About Careerify (Pitch + White Paper)
Careerify Pitch
(Find the full video here)
Careerify White Paper
Overview
Careerify is a pioneering education platform, uniquely bridging the gap between students and professionals with a democratized platform soon to be powered by AI. At its core, Careerify facilitates unprecedented connections, enabling students to directly engage with experienced industry experts across various fields. This innovative open marketplace platform leverages a user-friendly and engaging web app (https://careerify.org/), which simplifies the process of discovering and scheduling video conferencing meetings with these pros. Through these interactions, students can gain invaluable insights into the education, skills, and workplace realities of diverse careers, paving the way for more informed and personalized career choices. Careerify stands out not only as a tool for career exploration but as a catalyst for educational empowerment, democratizing access to professional guidance and mentorship.
Identifying the Gap
The landscape of career decision-making for students is fraught with uncertainty and a lack of accessible, personalized guidance. Current educational systems often fall short in providing the real-world insights students need to make informed decisions about their future careers. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) underscores this challenge, revealing that nearly one-third of college students change their major at least once, indicating potential misalignment between initial expectations and reality (NCES, 2018). Furthermore, the overall graduation rate stands at only 64%, with significant disparities observed across different socio-economic groups (NCES, 2022).
In addition to the college graduation statistics, there exists an even larger problem. The transition from college to an actual job. A survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities found a stark contrast between student and employer perceptions of job readiness, with only 27% of employers agreeing with students' assessment of their own skills (Voice of America News, n.d.). Furthermore, a McGraw-Hill Education survey revealed that only 41% of U.S. college students feel "very" or "extremely" prepared for their future careers, indicating a significant disconnect between educational experiences and workplace expectations (McGraw-Hill Education, 2018).
This situation points to a critical gap in our educational infrastructure: the absence of direct, experiential learning from those already established in various industries. Such a gap not only hinders students' ability to choose suitable career paths but also perpetuates inequality in career access and success. Careerify is positioned to address this pressing need by offering a platform where meaningful conversations and mentorship can flourish in a free marketplace, ultimately guiding students towards more fulfilling and well-informed career choices.
Industry Overview: Evolving Educational Technologies
The educational technology landscape has witnessed a significant transformation over the past decade, driven by a need for more personalized and accessible learning experiences. Platforms like Outschool have pioneered this shift by offering a wide range of online courses for students, meeting a growing demand for diverse and flexible educational options. Outschool's success in creating an intuitive, user-centric online learning environment mirrors a broader industry trend towards leveraging technology to enhance educational accessibility and quality.
In this evolving landscape, there's a noticeable gap in career education and guidance. While students today have unprecedented access to academic resources, there remains a distinct lack of platforms dedicated to real-world career exploration and mentorship. Careerify addresses this gap by combining the technological innovation seen in platforms like Outschool with a focus on career mentorship. Just as Outschool revolutionized access to varied learning opportunities, Careerify aims to transform how students gain insights into different careers, leveraging intuitive technology to connect them with a diverse range of industry professionals. This approach not only complements the existing educational technology ecosystem but also expands it by adding a crucial dimension of career exploration and practical mentorship.
Solution Overview: Careerify's Unique Approach to Career Exploration
Careerify stands at the forefront of a new era in career guidance, offering a unique solution to the challenges identified in the career decision-making process for students. Our open marketplace platform serves as a dynamic bridge, potentially connecting students with an extensive network of experienced professionals across various industries. This connection is facilitated through an open marketplace model, where professionals can list their availability and expertise, allowing students to schedule one-on-one video conferencing sessions.
These interactions provide students with valuable insights into the practical aspects of different careers, including education requirements, day-to-day responsibilities, and workplace culture. Careerify's innovative approach not only makes career exploration more accessible but also more personalized and relevant to each student's interests and aspirations. By democratizing access to professional guidance, Careerify empowers students to make informed decisions about their future, fostering a more prepared and confident next generation of professionals.
Technical Overview: The Backbone of Careerify
At the core of Careerify's seamless user experience and capabilities is a robust, scalable backend built from the ground up with trusted technologies. Developed with a focus on simplicity and effectiveness, the platform utilizes a cutting-edge NextJS project and Google Cloud resources to ensure a 99% uptime, reactive UI.. Real-time scheduling capabilities are integrated to facilitate effortless organization of meetings between students and professionals, as well as flexible payment options through Stripe Connect.
Additionally, the backend of the platform is built on a secure, cloud-based infrastructure, ensuring high availability and data security for all users. The incorporation of advanced search functionalities with Algolia Search helps to match students with professionals based on their specific interests and goals.
Careerify's AI Tools: Defining the Future
Looking ahead, Careerify plans to integrate AI-driven functionalities into the core of its platform, beginning with a tool called Careerify's AI Discovery. By leveraging the capabilities of OpenAI's GPT-4 language model to provide career guidance and suggestions based upon a user's interests, favorite subjects, and prior experience, this tool will greatly streamline use of the platform.
The second AI tool to be released will be called Careerify's AI Job Fair, in which GPT 4 will be utilized to represent professionals in specific career fields. By integrating a seamless UI in the theme of a job fair and allowing students (at a fremium tier) to communicate with these AI impersonations via OpenAI's Whisper (and a TTS model), students will be able to learn more about a career before finding a real professional and talking with them on the main Careerify platform.
This forward-thinking approach positions Careerify not only as a solution for today but as a platform evolving to meet the future needs of career education.
Cost and Business Analysis: The Economic Potential of Careerify
At its core, Careerify is not just an innovative educational platform but also a promising business venture with significant market potential. Currently, the platform operates in a Test Phase, with a strategic plan for monetization that focuses on a platform fee per meeting and, eventually, a paid certification status for verified sellers. The pricing model is designed to be driven by the open market of professionals' listings, ensuring accessibility for students while providing fair compensation for professionals.
Preliminary market analysis indicates a strong demand for personalized career guidance, with the potential customer base including high school and college students. In terms of cost structure, initial operations are lean, primarily involving backend and web hosting through Google Cloud Platform. Developed by a single engineering student (see below), the cost to develop has been negligible. As Careerify scales, the model allows for cost effective resource scaling, particularly for hosted backend features.
Though revenue figures are yet to be generated, the projected financial outlook for Careerify is promising, based on multiple studies from NCES that indicate a large learning gap in this area, and individual research at the student level. With a commitment to continuous improvement and adaptation, Careerify is poised to capture a significant share of the educational technology market, delivering value to its users and stakeholders alike.
Call to Action: Join the Careerify Revolution
As Careerify embarks on its mission to redefine career guidance for students, we invite you to be a part of this transformative journey as beta testers. Whether you are a student seeking clarity on your career path, a professional eager to share your industry insights, or an educational institution looking to enhance your career services, Careerify offers you the platform to connect and grow. Visit https://careerify.org/ to explore the possibilities and join us in shaping a future where every student has access to personalized, real-world career guidance. Please note that, as it is still in development, the site may not function as expected at all times, and all data entered (including payment) should be trivial.
Summary: Empowering the Next Generation of Professionals
Careerify stands as a beacon of innovation in the educational technology landscape, uniquely positioned to address the critical gap in career guidance. With its user-friendly platform, open marketplace model, and commitment to accessible mentorship, Careerify is not just a tool but a movement towards empowering students to make informed, confident career decisions. As we continue to grow and evolve, integrating cutting-edge technologies and expanding our reach, the heart of Careerify remains constant: to equip students with the insights and connections they need for a successful and fulfilling professional journey.
About the Developer
Hello, my name is Aiden Nelson and I am the solo developer behind Careerify.
As a 19-year-old senior Computer Science student (4.0 GPA) set to graduate from Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville (SIUE) in the next few months, I have spent the past few semesters iterating on this idea and developing the web app you now see.
A prior Palantir intern (and winner of their internal hackweek for an AI integration project), I have experience in a range of full stack fields, with a particular passion in AI systems and Python-based data analysis/dev'ing, as well as genetics research with CS.
Most of all, I am driven by the desire to create real change in education. I was homeschooled by my fantastic veteran mother from 5th grade through high school, and from that realized how difficult finding career mentors can be to someone without connections or traditional support system.
Furthermore, to see so many peers struggling to find purpose in their major, or struggling to understand how their courses apply to the real world, I knew there must be a solution.
I hope that Careerify meets this need. And, most of all, I hope it brings people together and offers career connections in an open, accessible way for all. Thank you for your support.
May God bless,
Aiden Nelson | aidenjnelson@careerify.org
Citations
National Center for Education Statistics. (2018). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2018 (NCES 2018-434). U.S. Department of Education. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018434.pdf
National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Indicator 23: Postsecondary graduation rates. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/raceindicators/indicator_red.asp
National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Undergraduate Retention and Graduation Rates. In The Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 31, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/ctr
Voice of America News. (n.d.). US College Students Feel Unprepared for 'Real' World. Retrieved from https://www.voanews.com/a/us-college-students-feel-unprepared-for-real-world/3539712.html
McGraw-Hill Education. (2018). New Survey: Only 4 in 10 U.S. College Students Feel Well-Prepared for Their Future Careers; Perceptions of Preparedness Vary Widely By Gender. Retrieved from https://www.mheducation.com/news-insights/press-releases/2018-future-workforce-survey-results.html