Byte-sized guidance: AI use in mapping emerging opportunities

In India, career guidance has evolved significantly over the past five years, influenced by technological advancements, changing job markets, and a growing focus on skills development.

- Aparna Hanumantu

Traditionally, career counseling in India was largely a subjective process, relying heavily on face-to-face interactions with school counselors, parents, and teachers.

In fact, in smaller towns and rural areas, the concept of career guidance was practically nonexistent. As a result, most students in India were expected to follow paths like engineering or medicine, regardless of their interests, leaving them feeling uncertain and pressured to conform to societal expectations.

With such limited guidance, and with career counseling largely dependent on recommendations based on academic performance, students were often unaware of emerging career fields beyond conventional options.

Moreover, this approach was static, lacked real-time insights into students' skills, strengths, and interests, and ultimately, left students unprepared to handle the fast-evolving landscape of industry and technology.

Over the past five years, the analytics industry has evolved significantly. Before 2020, it mainly focused on basic data analysis, with AI tools still in early development. By 2025, AI and machine learning have become key drivers, providing more accurate, real-time insights.

The rapid advancement of AI and data analytics has reshaped nearly every industry, including career counseling, making data collection and interpretation faster and more efficient while offering actionable recommendations that help individuals make decisions based on their skills, strengths, and job market trends.