This guide explains how you can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help with career planning, career exploration, career research, or even interview preparation.

It includes practical, ethical, and legal considerations, along with ideas of how AI can be used to support you in your career journey.

What is AI?

AI (Artificial Intelligence) can be described as ‘the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings’. (Ref: Britannica.)

There are many different types of AI and AI tools, but this guide relates to:

• AI chatbots (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and CoPilot)

• AI Content Generation Tools (such as Gamma for generating and editing presentations)

 

Regular chatbots

You may have already come across a customer service chatbot on a website. These chatbots use predefined scripts, respond to certain keywords only, and are limited to whatever specific responses have been manually programmed into them.

AI chatbots

AI chatbots (also called Large Language Model (LLM)' based conversational agents) are far more advanced, capable of understanding and generating human-like responses, and can handle a seemingly never-ending range of topics.

In addition to answering questions, they can provide explanations, engage in casual conversation, source information, generate ideas, offer creative suggestions, or assist with writing tasks such as emails, reports, essays, and much more.

AI tools collect and analyse data, often using it to train and improve its results. This can compromise your privacy and data security.

It is crucial to handle this data responsibly and ensure compliance with data protection regulations. It’s important never to share sensitive or confidential information.

Ensure you familiarise yourself with AI tools' privacy and security information, suggestions, and limitations.

If you're using a work device, check your employer's local arrangements and local policies as some employers may not have approved AI tools for use.

You should also refrain from using confidential or sensitive data or information with AI tools as this can pose privacy and security risks. This is because AI tools collect information for training don't offer end-to-end encryption, meaning data could be potentially exposed to unintended parties.

AI chatbots are trained on data from different sources on the internet. This could include research papers, books, literature, government or legal documents, academic journals, encyclopedias, blogs websites, forums, and social media and news articles from mainstream or independent platforms.

The diversity of these sources means there can be a risk of bias related to gender, ethnicity, religion, culture, or political opinion, and certain perspectives may be over or underrepresented. Although safeguards exist to try and avoid this problem, AI tools can sometimes unintentionally learn and reproduce these biases.

How to reduce the risk of bias

Be aware and vigilant about the potential for bias. You can reduce the risk of bias by:

• cross-checking any output with reliable sources such as NHS guidelines, NICE guidelines, your organisation's best working practice, peer reviewed journals, etc.
• using AI tools as a supplementary tool for generating ideas, rather than a sole and primary source of information
• tailoring any requests appropriately, e.g. "According to UK law, NMC and NHS guidance, how might a band 5 nurse manage a challenging conversation about euthanasia with a patient."

How reliable is it?

AI tools are potentially helpful, but applying caution is key. Responses provided are based on what you share with the tool and what is available online which may contain bias, lack context, or be out of date. To reiterate, it’s important to verify information yourself.  

You may like to use it as an idea generator within your preparation process, but it should never be used as your sole career exploration tool. Human input for verification, bias checking, and countering is essential.

 

How can AI tools help me with my career?

Although AI tools can help you with a range of tasks in your personal and work life, our guidance will focus on how they can help you with your career.

AI tools can be used to assess and match individual skills to potential career pathways, help you with a CV or presentation, create an action plan, or simulate an interview to help with preparation.

How do I use an AI chatbot and what is a prompt?

To use an AI chat bot, simply type a question, instruction, or request. This is known as a 'prompt.' 

The usefulness of AI chatbot tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot etc. often depends on the effectiveness and detail of your prompt.

Prompts should be clear, concise, and specific, providing enough context to guide the AI towards the desired information or output.

Refining your prompt

If you've already used a prompt (e.g. "Give me 10 NHS interview questions") the response may be quite generic. You may want to add, "for a HCA" or "relevant for a renal ward," or "relating to leadership skills."

Useful prompts

Here is a list of prompts you can use for career ideas, career exploration, career planning, or career research. You can edit the prompts to suit your personal circumstances, goals, and situation.

"I am a [band 6 nurse] in the UK considering a new career in [district nursing] in [the NHS]. Provide a typical, in-depth description of this position, including key responsibilities, desirable skills, necessary qualifications, and typical career progression. Include insights into the specific tasks this role might involve, such as [example tasks relevant to the role]

"Compile a comprehensive list of interview questions for a [band 5 nurse] going for a position of [job title] in the [name of NHS Trust] in the UK. Questions should cover topics such as [insert criteria from person specification]"

"I have uploaded a person specification for the job I am interviewing for.

You will act as an interviewer and conduct a mock interview for the role of [insert job title] for [insert name of employer].

Ask me one question at a time and wait for my response, which should follow the [STAR technique].

After each answer, give me constructive feedback on what I did well and what I could improve.

Include tips on how to strengthen future answers.

Keep going until you have asked at least [10] relevant interview questions, including [a mix of competency-based and scenario-based questions.]

At the end, give me an overall summary of my performance and suggest areas for development."

"I am a [band 6 nurse] in [Scotland] with experience of working in [oncology, A&E, and HDU] settings. What transferable skills do I have to move into [Practice Nursing]?"

"I am planning to transition from a career in [specific field X] to [specific field Y]. Help me create an action plan that includes SMART goals to facilitate this career change. Consider aspects such as necessary qualifications, skill development, networking strategies, and job search tactics relevant to [special field Y]. Additionally, provide a timeline for each goal to help me manage this transition effectively."

"I am a [registered nurse] in [Wales] with [10 years] experience working in [nursing homes with elderly residents]. Give me 20 detailed and specific bullets for my CV that show off my clinical skills, experience, clinical knowledge, responsibilities and scope of practice."

"I am a [Registered Nurse] with experience in care homes and nursing homes. I am sending my CV to apply for a [staff nurse] role in a [Gastroenterology & Hepatology Ward] for [NHS Trust.] How can I enhance and/or add to the following bullets, and if possible, emphasise any transferable skills that will be relevant to the target role:

• person centred care
• administering medication
• assisting residents with daily tasks
• safeguarding, infection control, frailty, wound care"

"I am a [newly qualified Adult Nurse] writing a supporting statement for a [band 5 staff nurse] role on the [medical ward] at [NHS Trust]. My training placements covered a [medical ward, surgical ward, community nursing, renal outpatients, and elderly care ward.] I need an example that demonstrates the criteria [ability to problem solve]. Give 3 examples that use the CAR technique (Context, Action, Result) and write no more than 4 sentences. The example should contain useful context." 

"I am a [band 5 nurse] in the UK and want to apply for a job within the [Research Department] for the [Central Townsville NHS Trust]. Give me some key facts about its Research department, including achievements, key focus, initiatives, awards and other recent/relevant news."

"Reduce the following text from my job application to 200 words maximum: [insert text]"

Career Coaching

Remember you can work with an RCN Career Coach to support you with your career. See our page on career coaching for more details on what one to one career coaching can help with.

Acknowledgements

ChatGPT was utilised to generate sections of this work.