Exploring a job before you apply? Job simulators may help you learn and connect with top companies

Job postings can be misleading and hard to discern. On paper, one may read like your dream position, but until you actually see what the day-to-day expectations are, you may be in the dark as to what the job truly entails. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way.
One company is trying to bridge that gap between the world of education and the world of work by offering free job simulators. By partnering with top companies—including many of those in the Fortune 500—Forage is helping candidates explore careers, build job confidence, and connect with employers with free digital experiences.
While not as immersive as the virtual reality video game Job Simulator, within just a few hours, individuals can get a glimpse of what it’s like to be a software engineer at JPMorgan Chase, an investment banker at Bank of America, or an omnichannel marketer at Lululemon.
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Users complete interactive tasks like creating databases, recording presentations, or developing product summaries. After completion, users earn a certificate.
Tom Brunskill is the co-founder and CEO of Forage. He says the company’s goal is to help guide candidates—no matter their age or background—to their dream job. Through the simulators, candidates can find their dream jobs in part by helping them realize that what they thought they might enjoy isn’t actually the case.
“I think we’ve popularized this unfortunate idea that it should take a long time or some involved level of misery for a young person to find their first job, you kind of get bounced around a couple of jobs until you find your dream job,” Brunskill notes.
He says despite evolution in the world of higher education, there remains a bumpy transition from the world of learning to the world of work.
“The four-year college degree isn’t designed in a way to help young people find the roles that align with their skills and interests,” Brunskill tells Fortune. “Certainly there have been developments in the way that curriculums have been set out to help students with that transition, but there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Exploring new jobs? No longer taboo
Now more than ever, young people are job-hopping. According to Gallup, 60% of millennials are open to new job opportunities, and Gen Z workers have a similar—if not higher—rate in their careers. So, exploring the job simulators on a platform like Forage, may not be a bad idea for those looking for a position or even complete career change.
Brunskill admits the simulators are not designed to be a supplement for larger experience like an internship, but completing one helps to demonstrate intent and interest—and possibly stick out from the pack.
Nearly one in every two students in North America has used Forage as part of their formal undergraduate studies, according to Brunskill. The platform is partnered with dozens of top schools across the world—from bootcamps and community colleges to Ivy League universities.
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Data from Forage reveals that users are 2.16x more likely to be hired by the companies with simulators available than those individuals who do not, and users typically account for 20% to 40% of those companies’ entry-level hiring class.
“Our view is that there is causation between doing our simulations and actually getting a job because if you spend 3-4-5-6 hours getting to know a company’s brand, their work, their people, their culture, develop those skills, demonstrate that intent—that is like ultimately a sign to an employer, that this person has done their research, they’re being very deliberate about applying to that organization, and you ultimately are more likely to hire that person,” Brunskill says.
Nana Kessie is one of those people. By completing a simulator with law firm White & Case, he was able to learn about day-to-day life as an employee. He is now a mergers and acquisitions lawyer with the firm.
“Experience is very valuable, and the Forage platform provided the first-hand experience that was usually reserved for a few right to my fingertips. Also, the Forage platform provided me with a way to get to know my potential employer and provide a good sense of what the real work will be and look like,” Kessie tells Fortune.
Companies with high brand awareness—such as Goldman Sachs and BCG—are often some of the most popular simulators, Brunskill says—adding that users can also discover positions and companies they otherwise may not have connected. Becoming a data scientist for Walmart is one example.
Giving more than you take
Forage is completely free to candidates and school partners. While Forage does help students, the ultimate beneficiary is the employer, Brunskill says, because they end with a more engaged, more aligned workforce who are less likely to leave the organization through attrition.
“The idea is that ultimately when that student gets to the point that they’re choosing which company that they want to work for, they will remember the companies that do give more than they take, and the simulations are one way that companies can invest in the development of young people,” Brunskill adds.
The platform also recently partnered with Pearson—one of the largest education publishing companies—to integrate Forage directly into its MyLab digital learning platform, making it easier for professors to, for example, to include Forage simulators as part of curriculum and homework.
Kessie says he encourages people to utilize Forage’s simulators because it is a great way to figure out what you truly like in specific industries and how your strengths may align—plus you can gain the skills and learn the unique languages of companies.
“This is one of the best ways to figure out what you like or what you don’t like because the work you will do on this platform is very practical and gives you a good sense of what your day-to-day at your company of interest might look like,” he notes.
“What we love to see is like when students jump onto our simulations—whether they’re doing it because they discovered our website, or they’re doing it as part of their classwork, because professors actually embed our programs into their curriculum—is that they’ll find roles and careers that they get excited about but they had no idea existed beforehand,” Brunskill adds.
Check out all of Fortune’s specific career paths.
About the Contributors

Preston Fore is a reporter at Fortune, covering education and personal finance for the Success team.

Jasmine Suarez was a senior editor at Fortune where she leads coverage for careers, education and finance. In the past, she’s worked for Business Insider, Adweek, Red Ventures, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and more.
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