Dartmouth College Develops In-House AI for Career Services

Dartmouth College is taking a distinct approach to career services by hiring Kiley McEvoy, a former senior product manager at Google, to develop in-house artificial intelligence tools. Unlike many universities that rely on third-party AI vendors for tasks like resume polishing and interview preparation, Dartmouth aims to create its own personalized system to assist students and alumni in their career journeys.

While 86% of U.S. higher education institutions reported using AI in career services as of April, Dartmouth's strategy focuses on building a proprietary platform. This new AI product is intended to engage with students throughout their academic careers, gathering information on their interests and skills to facilitate more targeted job searches upon graduation. The goal is to move beyond basic resume and interview assistance to offer deeper career exploration.

Joe Catrino, executive director of Dartmouth's Center for Career Design, stated that traditional career office offerings have remained stagnant. McEvoy's role as chief product officer is to overhaul these services by creating custom AI solutions. These tools will aim to understand student profiles more granularly, suggesting suitable career paths rather than just optimizing application materials.

The platform also plans to enhance alumni networking by using AI to identify "nuanced overlaps" between students and alumni with relevant experience. McEvoy acknowledged that encouraging alumni participation will require a highly engaging platform. This initiative positions Dartmouth at the forefront of exploring AI's role within higher education and career development.