CareerChat UK Wins Prestigious Career Development Award

About the UK Career Development Awards

The UK Career Development Awards (UKCDAs) are organised annually by the Career Development Institute (CDI), the UK’s professional body for careers practitioners.

These awards celebrate excellence and innovation across the sector, with categories that honour:

• Individual career development professionals
  
• Organisations making a difference through guidance and employability support
  
• Outstanding initiatives in education, employability, skills, and technology

The Use of Technology in Career Development Award is particularly competitive, showcasing the best digital innovations designed to improve how people make informed career choices. To be recognised at this level affirms that CareerChat UK’s work is setting new benchmarks in the field.

Key Features of CiCi

• 24/7 personalised career exploration: Students and adults can access advice at any time, removing barriers of scheduling or geography.
  
• Conversational AI design: Structured conversation flows mirror the interactions between career practitioners and their clients.
  
• Multilingual support: Translating into over 100 languages, CiCi ensures inclusivity and accessibility for diverse communities.
  
• Text-to-speech technology: Supports users with accessibility needs and different learning preferences.
  
• Downloadable career journey: Users can save their exploration path and revisit it, or share it with a teacher, adviser, or parent.
  
• Direct access to human advisers: AI augments but does not replace professional guidance; students can be referred to careers advisers where needed.
  

Since launch, CiCi has supported more than 69,000 users, including students, educators, parents, and vulnerable adults in local communities. This scale of impact, coupled with continuous improvement, is what earned recognition in the career development award judging process.

Recognition Beyond the Career Development Award

This victory builds on years of acknowledgement for CiCi and the CareerChat UK team:

• NESTA/DfE CareerTech Challenge: CiCi was named a Top 20 finalist in this landmark competition exploring the future of careers and skills.
• SetSquared Business Accelerator, Exeter University: CiCi was one of twelve new start-ups recognised through expert entrepreneurship support and guidance
• Santander X Global Challenge: Education, Employability, and Entrepreneurship: CiCi named as a global semi-finalist recognised for cutting-edge AI innovation.

These milestones illustrate a consistent pattern of innovation, positioning CareerChat UK as a trusted leader in AI-enabled careers information and advice, with an inbuilt warm handover option to a human careers adviser.

The Evolution of CiCi and Charlie

CiCi has not stood still. Over the past four years, the platform has grown to integrate cutting-edge large language models (LLMs).

Most recently, we introduced Charlie, powered by GPT-4.0, offering users a more open and dynamic conversation space to ask questions, explore interests, and generate new ideas. Watch this space for GPT-5.0 latest developments!

This combination of curated flows (CiCi) and open AI chat (Charlie) means learners can benefit from both structured career guidance and flexible exploration, depending on their needs and confidence levels.

Why Winning a Career Development Award Matters

Being recognised by the Career Development Institute has significance beyond the trophy:

1. Trust and Credibility
   Schools, colleges, careers and employability providers and employers can be confident that CareerChat UK’s tools are peer-reviewed and sector-validated.
   
2. Proven Impact
   Judges highlighted CiCi’s ability to reach tens of thousands of users 24:7, including those most vulnerable or underserved.
   
3. Commitment to Accessibility
   Features like multilingual translation and text-to-speech demonstrate our focus on ensuring no learner is left behind.
   
4. Shaping the Future of Careers Guidance
   This award confirms that AI can play a positive, ethical role in career development, complementing the expertise of human advisers.

What This Means for Students, Educators, and Advisers

The benefits of CiCi and CareerChat UK’s innovations extend well beyond the recognition of a career development award.

For Students

• On-demand trustworthy careers information and advice that adapts to their stage of decision-making
• Exploration of pathways from apprenticeships to university and beyond
• Multilingual and accessible features for diverse learners, including those with special educational needs/disabilities (SEND).
  

For Educators

• Time-saving support, allowing teachers and careers staff to focus on meaningful interventions
• Data-driven insights into student interests, helping schools plan careers provision more effectively
• Evidence captured on user voices and their experience of using CiCi for career exploration
  

For Careers Advisers

• Augmented professional practice, with AI handling routine queries while advisers focus on complex, high-value interactions
• Ongoing professional development, through expert AI contributions to ethical policies and practices
• New careers resources available to inform and support practice
  

The Bigger Picture: Technology in Career Development

Winning the Career Development Award is not just about celebrating one product. It represents a shift in the sector:

• Digital transformation is now central to careers education and guidance.
  
• AI and LLMs can widen access, provide data insights, and personalise support.
  
• Partnerships between tech innovators and careers professionals are essential to ensure tools are ethical, evidence-based, and effective.
  

CareerChat UK is proud to be at the forefront of this transformation.

Looking Ahead

As we celebrate this career development award, we also look to the future. Our priorities include:

• Expanding CiCi and Charlie to reach even more schools, colleges, universities and community organisations.
  
• Continuing to refine our AI models to balance personalisation, accuracy, and ethics.
  
• Strengthening partnerships with educators, careers and employability providers, employers, and policymakers to shape the future of career guidance in the UK and beyond.

Winning the UK Career Development Award for Use of Technology in Career Development is a proud moment for the CareerChat UK team. It validates our mission to deliver accessible, innovative, and ethical career support to learners of all ages.

With CiCi, Charlie, and our ongoing commitment to collaboration, we are confident that the next chapter in career guidance will be more inclusive, more engaging, and more empowering for students and adults alike.

For more information about CareerChat UK and CiCi, please contact us or book a demo today

Sources: 

NESTA/DfE CareerTech Challenge

Santander

CDI 

SetSquared, Exeter University