Our mission is to democratize access to career advice for high-need learners. We do this in order to help them create professional goals and understand their personal paths to those goals. CareerVillage.org enables people to get that advice by giving them access to professionals as well as other career development tools, so we created guidelines to help community members contribute in an inclusive way.
To ensure what’s posted on CareerVillage meets these guidelines, every piece of content is looked at and moderated by a real volunteer. We also offer coaching to our community members to make their advice even more outstanding.
What you can expect to see in our guidelines:
- CareerVillage.org community members-who they are and why they exist
- Community team-who they are and what they do
- What is not allowed
- Do’s and Don’ts
- What we do when content does not meet our guidelines
- Changes to our guidelines-what happens when our guidelines get updated
CareerVillage.org Community Members
You can see the full description of each user type in our Terms of Service.
Learners
Learners are advice seekers, typically between the age of 13-24, and have not yet entered the workforce. While our main focus is youth, particularly underserved youth, we support all learners, such as returning citizens, career transitioners, and seasoned professionals, regardless of age or work experience.
Professionals
Professionals give Learners advice. They are most typically out of school and in the workforce, but we also have college students who give advice to younger peers. Sometimes, professionals are employees of companies who have formed a partnership with us (click here) to read more about our corporate partnerships).
Educators
Educators are our career readiness champions, who incorporate CareerVillage into their curriculums to get Students to
the platform.
CareerVillage.org Community Team
Our community team enforces our guidelines.
Moderators (a.k.a “Mods”)
Mods are CareerVillage users-turned-volunteers who commit to (collectively) looking at every piece of content that’s
posted on CareerVillage.org. Their role is to ensure the community is following our guidelines. Typically, mods do not
take direct corrective action.
Administrators (a.k.a “Admins”)
Admins are CareerVillage.org staff members, contractors, or other team members who support Mods in ensuring content on CareerVillage meets our Community Guidelines and take action on the actual moderation and coaching of content on the site. These actions include things like editing small portions of advice, deleting advice, leaving comments to help coach Professionals on giving more meaningful advice, and emailing users.
You
If you want, you can also be a member of our community team. We enable, encourage, and expect community members to get
involved with the moderation of content on CareerVillage. When you see something that doesn’t meet our guidelines, please
flag it using the buttons on the site or email us at hello@careervillage.org if you see
something that doesn’t look right.
What is not allowed
We do not tolerate any form of disrespectful or degrading behavior on CareerVillage, and we moderate for content that is not inclusive of the greater community. In addition, we also moderate for content that distracts the community from what they’re here to do. Subjects and behaviors we never allow on CareerVillage are outlined below:
- Bullying
- Hate speech
Includes, but is not limited to, content that directly attacks people based on their:- Race
- Ethnicity
- Socioeconomic status
- National origin
- Religious affiliation
- Sexual orientation
- Gender, gender identity, or gender expression
- Disabilities or diseases (visible or non-visible)
- Other identities they hold
- Illegal activity
- Sexually explicit content (e.g. pornography)
- Trolling
- Profanity
- Recruiting, promoting, or persuading to follow a particular religious belief, or promote a political idea or alignment
- Personal contact information
To respect the safety and privacy of our community members, we do not allow community members to post their phone number, email address, or home address. Learners are also only able to publicize their first name and the first initial of their last name. - Attempts to organize communications outside of our community
For safety reasons, this includes directly inviting people to contact you, follow you, or connect with you outside of CareerVillage.org. (Exception: Professionals can share links to their LinkedIn in their About Me sections. If there are other links/social media handles that pertain to your profession, please contact us at hello@careervillage.org if before posting it in your About Me) - Spam This includes accounts that are created on behalf of businesses or whose sole purpose is to promote a product or service. If we identify a spam account, it will be suspended immediately.
- Profile photo(s) that are off topic
We define “off-topic” in this context as any image that does not have you in it and/or is not relevant to your profession. - Medical Advice
Do’s and Don’ts
For Learners
Do’s
- Word your questions clearly.
- Give your question context that clearly states why an answer to that question will help you be better prepared for your future. Any question can be a career question with the right context! We have found that questions with more context tend to get answered with longer, more personalized pieces of advice from more people and more quickly than questions with very little context.
- What context should you give? It might be helpful to include grade level, subject interests, current major, or anything else that might help a Professional give you advice.
- Ask one question at a time. Questions are free – you can ask as many as you want! Asking more than one question can overwhelm Professionals, and they may not answer all of them,
- Post original questions. ProTip: Search first, ask second. The fastest way to get an answer is to read it on another question that is the same as yours! You may be prevented from asking a previously existing question.
- Ask any direct follow-up questions about advice as a comment on that piece of advice
- Show your appreciation and say thank you to Professionals who leave you advice! Not only does this show your gratitude, but it’s a great professional skill to develop.
Don’ts
- Post off-topic content. We define “off-topic” as any content that isn’t relevant to your education, career, professional development, or planning for your future professional success.
- If you are looking for advice on an “off-topic” question, please send us an email, and we can connect you with the right resource.
- Looking for mental health support? Check out this chatbot! KokoCares connects users to different resources to help support their mental health needs.
- Ask for a job, internship, donation, or other form of gift or opportunity.
- Ask about your homework if you’re only asking to get the assignment done or if your questions about your homework don’t actually pertain to your career or future.
For professionals
Do’s
- Follow our list of ProTips. To ensure Students are getting the best advice on CareerVillage, we’ve created a list of 8 ProTips
to support Professionals in giving the best advice possible. Click here for detailed information and examples of each Pro Tip.
- Be inclusive and avoid bias
- Be direct
- Anticipate needs
- Tell a personal story that is relevant and relatable
- Recommend next steps that are accessible for all learners
- Use facts, cite sources, and avoid plagiarism
- Strike the right tone
- Make your answer easy to read
- Follow our AI Policy outlined below
- Refer questions you cannot answer to people in your network you know can. This will help expand the occupations and industries represented on CareerVillage.
- Give another Professional kudos for an answer you think is great by giving that piece of advice an upvote. This will signal quality advice to learners and will boost their answer and place it higher up on the Q&A page, where it will get even more reads.
- Include your job title, the company you work for, and/or the industry you work in your Headline. This increases accountability, transparency, and authority on the subject matter.
- Include information about your education, job (past and present), work history, hobbies, or any other information you think would be helpful for Learners to know about you in the “About me” section of your profile. Our learners want to know more about your background and how you got to where you are today!
Don’ts
- Post off-topic content. We define “off-topic” as any content that doesn’t directly answer or isn’t apparently relevant to the request for advice or the topic being discussed.
- Be discouraging of Learners’ aspirations or plans.
- Provide misleading information about yourself or purposely about the subject matter you’re discussing.
- Post ONLY a link and say, “Go find the answer over [there].” This includes things like “Google XYZ”. It is also unhelpful to suggest that a Learner ask their parents or a guidance counselor.
- Self-promote.
- Directly offer employment or money to Learners. You can, however, direct Learners to an employment page (if you work for the company you’re referring the Learner to, you need to explicitly say that).
- Answer a question if you don’t have an answer or anything of value to contribute. You don’t have to answer every question that gets sent to you!
- Use our referral feature to harass people.
- Post a comment on another piece of advice that you want to add to. Post what you have to say as a separate answer instead!
- Include your personal mantra or philosophy (e.g., “Try harder every day!”) in your Headline.
- Leave your Headline or “About me” section in your profile blank!
- Upload a profile photo where we can’t see your face clearly (e.g. photos taken from too far away, blurry images, or a photo of a big group of people where we can’t see your face).
- Plagiarize. Remember to cite the sources you reference in your advice!
- Solely use AI to answer the question. Learners want to hear from you about your lived experience, not from a chatbot. Note: Advice given by AI will not receive volunteer credit. Using our AI answer-enhancing is completely okay as it does not write the advice. Please refer to our AI policy listed further below.
- Critique a Learner’s grammar or spelling. We are an international organization, and not everyone is a native English speaker.
AI Policy
Introduction
This policy outlines the guidelines for professionals using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate answers for Learners in the CareerVillage community. We are revising our approach based on learner feedback and we will likely change it in the future as things continue to evolve.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a powerful tool to help enhance responses, generate insights, and support community learning. However, it is essential to use AI responsibly to maintain the authenticity and quality of interactions within the community. By adhering to these guidelines, Professionals can foster genuine connections and a supportive environment.
Definitions
- AI-Only-Generated-Content: Content created entirely by an AI system without human input.
- Hybrid Content: Content created with AI assistance but reviewed and significantly edited by a human before submission. This includes using CareerVillage’s AI-based enhancement features for Q&A answers.
- Human-Generated Content: Content that is fully created from human input and without the use of AI.
Policy
- AI-Only Generated Content: CareerVillage does not allow for the usage of AI-Only-Generated Content. While we see the value of AI, we also understand that this platform is centered around fostering human connection and connecting learners with real mentors. To help maintain our community, culture, and values, these types of answers will be deleted. Because we are using human judgment to make these determinations, it is possible that we incorrectly flag something as AI. To help combat human error, we will contact the user and offer an opportunity to appeal the decision and reinstate the advice.
- Hybrid Content: When used with human oversight, AI can help enhance advice written by Professionals. These tools can help make advice more effective, and efficient, and improve the overall tone. We allow for Hybrid content.
- Content Standards: Hybrid content must meet the same standards as human-generated content. It should be well-written, informative, and relevant. Responses should not merely repeat information without adding new insights. Professionals must add their own personal experience, knowledge, or tailored advice to make the content meaningful.
- Quality Control and Accuracy: Professionals are responsible for checking content created with the help of AI for accuracy, relevance, and alignment with current industry standards. AI can sometimes introduce errors or biases, so all responses should be reviewed carefully to ensure they are up-to-date and free from misinformation or bias.
- Stand by Your Advice: The advice you post is yours. Regardless of whether you use AI or not, you are responsible for the content and should stand by every word. If AI was used, it must have been incorporated in a way that aligns with your expertise and the needs of the learner.
Content that violates this policy may be deleted or adjusted as needed. CareerVillage is committed to ensuring that content aligns with these guidelines to uphold the community’s quality and authenticity.
What we do when content doesn’t meet our guidelines
Much of the content that violates the guidelines outlined above gets blocked by default before it even gets posted. On the rare occasion that inappropriate content doesn’t automatically get caught, we take immediate action to rectify the situation. When our Community team believes content can be improved or it doesn’t meet the guidelines outlined here, they’ll take action to coach them to make it better.
Depending on the content and its intent, we will do one or more of the following things:
- Remove it from the platform.
- Contact community member(s) involved by email to request they take action or notify them of an action that was taken (e.g., “we’d like you to make a change to your content..”).
- Edit or update the content with a note clearly stating that an admin made changes and why.
- Comment on it (the rest of the community can see this!) to inform the community members involved of an action that was taken or to request they take an action.
- Suspend community member(s).
Exceptions: If there is a reason to make an exception to the guideline, or if something is flagged as inappropriate but does not meet any guideline outlined here, then Admins will discuss and come to a decision on how to address the issue.
Changes to our guidelines
As AI technology continues to evolve, the AI policy may be updated. We are committed to regularly reviewing and revising the policy to reflect new developments in AI and its impact on the CareerVillage community. If your content is flagged and you believe it was incorrectly identified as AI-generated, please let us know so we can improve our approach.
This policy helps ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly within the CareerVillage community, maintaining high standards of personalized, expert-driven advice.
You can see when our guidelines were last updated at the bottom of this post. Updates to our guidelines will inevitably be made as our community grows. When a change is made, we will update the guidelines immediately and summarize that update at the bottom of this page in the changelog. We will not notify the community of every change but do encourage you to check back here to see the changelog as often as you like.
Changelog:
- Updated 2/11/2025 G. Lally - Update to AI policy
- Updated 12/20/2023 G. Lally - Updated Pro Tips, Added AI Policy, and made other significant changes.
- Updated 4/22/2019 J.Rivera - Fixed name of section for consistency [Lines 15 & 147] + Added in rule allowing Pros to post LinkedIn & Twitter on About Me
- Updated 12/19/2017 J.Rivera - Added language rules.
- Updated 6/9/2017 L.Manning