Bridgit - student career growth startup
Guide students to the ideal job through journaling and AI coaching
This is a startup project I am working on as a design consultant for a venture group at Northwestern. We share the belief that as the job market becomes increasingly competitive for college students, AI can offer meaningful support, especially for those who do not fit into traditional recruiting paths. Bridget is designed to provide a guided journaling experience that helps students understand their strengths, goals, and growth, paired with AI support that turns reflection into action.
Time
May - July , 2025
Collaborator
Junmo Kwon
Guillermo Ramirez Carmona
Mohini Narasimhan
01
The Challenge
Rising Pressure, Shrinking Support
Over 4 million Gen Zs in the U.S. are considered NEETs - not in education, employment, or training. It’s not about laziness, but the fact that landing a first job has never been harder. Entry-level roles are disappearing , recruiting starts earlier, and AI is replacing jobs before students even arrive.
The Advising Gap
On average, one career advisor serves 1,800+ students in the U.S. Personalized guidance is rare, especially for first-gen students, non-STEM majors, or anyone still figuring things out. Many fall behind before they even know where to start.
Missed Chances to Grow
Most career tools push students to act fast: polish the resume, automate application filling. Few help students build confidence, reflect on growth, or connect their story to their next step.
THE CHALLENGE
How might we offer long-term support that helps students gain clarity, confidence, and career direction, using today’s technology to meet the demands of tomorrow’s job market?
THE HIGH-LEVEL GOALS THAT DEFINED MY DESIGN
1. Shift from transactional career prep to reflective self-development
2. Help students in where they articulate personal growth as career strengths
02
The Solution
Students do not need more autofill tools or "matched" job opportunities. They need space to reflect, structure to grow, and guidance they can trust.
Bridgeit, a journaling-first career platform
that helps students develop clarity, track personal growth, and receive timely AI powered coaching before, during, and beyond the internship search.
Guided Exploration with AI
BridgeIt uses journal entries, resumes, and job goals to recommend next steps and industries worth exploring.
Note-taking Anytime, Anywhere
Students can log thoughts, track progress, or record ideas on the go. The mobile-friendly interface mirrors the desktop experience, allowing rich inputs like links, media, and voice memos.
AI Interview Coach, Built Around You
Voice-based coaching adapts to each student’s background and job openings to help them prep smarter and build confidence that feels real.
Journals Synced Across Devices
All entries sync automatically. Journals surface mindset shifts, track milestones, and fuel tailored AI nudges.
Counselor Dashboard to Scale Support
Advisors access dashboards that track student engagement, flag struggles, and show growth trends to support timely outreach and reporting.
03
Research
Before building solutions, we wanted to understand what tools students already use and what’s missing. We reviewed both mainstream career platforms and emerging tools across task support, organization, and reflection.
performative networking tool, overwhelming for beginners
Handshake
School-linked job board, lacks personal growth tools
Vmock / Simplify
resume polishing/application autofill, only on output speed
Notion
track goals and progress, not designed for career growth
Across all categories, we noticed a key white space:
Most tools emphasize speed in job application process, polish resumes, or matching, but not personal growth, continued learning, and the confidence.
💡 Few tools help students connect their personal growth and experiences to their career journey in a structured, guided way.
That gap became the starting point for our research exploration.
We then conducted 15 interviews to better understand why students feel unprepared and unsupported in their career journeys, and validate if the white space opportunity we defined frokm competitior analysis is needed.
Key findings surfaced across three themes:
Our research leads to 2 main emerging patterns:
1. Too Many Tools, Too Little Clarity
Students felt overwhelmed by the number of platforms, steps, and expectations. Tools like LinkedIn and Handshake were familiar but felt performative, designed more for showcasing than for exploring. Many, especially non-STEM majors without a clear path or defined skill set, didn’t know where to start or how to measure progress.
“Everyone else seems to know what they’re doing. I’m just clicking around hoping something sticks.”
2. Drop-Off After the First Step
Even those who started—by writing a resume, attending a career fair, or applying to a job—often stopped short. Without feedback or a clear sense of progress, they lost momentum and rarely returned to what they had begun.
“I made a resume once for class, but I haven’t opened it since.”
💡Suggestion: Show 2–3 discarded ideas and why they were cut. Then show how you arrived at the MVP direction.
04
Brainstorm
To provide targeted help to solve the above painpoints, I brainstormed features to create concept images or low-fi flows to bring into the later user research for concept validation, some of them are:
Peer testimonial wall showing others’ messy paths
Project reflection builder that outputs resume bullets or interview answers
Backlog board to track follow-ups and improve learning from rejections
Journal recap view that shows weekly themes and mood over time
Interview rehearsal documents — write, review, and listen to own answers
.....
We then showed these ideas to college students across the U.S, created activities such as ranlking, lo-fi prototupe walkthrough, Bullseye Diagram to evaluate different features concepts’ value:
After interviews, AI-powered coaching like mock interviews and company research stood out as the most valuable for building student confidence. Journaling emerged as the key enabler, offering personal data that made AI support relevant and tailored. Unlike resume tools or aptitude tests, journaling embraces emotion, uncertainty, and nonlinear growth. It gives students ownership of their journey. In our pilot, 83% said journaling made their career decisions feel more grounded and self-driven.
BridgeIt meets students from day one, turning early curiosity into long-term confidence:
05
Bridgit Branding
Inspired by the idea of a bright future and open skies ahead, Bridgit’s branding conveys calm, optimism, and guidance toward what’s next.
06
Design Decisions
coming soon~
07
My Learning
Pitch deck reviews
Shaping how our product was positioned to investors as well as the market sharpened my ability to communicate design value in business terms.
Go-to-market brainstorms
Collaborating on launch plans taught me to consider design not just as usability, but as conversion, trust, and first impressions.
Working with non-design stakeholders
Navigating feedback from founders and engineers taught me how to defend design decisions while staying flexible and outcome-driven.
Appreciate the Scroll