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Calling all Bristol-based adults to test careers bot

City of Bristol College is pleased to have partnered with dmh associates and Pontydsygu, supported by DfE and Nesta, to develop a highly innovate career chatbot aimed at low-skilled adults and those at risk of losing their jobs in the cities of Bristol, Derby and Newcastle.

The bot, which is currently in a prototype stage, aims to provide a personalised, guided career journey experience for adults. It will be available 24/7 to support adults in Bristol with career decisions.

Through the bot, people will be able to access high-quality information on training opportunities, job vacancies, CV help and more. CiCi will be accessible on a range of devices including computers and mobile phones.

Volunteer to test CiCi

DMH associates are currently recruiting test volunteers.

By volunteering, you can help CiCi give people the careers advice they need.

To volunteer you must:

  • Be aged 18 or over
  • Be based in or near Derby, Bristol or Newcastle
  • Have some questions about your career or getting a job that you would like to explore!

So, what can CiCi do for you? CiCi:

  • Will be a friend who you can ask for information and advice to help you make career decisions.
  • Will show you what the local labour market looks like – where is the job growth; what are the wages/salaries in these jobs; what skills are needed.
  • Will help you think about what new skills you might need.
  • Will identify where you can get training to get new skills and advance your career.
  • Will identify where are the local job vacancies you can apply for.
  • Will help you find tools and services that suggest other careers you might not have considered that may suit you.
  • Will direct you to a careers adviser or careers service if speaking to a professional adviser is what you need.
  • Will keep a record of the “chat” you have had and the information you have provided so that – if you request it – CiCi can pass the details onto a careers adviser to help them to help you further.
  • Will be there for you in the future -24/7 – if you ever need help again.

How can you help us to develop the CiCi prototype into a full tool? You can:

  • Test out the CiCi prototype to see how easy or difficult it is to use. Remember: this is work in progress not the finished career chatbot!
  • Ask all sorts of questions to see if CiCi has the answers. If not tell us – that is exactly what we need to know so we can programme CiCi to answer more questions.
  • Tell us what CiCi does not do, that you would like it to do.
  • Tell us what CiCi can do better as well as what it already does well.
  • Tell us if you would recommend CiCi to a friend.

Download flyer about CiCi volunteer opportunity (pdf)

How to apply to become a volunteer tester

If you are interested in becoming a test volunteer, please sign up by 16 November 2020 at: https://dmhassociates.org/careerchat

Where to find us