An AI-powered consultant to boost your career

In today’s fast-changing, technology-driven employment landscape, having the right career guidance is critical in staying relevant and competitive.

To support this, the Government Technology Agency of Singapore (GovTech) has developed Career Kaki, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered career guidance application, in line with the Ministry of Manpower’s Career Health movement.

Integrated with Singpass and linked with both MyCareersFuture and MySkillsFuture, Career Kaki offers career coaching, alongside personalised recommendations such as job listings, courses and resources relevant to one’s interests.

Since its launch in July 2024, Career Kaki has facilitated over 9,000 conversations.

Speaking to GovInsider, GovTech’s Senior Product Manager, Liau Wen Rui, shared that Career Kaki was built to tackle two critical challenges facing workers in Singapore: insufficient career self-awareness and barriers to accessing career services.

“The app aims to empower career-seekers to take a more proactive ownership of their professional development, particularly in a rapidly changing job market where traditional career paths are becoming obsolete,” says Liau.

More than just a job search tool

Career Kaki represents a strategic approach to digital government innovation.

“The app is not just a job search tool, but a comprehensive career development platform that can potentially inform policy decisions, track long-term career health outcomes, and provide insights into skills development,” he adds.

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Career Kaki leverages AI as an intelligent agent that goes beyond traditional search functions, says Liau.

“When a user interacts with the platform, the AI evaluates the context of their query, decides which data sources to access, and provides tailored recommendations – drawing data from MySkillsFuture’s Careers & Skills Passport to personalise these conversations,” adds Liau.

For instance, the AI can understand nuanced queries, such as job preferences for individuals with special needs or career transitions into different industries.

By creating a secure, AI-powered platform that integrates government data sources, Career Kaki aims to bridge the gap between individual career aspirations and national economic needs, helping Singaporeans navigate their professional journeys with greater confidence and strategic insight.

Beyond traditional course searches

Apart from job listings, Career Kaki also provides course recommendations through a conversational AI approach that differs from traditional search methods.

“When users search for courses, the AI doesn't just return a list of results, but offers personalised recommendations based on the user's background,” says Liau.

“For example, if someone has a diploma in marketing, the AI will analyse available courses and recommend the most suitable options, explaining why each course might be relevant to their career path.”  

The platform currently draws course listings primarily from MySkillsFuture but is exploring integration with other platforms that provide APIs that can be integrated into Career Kaki.

Using Career Kaki, users can interact more naturally by asking specific questions like "What course would be best for me with my current qualifications?"

The AI then uses the user's employment history, educational background, and existing skills to generate personalised suggestions.

“Unlike standard search results that simply list courses, Career Kaki's AI can explain why a particular course might be beneficial, how it aligns with the user's career goals, and how it could potentially enhance their professional development,” says Liau. “This approach makes course exploration more interactive and personalised.”

However, integrating with third-party job portals poses a significant challenge for the team behind Career Kaki.

“These platforms often have proprietary systems and do not offer open APIs, making programmatic job listing retrieval technically complex and potentially costly,” he explains.

Laying the groundwork for data analysis

Liau notes that the Career Kaki team is currently in the early stages of data analysis and long-term outcome tracking.

“Our immediate focus is on improving product quality and driving engaging conversations.

“We are building data pipelines to track long-term career outcomes, leveraging Singpass integration to access more comprehensive user data,” he says.

This allows the team to assess conversation quality and understand user search behaviour, thus identifying areas for product improvement.

Future plans include tracking employment outcomes for users, analysing career trends, and using gleaned insights to potentially inform government policy.

Career Kaki is envisioned as a ‘toolbox’ that will gradually expand in breadth and depth of capabilities.

“The key is executing well now, with long-term data utilisation as a future goal. As the product matures and gathers more data, they expect to provide more meaningful insights into career development and job market trends in Singapore,” says Liau.

Addressing a complex challenge

One key challenge the Career Kaki team is working on is capturing qualitative job search preferences due to the inherent complexity of translating soft requirements into searchable criteria.

“Currently, the app struggles to effectively process nuanced user input like desire for hybrid work, specific location preferences, or flexible hours,” says Liau.

He notes that the app's current approach involves attempting to interpret job listings for flexible work arrangements, but this method is not comprehensive.

“The team is actively working on developing more sophisticated search capabilities that can understand and match qualitative job requirements, acknowledging that employers don't consistently provide detailed information about work arrangements.”

This is a key focus area of future development for Career Kaki – to build a more empathetic and responsive AI that can truly understand the complex, human-centric aspect of job searching beyond simple quantitative matching.