Illinois Institute of Technology · Career Services
Meet the AI Career Coach
Make it short and sweet! Ask your question — try “What is Elevate?” Get matched with the right resource, then connected to the right expert human.
There is a new tool on the Careers & Elevate Hub, built for a specific moment: you have a career question late at night, you are not sure what to search for, and you do not want to click through six pages to find out whether we even cover it. The AI Career Coach takes the question in plain language and hands you the resource, page, or event that actually answers it. It is not a general-purpose chatbot — it reads only what Career Services has approved and published on this site, and if we have not written about something it says so and points you toward a human.
Where to Find It
Look for the Red Button
Go to elevate.iit.edu. On the home page, look to the right-hand column, level with the Latest News heading. The first thing in that column is a wide red button reading Access AI Career Coach, sitting directly above the Search Keywords box. Click it and start typing.
On a phone, that column moves below the news feed — scroll past the latest stories and the button is there.
There is a second way in, and it works on every page of the Hub, not only the home page: a small round red button fixed in the lower-right corner of your screen. It stays put while you scroll. Click it and the panel slides open over whatever you were already reading.
Open the AI Career Coach here →That button opens the panel right here. If it sends you to the Hub home page instead, the panel had not finished loading yet — the red button in the right-hand column opens it.
Read This Part
The AI Career Coach does not replace your Human Career Coach!
We want to be direct about this, because it matters more than anything else on this page. The conversation you have with a career coach is priceless, and nothing here is designed to replace it. A coach knows the employers who hire Illinois Tech students. A coach reads your resume against the actual posting. A coach will tell you the difficult thing a tool never will, and will sit with you when the search is going badly.
What the AI Career Coach does is get you to that conversation faster and better prepared. It points you to the subject, the resource, and the topic — then sends you to the right human for the part that requires a human.
Learning to Use AI Well
Using AI professionally is now part of the job
Employers expect graduates who know when an AI tool helps and when it hurts. Illinois Tech teaches that judgment directly — Career Services covers where AI belongs in a job search and where it works against you, and Elevate offers an AI Practitioner badge track you can earn and show on LinkedIn.
The tools change constantly and the right answer differs by field and employer, so bring your AI questions to a Human Career Coach before you rely on anything.
Remember that durable, human-centered skills are priceless. They are what employers ultimately hire for, and no tool confers them. Building those skills does not come at the expense of technical fluency — you can be an expert in both, and the strongest candidates are.
Where AI Helps, and Where It Does Not →Elevate Badge Tracks →
Open only what you need
1What It Is Actually Good At
Four things it does well, and where it stops▾
Think of the AI Career Coach as the front door rather than the whole building.
Naming the subject
You know something is off in your search but not what to call it. Describe it, and the coach tells you which topic you are actually asking about.
Finding the resource
Templates, guides, deadlines, events, career community pages. It surfaces the specific page instead of a list of maybes.
Answering at two in the morning
It is there whenever you are working, including the hours and time zones our office is closed.
Handing you off
When your question needs judgment rather than information, it points you to the right person to book time with.
2How to Ask a Good Question
No keywords needed — eight examples that work▾
Write the way you would text a friend. The more specific the question, the better the answer. These all work:
- What internships are open in healthcare this summer?
- How do I prepare for a consulting case interview?
- I am an architecture student. How do I build a portfolio that firms will take seriously?
- I am a mechanical engineering major. What internships and co-ops fit my field?
- I want to work in software. Which career community should I join?
- What can I actually do with a degree in my major?
- Where is the resume template, and is there an example?
- What career fairs are coming up, and how should I prepare?
Signing in makes it better. When you are logged in, results are tuned to your year, your program, and the career communities you belong to.
3Book a Coach — Online or In Person
Wherever you are in the world, every appointment can be taken online▾
A good number of our students are not in Chicago. You may be studying abroad, on a co-op in another state, home for the summer, or joining us from outside the United States before you ever set foot on campus. Our office hours are not always your waking hours. The AI Career Coach is one way the career center travels with you — and when you are ready for a person, every appointment we offer can be taken online.
Career Services appointments
Resume and cover letter review, interview practice, job search strategy, offers and negotiation. Online, or in person at MTCC Room 106.
Book on Handshake →Elevate Success Coach
Your guide through the Elevate journey — which experiences to pursue, what is required, and what comes next. Online or on campus.
Book at 312.iit.edu →4What You Are Probably Wondering
Straight answers on accuracy, privacy, and whether you still need an appointment▾
Is this just a general-purpose chatbot? No. It searches this site and nothing else. It has no access to the open internet, so it cannot hand you advice from a random source that has never met an Illinois Tech student.
Will it make things up? It answers from approved career services data and content. When it cannot find a match, it says so and sends you to Career Services rather than inventing something.
What if the answer looks wrong? Tell us. Email elevate@illinoistech.edu with what you asked and what came back. It reads our published pages, so a wrong answer usually means a page needs updating — and we want to fix it.
Should I use it instead of booking an appointment? Use it before booking one. Come to your appointment already knowing the subject and having read the resource, and you will get far more out of the half hour.
Ask the tool. Then talk to the person.
The AI Career Coach will find you the resource. A career coach will help you use it.
Open the AI Career Coach
