The Challenge
In today’s AI-saturated job market, professional relationships have become more critical than ever. While 70% of jobs are never posted publicly and 80% are filled through referrals, our research revealed that job seekers submit 4.4 times more applications than they have career conversations. Over one-third of students don’t believe in the value of professional connections, with first-generation and low-income learners facing the steepest barriers‚Äîfrom lack of confidence to limited understanding of how to reach out or what to say.
The Innovation
LaGuardia Community College partnered with Climb Together to pilot Goldi, a groundbreaking AI career coach that uses realistic voice-based role-playing to teach relationship building skills and help learners reach out to professionals to unlock job referrals. Unlike traditional AI tools that simply generate “the answer,” Goldi actively coaches learners through meaningful interactions, provides real-time personalized feedback, helps identify alumni connections on LinkedIn, and crafts authentic outreach messages. The goal for the students is to schedule five in person/zoom informational interviews or coffee chats to build the habit of practice around relationships.
Built on six years of action research and over 150 pages of curriculum, Goldi embodies best pedagogical practices: patient guidance, thoughtfully paced content, and collaborative iteration until learners truly own their development.
Evidence of Success
Summer 2025 Pilot Results (40 completers):
98% took concrete actions toward building professional connections
Confidence in authentic outreach: 41% to 100% (pre to post)
Ability to craft professional requests: 46% to 84%
Comfort discussing challenges/growth: 62% to 92%
Professional storytelling skills: 53% to 92%
Conversational adaptability: 54% to 100%
Real-World Impact: One shy fine arts student, Joy, applied these skills during a daycare job interview. The interviewer asked, “When you typically look for stuff, do you just go in cold?” Joy responded: “No, not at all. I knew that I needed to try because Indeed only takes you so far.” She engaged the interviewer with thoughtful, open-ended questions‚Äîsomething she “never did before”‚Äîand received a job offer on the spot.
Cost-Effectiveness
Goldi Approach: 3-4 hours of AI-coached content (12 chat sessions, 10-15 minutes each)
Minimal faculty or staff lift – simply assign Goldi as part of a course for homework
Students can access Goldi 24/7 via mobile, practicing as many times as needed without judgment. One student noted: “Goldi pulled the skills out of me. She helped me articulate things about myself that I wouldn’t have known to say. She helps me translate what my skills mean for different job contexts.”