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Is a software based solution possible to help people find a career they love?

Aamir Ali

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Jul 22, 2018
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Four years ago I was working on a startup idea which was to create a social network for people who have similar passions so that they connect, support and share their knowledge, experience and resources with each other and help each other grow.

While I was working on that idea I realized that most people don't know what they're passionate about or what they're supposed to do with their life which got me curious to figure out - How can someone find a career they love?

Though I figured out the answer after spending lot of time reading and researching which is -
  1. Understand yourself deeply
  2. Deconstruct the career that you want to pursue to figure out whether it's a good fit for you or not.
  • By having conversations with successful people in the particular industry in which you want to pursue career in.
  • Or by taking small tiny actions and gain some experience of what it's like to be in a particular field.
I can't figure out how can I turn this framework into a tool (a web based application or a mobile app) that everyone can use to find a career they love. Though the obvious solution would be to create a blog or other form of content like videos, podcasts, book etc. But I've not successfully created my career so how can I teach others. All I need to know is a software based solution possible so that people can use it as a tool to figure out what they're supposed to do or the content based solution is the only way.

The software base solution that I've in mind is to create a site where their are interviews of the people of various industries which users can use to understand what the process is like to be in a particular field and hence take a better career descision. Based upon their understanding of themselves, for which we'll give them assessment which will help them understand themselves deeply.

But the solution somewhere seems impractical to me. I mean I can't figure out how to execute that that's why I'm looking for other software based solutions.
 
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Aamir Ali

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You'd be trying to automate the process in books like What Color Is Your Parachute. (There are other great career books. I'm using this one as an example.)

The biggest challenge is that if there's something you don't know, or that is a matter of how you feel, then it's really hard to quantify that into some kind of GUI you could click and put into a database. It's because people don't know enough to put their goals onto one page, and their action plan on a second single page, that they need this kind of guidance. If they knew enough to click through the options in an app, they'd know enough to not need the app.

I suspect the reason we don't have any household names for apps like this, is that there's an inherent contradiction here between what computers can process and what users know.

If you have a way to solve this problem, implement it ASAP because it would be truly unique and it would help a lot of people.

First of all, thanks for taking out your precious time for replying to my thread.

I believe that the idea I mentioned earlier is too hard to execute because I don't have the authority and connections to take interviews of highly successful people. And it's too much laborous and time taking process, also requiring a team to get the job done.

So, as a substitute I have other idea in mind. Which is ...

To create a website where people can overcome their issues related to their career by asking questions and getting answers to those questions, from people willing to answer. Like Quora.

My assumptions of approaching this idea is ...
  1. It will somewhere help people to figure out what it's like to be in a particular career, because as people tackle their career issues they somewhere see the pattern. Which in turn will help them contemplate and make better career choices and decisions. And move forward in the process of finding a career they love.
  2. People will be willing to answer questions if they...
  • Genuinly want to help and/or if they see the potential of marketing themselves and their business on my site.
My challenges and concerns ...
  1. How to approach/pitch people to give answers to the questions posted on my site. Specially the influential people who are experts in their respective fields.
  2. I think I will have to market it differently because it's not directly helping people to find a career they love. Instead it's helping them overcome the issues they've, related to their career.
  3. It will take alot of time. I mean the more data (questions and answers) will be their on the site the better and more usable the site will become.

Looking forward for your opinions.

Thanks in advance :smile2:
 

Late Bloomer

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So, as a substitute I have other idea in mind. Which is ...

To create a website where people can overcome their issues related to their career by asking questions and getting answers to those questions, from people willing to answer. Like Quora.

That sounds really positive and possible. Parachute suggests that when you consider a job hunt or career change, you talk with people doing that kind of work. This is just to learn, not to try to get a job right away. The book says exactly what to ask in an informational interview. But it doesn't really say how to find these people.

You could have a web site that focuses on this area. People who would like to share some thoughts about their line of work could sign up as available. People who are doing their research could sign up as asking. The site could match up questions and answers to help people learn more. With so many job seekers and employment focused people on the board, it would be natural to get ads from companies that deal with jobs and employment.

You could probably get your site mentioned in the next revision of Parachute. The original author revised the book every year. He just died but I think his son will carry on the annual revisions.

There are already reference systems you can use for free to categorize and index the questions and answers. Look up ONet Occupations for jobs and Naics for industries. These could go into your database, for people to click around what they know and what they would like to ask about. Then your site can automatically notify people, when someone else would like to have a conversation with them on their topics of interest.

Need to find someone who's open to discuss what it's like to work in an apple orchard? Want to find advice about careers that use lots of math? Open to share your experience with people who are curious about software? Would you like to give people tips about how to find jobs for athletic people such as yourself? This would be the site for these questions and answers to come together!

The conversations should go on the public site so others can read and learn. Have a private message feature, and maybe for an extra cost job hunters can posts their resumes/CV's and employers can post job ads.

Potential exit strategy might be to get acquired by LinkedIn.
 
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Late Bloomer

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You'd be trying to automate the process in books like What Color Is Your Parachute. (There are other great career books. I'm using this one as an example.)

The biggest challenge is that if there's something you don't know, or that is a matter of how you feel, then it's really hard to quantify that into some kind of GUI you could click and put into a database. It's because people don't know enough to put their goals onto one page, and their action plan on a second single page, that they need this kind of guidance. If they knew enough to click through the options in an app, they'd know enough to not need the app.

I suspect the reason we don't have any household names for apps like this, is that there's an inherent contradiction here between what computers can process and what users know.

If you have a way to solve this problem, implement it ASAP because it would be truly unique and it would help a lot of people.
 

Aamir Ali

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
67%
Jul 22, 2018
3
2
That sounds really positive and possible. Parachute suggests that when you consider a job hunt or career change, you talk with people doing that kind of work. This is just to learn, not to try to get a job right away. The book says exactly what to ask in an informational interview. But it doesn't really say how to find these people.

You could have a web site that focuses on this area. People who would like to share some thoughts about their line of work could sign up as available. People who are doing their research could sign up as asking. The site could match up questions and answers to help people learn more. With so many job seekers and employment focused people on the board, it would be natural to get ads from companies that deal with jobs and employment.

You could probably get your site mentioned in the next revision of Parachute. The original author revised the book every year. He just died but I think his son will carry on the annual revisions.

There are already reference systems you can use for free to categorize and index the questions and answers. Look up ONet Occupations for jobs and Naics for industries. These could go into your database, for people to click around what they know and what they would like to ask about. Then your site can automatically notify people, when someone else would like to have a conversation with them on their topics of interest.

Need to find someone who's open to discuss what it's like to work in an apple orchard? Want to find advice about careers that use lots of math? Open to share your experience with people who are curious about software? Would you like to give people tips about how to find jobs for athletic people such as yourself? This would be the site for these questions and answers to come together!

The conversations should go on the public site so others can read and learn. Have a private message feature, and maybe for an extra cost job hunters can posts their resumes/CV's and employers can post job ads.

Potential exit strategy might be to get acquired by LinkedIn.


First of all sorry for late reply. And thanks for sharing some really good ideas.

My biggest concern is how I'll generate leads and make people sign up to my site. And convince them that their's some value of using the site.

Because in the end people want to resolve their career issues as soon as possible. And if they use the site and their issue doesn't get resolved they'll simply leave and look for other solutions.

I would love to hear your opinions on this. Waiting for your reply.

Thanks in advance.
 
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