A Bridge is a group of jobs we have selected in response to trends in student searches on the app
From time to time we review anonymous list of words and phrases students are searching for in the app. We see themes appear as student interest ebbs and flows, such as the late 2022 interest in space exploration.
One of the ways we respond is with a Bridge. A Bridge is a collection of jobs we have carefully selected to appear in response to certain keywords.
You can tell you are at a Bridge if the cog or circle is red. There are green words along many of the lines connecting the theme to a career. These provocations either explain or prompt deeper thinking about this career in relation to the theme.
In the Entrepreneurship Bridge above, the career Renewable Energy Engineer is linked to Entrepreneurship with the words 'huge challenge and reward'.
'Entrepreneur' itself is not a job, but it is an important skill set, so we want students to explore and broaden their thinking about entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and how entrepreneurs engage in the world of work.
Some Bridges are designed to divert students who are 'probing' or 'testing' the BECOME.ME app with search terms they think are naughty.
For example, type in 'jewel thief' and you'll land on the Bridge for Property Crime which diverts this cheeky energy into all the real careers that investigate, prosecute, insure against, and in other ways deal with these crimes.
Bridges appear when a search either matches them exactly or scores high enough on machine-matched fuzzy search.
If you come across a Bridge in the BECOME.ME app, the jobs within it will be appropriate for students to see and are designed to prompt discussion about how and perhaps why people work in these fields.