Technology has the potential to revolutionize career exploration and preparedness through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). While some schools are beginning to think about including work-based learning (WBL) experiences for students, others are already reimagining WBL infused with AI. Especially in middle and high schools, AI tools will not only shape a students’ understanding of careers–including the degrees, credentials, and skills necessary to access them–using AI tools to explore careers is a preparedness strategy in itself. 

There’s both excitement and uncertainty looming, but AI is reshaping how we learn, work, and plan for our futures. Because it has the ability to personalize plans, AI will eventually become an integral part of students’ learning journey, including their career pathway for high school and beyond. Imagine a postsecondary plan that includes everything from a household budget to what to do to acquire the necessary skills to be successful in a particular job. AI has the power to positively influence a number of things that current tools aren’t capable of doing, including (but not limited) to the following 3 outcomes. 

Visualizing Future Lifestyles with AI

As schools and districts ramp up the inclusion of financial literacy as a graduation requirement, AI can take what they know and understand about money to a whole new level. Balancing a budget and recognizing how a mortgage works are key skills, but AI can help students with a holistic approach to what they need to earn to live the life they’re projecting to live, something that is elusive to many students today. 

After answering a number of assessment questions about what students plan to have and be able to do in the future, such as the ability to eat out versus preparing meals and the type of car they want to drive, AI can accurately calculate a monthly budget and necessary income to sustain a certain lifestyle. From healthcare costs to savings and retirement, AI can help students understand what they need to earn and where they might need to adjust their expectations based on the reality of their expenses. AI tools can literally use students’ information to create a budget with suggested career options based on the region in which they want to live and the salaries of those careers in that area–combining students’ interests with their lifestyle goals to inform their postsecondary plans. 

Creating Smarter Career Plans with Personalized Guidance

With a clear understanding of what they need to earn to live the life they plan to live, AI can also help students to create career plans to keep them on track after high school. As students make decisions about college, career, and military, AI can generate the steps they need to take to enter into a particular workforce. It’s not always clear to students what they need to do if they want to become a nurse practitioner or a plumber, for example. In fact, it’s not always clear to their advisors at school or at home as well. AI can develop a postsecondary plan to support the pathway that students want to take, including some of the things they should do before graduation–like coursework and credentials that are available to middle and high school students. 

AI can incorporate a student’s interests with their college plans to show them options for where to attend college, which majors to select, and the costs associated with tuition and housing for 4 and 6 years. It can also take a student’s plan to go straight into industry after high school and develop a plan to earn a credential, including the steps and the locations of the training facilities and community colleges where they’ll need to enroll. This will help students compare colleges based on a series of indicators, including cost and average salary after graduation from different institutions, and will develop a viable path for those who don’t want to go straight into a 2- or 4-year degree program. 

Building In-Demand Skills and Earning Credentials

Based on students strengths and areas for improvement and by analyzing their career trajectory, AI can recommend the top skills that students will need to advance in their chosen path. This supports a far more career ready graduate, which is one reason why schools are developing their portrait of a graduate and implementing a college and career readiness program. Not only will AI be able to advise students on the skills they need, it will be able to provide them with the steps that they need to take to acquire those skills and, in some cases, track progress toward gaining them. 

For example, if a student will need strong communication skills based on their career field, AI will help them create strategies for developing those skills and possibly examine a student’s course catalog for recommendations on which courses to take prior to graduation. Then, when students demonstrate that they have new skills–tracking progress along the way–they can earn credentials and badges to use on their digital profile and resume. In other words, not only will students be set up to gain new skills, AI can help them track and share what they can do for potential employers, colleges, and universities. 

Conclusion

AI won’t replace the need for pathways and pathway advisors in K-12 schools, but it can supercharge their impact and enhance students’ experiences with personalized plans based on lifestyle projections, career interests, and educational next steps. Every student deserves a viable postsecondary goal, and AI is going to transform how they accomplish it. The age of one-size-fits-all career planning is over. The future is adaptive, responsive, and AI-powered. 

If you’re interested in a conversation about integrating AI into college and career planning, book a time here. 

All of these features and capabilities are being incorporated into Maia as you read this blog, and if you want to see how they work for students worldwide, schedule a demo here.