AI Guides › Workbench
By Nigel Guy · 8 min read
Most people trying to change career paste their CV into a chatbot and ask "what else could I do?" Back comes a tidy list of job titles (project manager, consultant, trainer, "customer success") that reads as encouraging and tells you almost nothing. It is built from your title, not your tasks, so you leave feeling you have options and no idea which one is real.
The rule: break your work into tasks and evidence first, match those tasks to roles second, and only trust a suggested path once a real job advert backs it up.
I could not confirm a single, current free product called "Career Pivot Agent", so this guide doesn't send you to one. It builds the same thing from three prompts and three free official tools.
| Tool | What it does | Cost at time of writing | Best for | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The three prompts below, in ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini | Pulls out your transferable tasks, proposes adjacent roles with reasons, checks you against a real advert | Free tiers available; paid plans exist but aren't needed here | Getting past job titles to the underlying skills | Will invent salaries, demand figures and "typical" requirements if you let it |
| National Careers Service skills assessment (England) | 40 multiple-choice questions, about 5 to 10 minutes, then career suggestions | Free, no account needed (you get a reference code to come back to it) | A UK-grounded starting point and a sense of what motivates you | Broad suggestions; it doesn't read your CV |
| National Careers Service job profiles | Each profile covers qualifications, salary, progression and day-to-day tasks | Free | Checking whether a role the AI suggests needs a qualification you don't have | Salary figures are national guides, not offers |
| O*NET OnLine advanced search (US Department of Labor) | Finds occupations from your job duties, work activities, soft skills or software skills | Free | Mapping tasks to roles you'd never think to search for | US job titles and pay; translate before using |
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own careers services. The National Careers Service help page links to each of them.
The step most people skip. Run it first, in a fresh chat.
Fill in: paste your CV or a plain description of your last two roles, plus anything you do outside work that you'd happily do for money.
You are a careers analyst who specialises in transferable skills. Your job is to describe my work in terms of tasks and evidence, not job titles.
My background:
[PASTE_CV_OR_ROLE_DESCRIPTIONS]
Work I do outside my job that I would consider paid work:
[OUTSIDE_WORK_OR_NONE]
Steps:
1. List 12 to 20 concrete tasks I actually perform. Write each one as a verb plus an object plus a context, e.g. "reconcile supplier invoices against purchase orders for a 40-site estate".
2. For each task, note the evidence in my text that supports it. If there is none, mark it "needs evidence" rather than assuming it.
3. Group the tasks into 4 to 6 underlying skills, using plain names rather than buzzwords.
4. Point out which tasks look rare or hard to hire for, and explain why in one line.
Output: a table with columns Task | Evidence | Skill group | Rare? (yes/no + reason).
Rules: do not suggest any careers yet. Do not inflate what I've written. If my description is too thin to produce 12 tasks, ask me up to five specific questions before you start.
Before you answer, check that every task points back to something I actually wrote or something you flagged as needing evidence.
Keep the table. You'll paste it into the next two prompts and into O*NET.
Each suggestion must name the tasks it reuses and what getting there would cost you.
Fill in: the table from Item 1, your location, your constraints (pay floor, hours, retraining time you can afford), and anything you refuse to do.
You are helping me find career paths I haven't considered that reuse work I already do well.
My task table:
[PASTE_TABLE_FROM_ITEM_1]
Location and willingness to relocate or work remotely: [LOCATION_AND_FLEXIBILITY]
Constraints: [PAY_FLOOR_HOURS_RETRAINING_TIME]
Things I won't do: [DEALBREAKERS]
Steps:
1. Propose 8 roles: 3 obvious next steps, 3 sideways moves into a different sector, and 2 that would surprise me.
2. For each role, list the tasks from my table it reuses, the gaps I would need to close, and whether it is likely to need a formal qualification, licence or registration in the UK.
3. Rate each one Bridge (could apply now), Stretch (6 to 12 months of work) or Rebuild (needs retraining).
4. Give the search terms I should use on UK job boards to find real adverts for each role.
Output: one table with columns Role | Tasks reused | Gaps | Qualification gate? | Rating | Search terms.
Rules: do not give salary figures or demand statistics; I will check those from official sources. If you are unsure whether a role is regulated, say "check" rather than guessing. If my constraints rule out a role, leave it out and explain why in one line underneath.
Before you answer, check that every role reuses at least three tasks from my table, and that none of them simply repeats my current job title.
Pick the two or three roles that interest you, find a real live advert for each, and run this once per advert.
Fill in: the full advert text and your task table.
You are a sceptical recruiter screening my application for the job below. Be accurate, not kind.
Job advert:
[PASTE_FULL_ADVERT]
My task table:
[PASTE_TABLE_FROM_ITEM_1]
Steps:
1. Pull out every requirement in the advert and mark it essential or desirable, based on the wording.
2. Match each requirement to my evidence and grade it Met, Partly met or Not met.
3. Name the single biggest reason you would reject me, and the cheapest credible way I could fix it.
4. Draft three CV bullet points that rewrite my existing tasks in this advert's language without overstating anything.
Output: a requirements table, then the rejection reason and fix, then the three bullets.
Rules: if the advert names a qualification or registration I don't have, treat it as Not met however strong the rest of my evidence is. Ask me before assuming anything that isn't in my table.
Before you answer, re-read the advert and confirm that no essential requirement has been left out of the table.
National Careers Service skills assessment. Go to nationalcareers.service.gov.uk, open "Discover your skills and careers" and answer the 40 questions. Write down the reference code so you can return to your results. Roles that appear here and in your Item 2 table deserve a closer look.
Job profiles. For each role you rated Bridge or Stretch, look it up under "Explore careers". Check the entry routes and qualifications section before you believe the AI's "Qualification gate?" column. If the profile lists a regulated route, that settles it.
O*NET advanced search. On onetonline.org, open "Find Occupations" and use the Job Duties search. Paste in two or three of your rarest tasks from Item 1, one at a time. It matches on duties rather than titles, which is where surprising roles come from. Titles and pay are American, so treat results as names to verify in UK job profiles and job boards.