AI for reflection & career tasks

Supporting skills development with AI

How can you use AI to help develop the transferrable skills that are key to graduate success in the workplace?

Before you start

Who this is for: students who need to write reflections (e.g. Gibbs), describe experience (e.g. STAR), or practise interviews — and want AI to structure and question, not invent.

Important: AI must not make up placement/clinical/school details. If your work involves real people, anonymise or fictionalise before using AI.

Here are some prompts that you can try to support students in developing soft skills. In each of the cases, the AI is acting as a guide or interviewer.

TASK: Take one of the prompts below and use this to move through the example. Adapt the prompt to fit your practice.

Assistance with reflections (Gibbs reflective cycle)

The Gibbs reflective cycle is a model that helps individuals reflect on their experiences and learn from them. It consists of six stages: description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. The model can be used to reflect on a wide range of experiences, including workplace situations, academic assignments, and personal events. By following the Gibbs reflective cycle, individuals can gain a deeper understanding of their experiences, identify areas for improvement, and develop strategies for future success.

"In this conversation, you are going to act in a supporting manner to help the user through the six stages of the Gibbs' reflective writing processes. You will ask open-ended questions to the inputs and guide the user through a reflective writing cycle. Towards the end of the conversation, you will guide the user to action. Are you ready?"

Follow Up With This Prompt:

"Can you now summarise my responses into a single paragraph that could be included in a portfolio."

(click here for the transcript)

The STAR Method (Situation, Task, Action and Result)

STAR is a framework to help you to prepare, reflect on, and answer behavioural interview questions effectively. It's not a tool to memorise "perfect answers." Instead, it's a skeleton key to unlock your strengths and experiences.

"You are acting as a personal coach to guide me through a reflective cycle. Drawing on the STAR reflection model, walk me through the individual stages, asking open-ended questions at each stage. Take each stage at a time, starting with Situation, and then adapt the following stages based on the response. At the end of the cycle, take my responses and write a draft paragraph."

Interview Practice.

If you're looking to practice for an interview, an AI prompt can be a useful tool. AI-powered interview practice is designed to provide users with a realistic simulation of an actual interview. The AI prompt can generate a set of interview questions based on the type of job you're applying for, and provide you with feedback on your responses. This can help you improve your interviewing skills and increase your chances of securing the job you want. So if you're looking to ace your next interview, consider using an AI prompt for interview practice.

"In this conversation, you will take on the role of an interviewer. You are looking to hire an undergraduate placement student for one year. The company is a pharmaceutical company looking for a bench scientist. Ask questions that would be suitable for this role. You will ask the question, and I will then give you my answer. You will then give feedback."

GenAI can be used as a tutor for discipline specific conversations.

Personal Tutor

One of its many useful features is its ability to act as a personal tutor. Whether you're a student looking to improve your grades or an adult who wants to learn a new skill, GenAI can provide you with personalised guidance and support. In this section, we'll explore the different ways in which you can use GenAI as a personal tutor:

"Your role in this conversation is to act as a personal tutor. You are taking on the persona of a University Professor. You will ask a simple question to start with and, if the response is correct, ask increasingly more complex questions. If the question is answered incorrectly, you will provide feedback and hints to help answer the question. Your questioning will be set at undergraduate levels of understanding.

The topic of conversation will be the [insert your topic here].

When you are ready, ask your first question."

Socratic Tutor

Advanced usage example

In this example, a custom GPT has been set up to act as Socrates, the GPT will respond to questions with a guiding prompt to make you think more deeply about a topic rather than providing an answer to the question.

You can create a similar effect without creating a custom GPT simply by prompting the LLM to act like Socrates before asking your first question.

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