One of the best ways to figure out if a job is right for you is to try it out. While many people do that through an internship, not everyone can commit to one. That’s where Forage comes in. Our virtual job simulations let you test-drive a job without a summer or semester-long commitment. Many of our in-depth job simulations take several hours to show you a true “day in the life” of a particular career. But what if you’re so pressed for time, you can’t commit to that? Enter the time-saving “short” job simulation!
What Is a Short Job Simulation?
A short job simulation should take you no more than two hours to complete. While we can’t guarantee you can finish in less than two hours, pint-sized job sims generally have two to three tasks (some have four) and each task should take between 30 and 60 minutes to complete.
Why Should I Do a Short Job Simulation?
These brief job simulations are fantastic for students who want to complete a job simulation but don’t have the time to devote to one of our longer ones. And they’re also ideal for people who haven’t totally decided on a career. Short job simulations are the perfect introduction to what it would be like to work in a particular job.
>>RELATED: Unsure what career is right for you? Take our career quiz and find out!
What’s more, our short job simulations span a wide range of career fields. Real estate? Accounting? Law?
14 Short Job Simulations on Forage
Below are 14 short job simulations you can find on Forage that will only take you 1-2 hours — listed in alphabetical order by company name.
1. BCG Introduction to Strategy Consulting
Skills You’ll Build:
- Critical thinking
- Brainstorming
- Creative thinking
Consultants help their clients solve their pressing business challenges by providing insights and solutions. In this job simulation, you’ll devise a few solutions for your client and also learn how to come up with impactful ideas.
You’re helping your client, a luxury clothing company, increase revenue. But instead of participating in a standard brainstorming session, you’ll learn how to generate better ideas. You’ll discover how to reframe your assumptions, change your thought process, and think creatively to make suggestions that get results.
2. BCG Teaming@BCG
Skills You’ll Build:
- Effective teaming
- Client management
- Leadership
Enhance your leadership skills and learn how to create a collaborative environment in this short job simulation.
As the project leader, you’re tasked with leading a team of people from across the organization — each with different skills and objectives. You’ll coach them through the project, ensuring everyone understands their role and works together to get the job done.
Then you’ll learn how to lead when the client makes an unexpected request. You’ll figure out the best action plan and present your recommendation to your superiors.
3. BNY Mellon’s Client Service
Skills You’ll Build:
- Relationship management
- Communication
- Curiosity
Take a deep dive into the world of client services. In this short job simulation, you’ll help your client, a nonprofit organization, automate some of their records. You’ll meet with the client to understand their goals and objectives, then review and recommend solutions.
You’ll also learn the difference between a customer relationship manager (CRM) and an enterprise customer relation manager (ECRM) and how using each system can help you improve your client service skills.
4. CBRE Commercial Real Estate
Skills You’ll Build:
- Growth mindset
- Relationship management
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
Commercial real estate is more than signing leases and collecting rent. There’s a lot of work that goes into developing and maintaining relationships with tenants.
You’ll start by creating a prospect plan for a possible fintech client. This will help you master the art of identifying and developing strong relationships now for future growth. Then, you’ll learn more about the real estate activities for a client and why it’s important to partner with internal stakeholders for overall company success.
5. CBRE Facilities Maintenance
Skills You’ll Build:
- Property management
- Strategic planning
- Procurement
- Due diligence
In this short job simulation you’ll learn what it takes to work in facilities maintenance, specifically property inspection. Property inspections are critical to overall facility maintenance as they identify systems that need repairs.
Once you’ve learned about the inspection process, you’ll review an inspection report and learn when and how to sign off on work orders.
6. CBRE Project Management
Skills You’ll Build:
- Risk analysis
- Organization
- Excel
- Critical thinking
See what it’s like to work as a project manager on a large scale project. Your client wants to build a new showroom, and you’ve been tasked with helping the team create a feasibility plan. You’ll review the documents to identify any risks and learn more about the capital planning process.
Then, to document the timeline for the project, you’ll learn how to create a Gantt chart in Excel.
7. Electronic Arts Product Management
Skills You’ll Build:
- Performance metrics
- Project planning
- Critical thinking
- Problem-solving
In this job simulation you’ll see what it’s like to work as a product manager in the gaming industry.
First you’ll learn what a key product indicator (KPI) is and how the company uses it to make decisions. Then, you’ll learn how to choose which data to present and create a data-driven presentation about your KPIs.
8. Goldman Sachs Software Engineering
Skills You’ll Build:
- Cryptography
- Password best practices
- Password cracking
- Cryptography
- Password best practices
- Password cracking
In this short job simulation you’ll crack a leaked password database. This will help you understand how hackers get around security, and you’ll get to try some of their techniques. You’ll try to crack as many passwords as possible, then draft an email to your supervisor suggesting improvements to the company’s current security controls.
9. Mastercard Cybersecurity
Skills You’ll Build:
- Cybersecurity
- Technical security
- Strategy
- Data analysis
See what it’s like working in cybersecurity. You’ll design a phishing email, send it to the team, and see what happens! Using the results of your test (who opened the email and who clicked the links), you’ll determine which teams need more cybersecurity awareness training. Then you’ll create a presentation about phishing.
10. Mayer Brown Introduction to Litigation
Skills You’ll Build:
- Legal research
- Critical thinking
- Fact analysis
- Strategy
Working in the legal profession means there are a lot of practice areas to choose from. This short job simulation lets you test the waters in litigation.
You’ll start by learning what hearsay is and what kinds of evidence are admissible in court. After that, you’ll learn about the different types of questions you can ask a witness and why asking certain kinds of questions is better than others. And finally you’ll learn how to draft a closing argument that best sums up your case.
11. Red Bull Off-Premise Sales
Skills You’ll Build:
- Data analysis
- Presentation
- Organization
- Written communication
Learn some of the tactics you’ll need to be successful in sales. Acting as a key account manager, you’ll analyze a data set from a retailer, then make recommendations to your supervisor on how you could grow the account and increase sales. Then you’ll create a presentation that summarizes the findings.
12. Red Bull On-Premise Sales
Skills You’ll Build:
- Data analysis
- Account management
- Strategy
- Sales
This job simulation will help you understand the difference between on- and off-premise sales and how each job requires different skills.
You’ll start by creating a few Excel charts that track how your accounts are performing. Using that data, you’ll create a presentation about what you think is driving performance in these accounts. Then you’ll learn which terms you can negotiate with your customer and how to level up your negotiation skills.
13. Ryan Transaction Tax Consulting
Skills You’ll Build:
- Research
- Data entry
- Evaluation
- Analytical thinking
In this short job simulation, you’ll get a taste of what it’s like to work in tax consulting. You’ll review sales tax returns and reconcile the details with the reports. Then, you’ll note any errors and record your findings in Excel.
14 More Short Job Simulations on Forage
Looking for even more short job simulations on Forage? Here are the rest:
- Arnold Bloch Leibler Australia Commercial Law
- Ashurst UK Energy & Infrastructure Projects
- AWS Solutions Architecture
- Datacom Software Development
- Linklaters USA Commercial Law
- Moreton Bay Regional Council Careers In Tourism: Customer Support
- Moreton Bay Regional Council Economic Development
- Moreton Bay Regional Council Food & Agribusiness: Agronomy
- nbn Trainee Customer Field Technician
- NSW Government Digital
- Skyscanner Front-End Software Engineering
- Teach For Australia Leading a classroom
- Telstra Cybersecurity
- White & Case Germany DE Mergers & Acquisitions
Start Small for Big Wins
These are just some of the short job simulations you can find on Forage. And no matter what career you’re thinking about pursuing, we’ve got a virtual job simulation that can help you take your skills to the next level. Check them out.
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