Free Virtual Experience, Internship, and Apprenticeship Programs

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by sanantone, Jul 21, 2021.

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  1. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    This might be the best thing I've seen all year. Forage offers virtual experience programs designed in partnership with major employers that include tasks and projects. These are basically free certificate programs, but you can opt to have Forage share your submitted work with partner companies. They claim that completing a virtual experience with a company will increase your chance of getting hired by two to five times. They also claim that 33% of hires at these companies come from Forage.

    There are strict guidelines on how one should list the programs on one's CV/resume and social media. These are not to be listed as employment or work experience. They are to be included in the certification, achievement, or extracurricular activities section of your resume or the certification part of LinkedIn.

    https://www.theforage.com/course-catalog
    https://cdn.theforage.com/vinternships/companyassets/8eNRcRqBZM9HLvwGw/Eofm5t6uMHFSGLtuW/ForageReferencingPolicy.pdf
     
    SteveFoerster likes this.
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That is fascinating!
     
  3. Vonnegut

    Vonnegut Well-Known Member

    There's no bloody way that a third of new hires at the worlds top management consultant, investment banks, and other 500 pound corporate gorillas are coming from them. This a small operation that sprung from the Y Combinator and was formerly called InsideSherpa, that raised less than $10M during their Series A funding and put it into a more updated website and rebranding/expansion operation.

    While that hiring claim is incomprehensible, they were groomed by arguably the worlds greatest business incubator, have Arizona State University as a major investor, and achieved a 1M world-wide users during the pandemic. They likely have some good things to offer and in store for them.
     
    Dustin likes this.
  4. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I was on their mailing list back when they were InsideSherpa, at the time they were offering a virtual experience (VE) in Data Analytics with Quantium but I was too busy to take it up. They seem to be doing good things. I don't see a cite for the "33%" figure but they do say the virtual experience can "Increase your chances of being hired by 2 to 5x.", so maybe they mean one third of Forage VE participants get hired at one of the VE companies, which itself would be very impressive.
     
  5. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    It might be true for their smaller partners.

    https://employers.theforage.com/
     
  6. skirtlet

    skirtlet Member

    That's interesting. Would an employer respect an "internship" that's listed as a certificate?

    I would imagine any experience/skill is an asset, but it seems strange. Ares students in the internships grated/reviewed somehow?
     
  7. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    I don't know, and most of their experiences only take five to six hours to complete.

    This is what makes the value questionable. At the end, you're expected to compare your work to a model project selected from a previous student. No one will grade your work and provide feedback. A partner employer might come across your project and contact you if they like your work.
     

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