In a story that only makes sense in 2025, this January I started at USAID as an Institutional Support Contractor, only to be laid off on day two.
I am Guillaume Foutry and like many of you, I’ve been wondering what my next career move should be. Should I stay in digital health, explore a different sector, or finally open that beach bar in a tropical paradise?
A Fun Start for Career Brainstorming
On February 20, Google launched Career Dreamer, an AI-powered tool designed to help users explore career possibilities. Google describes it as an “early-stage experiment exploring how AI can assist people in discovering career paths.”
I thought it would be the perfect way to validate my beach bar owner career plan, so I decided to give it a try.
I was pleasantly surprised! The interface is easy to use, the data visualization is sleek, and some of the career suggestions were both useful and humorous. My favorite: “AI-Assisted Brewmaster”.
How Google Career Dreamer Works
Career Dreamer takes users through three steps to help you think of a new career pivot:
1. Career identity
You input past roles, education, skills, and interests, and the tool generates a career identity statement—a short summary that might even be useful for your resume (with some tweaking).
2. Explore paths
This was the most interesting part for me. The tool generates over 20 job suggestions, split into two categories.
Traditional roles (blue dots): These come from a US occupational database and include salary ranges, education requirements, and skill overlap. You can also search for jobs directly through Google.
AI-generated ideas (green dots): These are more creative—sometimes even a bit far-fetched—hence its suggestion that I become an AI-Assisted Brewmaster.
The results vary depending on the information you provide. Adjusting your roles, skills, or interests changes the recommendations.
3. Jump to Gemini
The final step invites users to use Google Gemini for tasks like resume writing and cover letter generation. I tried using Gemini Advanced, 2.0 Flash, to explore my AI-Assisted Brewmaster career path but was disappointed. The output felt generic and uninspired.
Using ChatGPT for Career Exploration
Curious to see how ChatGPT would handle the same prompt, I ran it through OpenAI’s model instead. The difference was night and day.
Instead of generic text, ChatGPT gave me:
A deep dive into the beer industry and how AI is influencing brewing
Actionable steps for a career transition, including professional certificates and potential employers
A dynamic conversation where refining my prompts led to increasingly useful insights
Then I wondered… What if I skipped Career Dreamer and asked ChatGPT to brainstorm career pivots directly?
So, I uploaded my CV and used a simple prompt: "Can you help me brainstorm a career pivot?" ChatGPT responded with:
Relevant job titles
Reasoning for pursuing those roles
Potential job opportunities and organizations to apply to
I added nine follow-up prompts, which led to even more specific and personalized career ideas. Here’s three you can try:
Focus on the Baltimore/DC region
Review my LinkedIn profile to update your recommendations
Focus on positions in the private sector
The best part? I now have an ongoing chat thread that I can revisit over the coming weeks as my ideas change and opportunites appear.
Use GenAI to Explore Your Career Pivot
If you are exploring new career options, Google Career Dreamer is a great starting point for inspiration. It is especially useful for discovering new job titles and understanding how your skills translate into different roles.
Join Our Free GenAI for Job Searching Webinar on Tuesday Noon EST
But when it comes to taking action—refining career choices, identifying opportunities, and creating a roadmap — Google falls short because of its generic, lengthy answers. ChatGPT, on the other hand, provides concise answers, a clear action plan for industry pivots, and even direct links to job opportunities in some cases.
A Caution with GenAI
Remember the most important thing about any AI product: take everything it generates with a grain of salt.
For example, the outreach messages ChatGPT generated for me served as a solid starting point but were not polished enough to be copied and pasted into an email or a LinkedIn message without significant tweaks.
As for me? I am now looking at opportunities in digital health in the private sector. The beach bar will have to wait... For now.
