Behind every building raised, every delivery made, and every machine kept running, there’s a blue-collar worker whose effort often goes unseen—imagine if technology could stand beside them, easing their load and amplifying their impact. That’s where Watson Orchestrate steps in.

In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, empowering blue-collar workers with intelligent digital agents like Watson Orchestrate isn’t just about automation—it’s about unlocking human potential and reshaping the future of work.

Why Blue Collar Agents Matter

In today’s workforce, blue-collar roles such as delivery staff, maintenance workers, and on-ground technicians often have limited access to productivity tools that white-collar professionals take for granted. Manual tasks like applying for jobs, creating resumes, or communicating with employers can slow them down and create barriers to opportunity.

The Blue Collar Agent, powered by Watsonx Orchestrate, bridges this gap by:

• Automating routine processes – e.g., resume generation, sending job application emails, or managing work schedules.

• Making technology accessible – giving non-technical users a simple conversational interface to complete tasks.

• Reducing dependency on manual effort – freeing up time for workers to focus on their actual trade or service.

• Improving employability – by enabling faster job applications, better resumes, and streamlined communication.

Now that we’ve seen why this matters, let’s dive into how you can build it.

🚀 Step 1: Getting Access to Watsonx Orchestrate Sandbox

Before we start building our Blue Collar Job Agent, the very first step is to request access to the Watsonx Orchestrate Sandbox. This is done through IBM AccessHub, a centralized platform to manage access requests for applications.

🔑 Why do we need this?

Watsonx Orchestrate sandbox is where we’ll experiment, build, and test our agent. But access is not granted by default—you must raise a request and get it approved by your manager.

📝 How to Raise an Access Request

Follow these simple steps to get started:

 1: Start the Request

• Go to AccessHub
• Click on “Start an Access Request”

 2: Select the Application

• In the application list, search for and select “Watsonx Orchestrate Sandbox”

 3: Provide Details & Submit

• Click Next
• Fill in the required information (such as justification, project, etc.)
• Submit the request

✅ Approval Process

Once submitted, your request will be routed to your manager for approval. After approval, you will automatically be granted access.

🔗 Access the Sandbox

Once approved, you can open the Watsonx Orchestrate sandbox using the link below:
👉 Watsonx Orchestrate Sandbox

✨ That’s it! You now have the foundation ready.

🔐 Step 2: Generating the Access Token (Microsoft API Credentials)

Now that we have access to the Watsonx Orchestrate Sandbox, the next step is to generate an access token. This token will allow our Blue Collar Job Agent to securely connect and interact with Watsonx Orchestrate APIs.

To do this, we’ll use Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) and the Microsoft Graph API. The process involves registering an app in Azure, granting permissions, and then generating a client secret to exchange for an access token.

📝 Steps to Create Credentials in Microsoft API

1. Join Developer Program

• Sign in at: Microsoft 365 Developer Program
• Make sure you have an active sandbox tenant with users enabled.

2. Register an Application in Azure

1. Go to Azure Portal → App Registrations
2. Click New Registration
3. Give your app a name
4. Choose account type (usually: Accounts in this organizational directory only)
5. Click Register
6. Note down the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID

3. Configure API Permissions

1. Open your app in Azure
2. Go to API permissions → Add a permission → Microsoft Graph
3. Select either:
• Delegated permissions (for user-based APIs)
• Application permissions (for background/server use cases)
4. Add relevant permissions (example: User.Read, Mail.Read)
5. Click Grant admin consent

4. Create a Client Secret

1. Navigate to Certificates & secrets → New client secret
2. Copy the generated secret value immediately (you’ll need this for the token request)

5. Get an Access Token

Use the OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow to generate a token.

Endpoint:

POST https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant_id}/oauth2/v2.0/token

Headers:

Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

Body (x-www-form-urlencoded):

client_id=YOUR_CLIENT_ID

&scope=https://graph.microsoft.com/.default

&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET

&grant_type=client_credentials

If successful, you’ll get a JSON response containing:

{

  "token_type": "Bearer",

  "expires_in": 3599,

  "access_token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJ..."

}

Copy the access_token — this is what we’ll use to authenticate API calls.

✅ Now you have your access token ready!

🔧 Step 3: Connecting Watsonx Orchestrate with Microsoft Graph API

• Use the generated access token inside Watsonx Orchestrate’s Connection Settings.
• Validate by making a simple Graph API call (e.g., GET /users) through Orchestrate.
• This confirms that your agent can talk to Microsoft services securely.

      📝 How to Connect Orchestrate with Microsoft Graph

       Step 1: Add a New Connection

• Inside Watsonx Orchestrate, go to Connections.
• Click on New Connection.
• Enter the connection ID and display name you want to add as a connection
• Configure the draft connection and paste the same in Live connection.
• Give the Authentication type – bearer token and server url: https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/[yourMicrosoftId]/sendMail
• Enter bearer token you receive from Microsoft graph API.
• Test connection. If everything is configured correctly, you will see a success confirmation that Orchestrate is now authenticated with Microsoft Graph.
• Click Save.

         ✅ That’s it! Watsonx Orchestrate is now connected to Microsoft Graph.
 

📝 Step 4: Connecting Watsonx Orchestrate with PDF Shift API for resume generation

        1.  Why PDFShift?

             ·   Simple REST API → Send HTML, get back a PDF

             ·   No need for complex resume editors

             ·   You can design custom HTML templates for each worker profile

             ·   Works seamlessly with Watsonx Orchestrate

        2.  Basic API Request

              Endpoint: POST https://api.pdfshift.io/v3/convert/pdf

        3.  Headers:

             Authorization: Basic BASE64_ENCODED_API_KEY:

             Content-Type: application/json

        4.  To obtain an API key for PDFShift, follow these steps:

              · Visit the PDFShift Website: Go to pdfshift.io and click on the "Register" button.pdfshift.io

              · Create an Account: Fill in your details to create an account.

              · Access Your Dashboard: After logging in, navigate to your Dashboard. Here, you'll find your API key.

              · Once you have your API key, you can use it to authenticate your requests to the PDFShift API. Include the keys-  Authorization: BearerYOUR_API_KEY

              · Alternatively, you can include it in the X-API-Key header: X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY

Addressing Security in API Integrations

When working with external APIs like Microsoft Graph and PDFShift, security is a critical factor to ensure safe and responsible automation. Since we are dealing with sensitive credentials (Client ID, Tenant ID, Client Secret, and Bearer tokens), here are a few best practices to keep in mind:

• Use minimal permissions – Always request the least privilege required for your integration. For example, if the agent only needs to send emails, avoid requesting full user profile or directory permissions.

• Secure secret storage – Store API keys and secrets in a secure location (such as a vault service or encrypted storage), not in plain text or within code.

• Token expiration and refresh – Use short-lived tokens where possible and ensure your agent can refresh them automatically rather than hardcoding static keys.

• Audit and monitoring – Regularly review API usage logs and access controls to detect any unusual behavior.

• Compliance and governance – Align your setup with your organization’s IT policies and IBM’s Trustworthy AI and AI governance frameworks.

By following these practices, the Blue Collar Agent becomes not only functional but also safe, reliable, and enterprise-ready.

Step 5: Creating BlueCollar Job Agent in watsonx orchestrate

           1. Click New Agent.

           2. Give Name and description of Agent and save it.

           3. Once agent is created, add the following sections-

           4. Fill Profile Section (Worker Persona)

               Captures user details through natural language prompts.

               Converts speech/local text into structured job-seeker profiles.

  5. Fill Knowledge Section

• Stores reference data like job categories, roles, location mappings, salary ranges.
•  The agent is powered by a knowledge base I provided. This includes Job listings (e.g., Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit)
• Email templates for interview and job application updates
• Resume writing tips
• Skill keywords (e.g., bike riding, time management, navigation for delivery roles)
• This knowledge ensures the agent tailors resumes, picks the right companies, and sends well-formatted emails.
• Reference for providing these details is the documents attached, and the description given. You can download the documents directly from the link.

6. Create Tools to integrate with your agent. I’ve connected external tools via OpenAPI specifications

    · Click on Add tool à Import an external tool à Import from file

    · Upload your open API specification file eg- sendMail file for connecting to outlook and pdfConvert file for connecting to pdfShift

   · Select operation.

   · Configure connection- for sendmail- test_outlook connection and for resume generation-pdfshift connect simultaneously.

   · You will see your tools created in Tool Set section

7. Create Agent if required. You can assign different agents for different tasks for your automation and integrate it here.

8. Add Behavior. Behaviors connect tools + knowledge into workflows. These behaviors are linked to tools and knowledge through Orchestrates connections. Define how and where your agent should react to requests and respond to users.

9. Create Channels if interested in communication for team.

  10. Preview your agent in the chat window shown on the right side of your agent.

11.  Deploy the agent once all the configuration is completed and tested successfully by clicking on deploy button.

         Once the App is deployed, it can be seen on the homepage.

          Select your agents name from Agent dropdown and here is the chat opened.

          Its visible to everyone who has access to CIO Watson orchestrate sandbox.

🚀 Improving Employability

One of the key benefits of the Blue Collar Agent is its potential to boost employability. By automating resume creation, job application emails, and communication workflows, workers can apply to opportunities faster and with more polished materials. This not only reduces barriers to entry but also helps workers present their skills more effectively, increasing their chances of securing jobs.

Want to see it live? Watch the Blue Collar Job Agent demo video.

✅ Now you are ready with your blue collar job Agent!