-bound: Give yourself a deadline to achieve your goal, so you have a sense of urgency and stay motivated.
Remember that your goals don’t have to be set in stone, and you can always adjust them as you learn more about yourself and your interests. It’s important to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish but also be open to new opportunities and be flexible with your plans.
Some people pay consultants and advisers a lot of money to come up with stuff like this…