Career Growth with Copilot

New to Copilot?

Get started — read this first

If you've used Copilot before, you can skip this section

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What is Copilot?

Copilot is Microsoft's AI assistant. Think of it as a knowledgeable colleague you can have a conversation with — not a search engine, not a form to fill in. You type something in plain English, it responds, and you can go back and forth until you get what you need.

It won't judge your question, it doesn't get impatient, and there's no wrong way to start. The more context you give it, the more useful it becomes.

How to open Copilot

There are two versions — which one you have depends on your Microsoft licence. Both work for today's session.

✓ Free — everyone has this

Open any web browser and go to:

copilot.microsoft.com

★ Microsoft 365 Copilot (paid)

If your organisation has the full licence, you'll see a Copilot button or sidebar built into Word, Outlook, Teams, and Excel. You can use it from there — or still use copilot.microsoft.com.

Free vs full licence — what's the difference?

Free Copilot Chat: Works from the web. Knows a huge amount about the world, but doesn't know anything about your company's files, emails, or documents — unless you paste that information in yourself. That's exactly what our prompts are designed to do.

Microsoft 365 Copilot (paid): Can see your work emails, files on OneDrive, Teams conversations, and calendar. More powerful, but the free version is all you need for today's session.

How to type your first message

Click the message box at the bottom of the Copilot screen and just start typing. Write like you're sending a message to a helpful colleague — full sentences, normal punctuation, no special commands needed.

Don't worry about getting it perfect. If Copilot misunderstands, you can just clarify. That back-and-forth is normal — it's how the tool is designed to work.

Three things that make Copilot more useful

Give it context. Tell it who you are and what you're trying to do. The more it knows about your situation, the more relevant its answers will be.

Be specific. "Help me with my career" is hard to answer. "Help me identify the skills I need to develop as a finance manager over the next three years" is much easier.

Follow up. If the first response isn't quite right, tell it: "That's not quite what I meant — can you try again and focus more on X?" Don't just accept the first answer.

When it doesn't get it right

Copilot will sometimes give you a response that's too generic, misses the point, or goes off on a tangent. That's normal — don't give up. Here are three ways to fix it:

Say: "That's not quite what I meant — let me be more specific..."
Say: "Can you simplify that? I'd like a shorter, plainer answer."
Say: "Ignore that last response and start again with this..."

Try this warm-up prompt first

Before you start the career planning exercise, try this simple prompt to get comfortable with how Copilot responds. There's nothing personal in it — it's just to get a first message on screen.

I've never really used an AI assistant before. Can you tell me, in plain English, three practical ways someone in an office job could use a tool like you to save time or think through a problem at work? Keep it simple and realistic — no jargon.

What Copilot doesn't know — and why that matters

Copilot is very capable, but it's worth knowing its limits before you start:

It doesn't know anything about your company, your team, or your personal circumstances — unless you tell it
It can occasionally get facts wrong or make things sound more certain than they are — use your own judgement
Don't put sensitive personal data (e.g. salary details, other people's information) into the free version
It doesn't remember previous conversations — each new session starts fresh

Why this matters — the data

The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 surveyed employers across 55 economies. The findings are clear: the skills the world of work needs are shifting fast. This session helps you understand where you stand — and what to do about it.

39%

of today's key skills will be outdated or transformed by 2030

78M

new jobs expected to be created globally by 2030

19%

of workers will need retraining in skills that currently aren't accessible to them

The five prompts — work through these in order

Prompt 1 of 5

Set your context

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Before Copilot can help you, it needs to understand who you are and what you do. This prompt gives it the raw material to work with. Be honest and specific — the more real detail you give, the more useful the output will be.

Your prompt

I want you to help me think about my career development. Here's some context about me: - My job title is: [your role] - My main responsibilities are: [briefly describe what you actually do day-to-day] - I've been in this role for roughly: [X years / months] - The industry I work in is: [e.g. consumer goods / baby products / retail] - One thing I'm good at in my role: [something you'd put on a CV] - One area I know I could develop: [be honest — this is just between you and Copilot] Two rules for this whole exercise: 1. Answer only what I ask in each prompt. Do not add extra suggestions, commentary, or next steps beyond what I've asked for. Wait for me to give you the next prompt. 2. At the end of the exercise, I will ask you to compile everything into a Word document I can save and keep. Please confirm you've understood my context and ask me one follow-up question to help you get a better picture of where I want to go.

Tips for this step

You don't need to write an essay — bullet points are fine
Replace everything in [square brackets] with your own words
If Copilot asks you a follow-up question, answer it — that's the conversation starting

5-min discussion What did Copilot ask you? Did it pick up on anything you hadn't expected? What felt surprising about putting your role into words?

Prompt 2 of 5

Build your skills assessment

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Now you bring in the WEF data. This prompt asks Copilot to create a personalised skills assessment based on what the research says matters most for the next five years — mapped to your specific role.

Your prompt

Based on the context I've just given you, I'd like you to create a simple skills self-assessment for me. Use the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 as your reference. From that report, identify the skills that are most relevant to my role and where I am in my career — you don't need me to list them, I'd like you to surface the right ones based on what you know about my work. Present no more than 8 skills as a rating exercise. For each one, give me a one-sentence plain-English description of what that skill means specifically in the context of my job — not a generic definition. Then ask me to rate myself from 1 to 5 on each one. Answer only what I've asked above. Nothing more.

Tips for this step

Rate yourself honestly — there's no right answer, and no one else will see this
If a description doesn't feel right for your role, tell Copilot and ask it to adjust
Don't overthink the ratings — your first instinct is usually accurate

5-min discussion How did Copilot tailor the skill descriptions to your role? Did any of the 8 skills surprise you — either how relevant they felt, or how they were described?

Prompt 3 of 5

Get your honest gap analysis

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You've done your ratings. Now ask Copilot to tell you what they actually mean. This is where it stops being a quiz and starts being useful — a clear, plain-English read of where your gaps are and what's most urgent to address.

Your prompt

Here are my ratings for each skill: [paste in your ratings from the previous step] Based on these, I'd like three things from you: 1. A plain-English summary of my skills profile — where I'm strong, where the gaps are, and what stands out. 2. An honest assessment of how AI and automation are likely to affect someone in my role over the next 3–5 years, based on the WEF data. Don't soften it — I'd rather know. 3. The top 3 skills I should prioritise developing, and a brief explanation of why those three specifically — not just what's lowest rated, but what matters most for someone doing my kind of work in the next few years. Be direct. I can handle an honest answer. Answer only what I've asked above. Nothing more.

Tips for this step

The last line matters — asking Copilot to "be direct" changes the tone of the response significantly
If the response feels too generic, say so: "That feels a bit vague — can you be more specific about my role?"
Push back if you disagree with any of the priorities — that's a valid conversation

5-min discussion Did anything in the gap analysis land differently than you expected? How did Copilot's read on AI impact compare to your own sense of how your role is changing?

Prompt 4 of 5

Build your development plan

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This is where it becomes a plan. You take everything Copilot now knows about you — your role, your ratings, your gaps, your priorities — and ask it to turn that into something you can actually act on.

Your prompt

Based on everything we've discussed — my role, my skills ratings, and the three priority areas you identified — I'd like you to help me build a focused development plan for the next 6 to 12 months. For each of the three priority skills, please suggest: - One thing I could do right now (this week or this month) to start building it - One type of learning or resource that would help — be specific, not just "take a course" - One way I could practise or use this skill in my current role, without needing to wait for a new opportunity Keep it realistic. I'm not looking for a wish list — I want things I could genuinely commit to alongside my normal job. Answer only what I've asked above. Nothing more.

Tips for this step

If a suggestion doesn't fit your life, tell Copilot your constraints: "I work part-time", "I don't have budget for courses", "I work remotely"
Ask it to prioritise if the plan feels too much: "If I could only focus on one of these for the next month, which would you recommend and why?"
You can ask it to format the plan as a table if that's easier to save and refer back to

5-min discussion What felt genuinely useful in the plan? What would you actually do? Is there anything Copilot suggested that you'd never have thought of yourself?

Prompt 5 of 5

Look further ahead Go deeper

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This prompt is for those who want to go beyond the 6–12 month plan and think more strategically. Where does your profession need to be in five years — and what does that mean for who you need to become? This is where the conversation gets more interesting.

Your prompt

I want to zoom out and think longer term. Based on everything you know about my role and the WEF data, I'd like you to help me think about the next 3–5 years. Specifically: 1. What does someone in my profession or role type need to look like by 2030 to still be valuable and relevant? What skills, behaviours and mindset shifts matter most? 2. What's the biggest single thing standing between where I am now and that version of me — based on what I've shared with you today? 3. If you were advising me as a mentor rather than an AI, what's the one thing you'd tell me to start doing differently — and why? Don't give me a list of ten things. Give me clear, considered thinking on these three questions. Answer only what I've asked above. Nothing more.

Tips for this step

The "mentor rather than AI" framing shifts the quality of the response — try it
If the answer feels too safe, push: "What would you say if you weren't worried about being too direct?"
This is a good prompt to return to every few months as your situation changes
Try asking: "What questions should I be asking myself that I haven't asked yet?"

5-min discussion What did the "mentor" framing change about the response? Did it surface anything that felt genuinely challenging? What's the one thing you're taking away from this whole session?

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Final Step

Export your report as a Word document

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You've built something real. Now ask Copilot to pull everything together into a clean, structured report you can save, share, or return to whenever you need it.

Your prompt

We've now completed the career development exercise. Please compile everything from our conversation into a single, well-structured report I can save and refer back to. The report should include the following sections, in this order: 1. My role and context 2. My skills assessment and ratings 3. My gap analysis and the three priority skills 4. My 6–12 month development plan 5. My longer-term outlook (if we covered this) Use clear headings for each section. Write it as a clean, readable document — not a chat response. Do not add any commentary or suggestions beyond what we've already discussed.

How to save it as a Word document

Once Copilot has generated the report, look for the copy button on the response
Open a new Word document, paste the content, and save it — it formats cleanly
If you have the full Microsoft 365 Copilot licence, you can also say: "Create a Word document from this" and Copilot will generate it directly
Give the file a name like My Career Development Plan – [Month Year] so it's easy to find later

You're done You've just used AI to build a personalised career development plan grounded in real research. Come back to career-planner.thehumanco.org any time to run through it again — your notes are saved here.

📊 Excel Go further — turn your Word report into an Excel tracker

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You've used Copilot to build a personalised career development plan and exported it as a Word document. The next step is to bring that into Excel so you can score yourself on your skills, track your actions, and see your progress over time.

What you'll end up with

📋Your profile and key themes from the Word report

⭐A skills self-assessment table — rate yourself 1–5 on each WEF skill, gaps calculate automatically

🎯An action plan with timelines and status tracking for your top priority areas

📈A simple progress dashboard that updates as you tick things off

How to build it — step by step

Open your Word report and Excel side by side

Open the Word document Copilot exported at the end of your session. Open a blank Excel workbook next to it.

Ask Copilot to help you structure it

Open Copilot (or paste into the chat window) and use this prompt:

I have a career development report that was created using AI. I want to turn it into an Excel tracker with four sections: (1) My Profile — role, strengths, key challenge; (2) Skills Self-Assessment — a table with each WEF Future of Jobs skill, a column for current rating 1–5, target rating, and a gap column that calculates automatically; (3) Action Plan — a table with my top priority skills, each with three rows: immediate action, learning resource, and ongoing practice, plus timeline and status columns; (4) Progress Dashboard — summary metrics like average skill rating and actions completed. Here is my report: [paste your Word document content here]

Paste Copilot's output into Excel

Copy what Copilot gives you and paste it into your Excel workbook. Tidy up the layout — add bold headers, freeze the top row, and colour any cells you want to edit in a light yellow so they stand out.

Add your gap formula

In the gap column of your skills table, click the first empty cell and type: =D2-C2 (replacing D2 with your target column and C2 with your current column). Drag it down to fill all rows — Excel calculates the rest.

Come back to it regularly

Update your status column as you complete actions. Revisit your ratings every few months — you'll see the gaps close over time.

💡 Have Microsoft 365 Copilot? If you have the paid licence, you can open Copilot directly inside Excel, paste in your Word report, and ask it to build the tracker for you automatically — no manual formatting needed.

WEF 2025 Skills Reference

▲ Growing fast — build these

Analytical thinking Creative thinking Technological literacy AI & big data fluency Resilience & adaptability Curiosity & lifelong learning Leadership & social influence Environmental stewardship Talent management

▼ Declining — be aware

Routine data processing Manual task repetition Basic memory & recall Manual dexterity (office) Reading & writing basics