Though a college education can help you land a job, it’s not the only thing recruiters and hiring managers look for. More companies are using skills-based hiring to assess candidates, prioritizing skills over formal education. According to a survey by Test Gorilla, 81% of companies globally are using skills-based hiring. This is up from 73% of companies in 2023 and 56% in 2022.
But for college students and new grads, demonstrating you already have the skills employers are looking for can be difficult. Unless you completed an internship (or three), your application may not stand out in a competitive, skills-based hiring job market.
>>MORE: New Collar Jobs: Why Companies Are Prioritizing Skills Over School
So, how can you build the skills you need to get hired in today’s job market, and prove that you have those skills on your application? Completing a virtual job simulation (or three!) can help demonstrate you have the skills employers want.
What Is a Job Simulation?
A virtual job simulation is an online course that takes you through a day-in-the-life working in a specific role at a specific company. Job simulations contain real industry tasks that simulate the work that you’d do in an entry-level role at the company.
While the content in these programs may vary based on the industry and role — for example, in some you may create a presentation while in others you’ll take a knowledge check quiz — every program gives you in-demand professional skills and experience you can add to your job applications.
Forage job simulations are:
- Open access: Anyone, anywhere, at any time can take a Forage job simulation. There’s no application required.
- Always free: Companies pay Forage to make job simulations for them because they want to educate and hire students like you. That means that job simulations don’t cost you a thing!
- Self-paced: While each job simulation has an estimated time of completion, you can do them at your own pace. Fit job simulations into your schedule — not the other way around.
- Built by industry and company experts: All Forage job simulations are built by people with industry expertise and approved by the company to ensure all tasks are accurate and representative of real professional work.
What’s In a Job Simulation?
Job simulations are broken down into multiple tasks. In each task, you’ll get an overview of what you’re working on, including relevant hypothetical team members you’d be working with or a hypothetical client you’re serving.
Once you complete the work for your task, there will be a place to submit your work. It’s OK if it’s not perfect — you won’t ever be penalized for what you submit! Instead, we ask you to submit your work so you can unlock a “model answer.” The model answer is an example of something an industry professional would submit, so you can compare it to your work.
Finally, when you’re done with the job simulation, you’ll receive a certificate you can share on LinkedIn. You’ll also get sample language you can add to your resume to demonstrate the kind of work you did in your job simulation, and language for how to discuss your work in interviews.
Is a Virtual Job Simulation the Same as an Internship?
No. Virtual job simulations are different from internships — even virtual internships.
A virtual job simulation consists of one or more tasks you complete on your own schedule. It’s a small taste of what it’s like to do the job. An internship — whether in-person or virtual — is a much larger scope and more involved. In general, you work as an intern every day for several weeks, months, and sometimes years. The schedule is almost always decided for you, with employers making the call on when to offer the internship, if it’s full or part-time, and how long it lasts.
That said, virtual job simulations and internships are similar in that you perform many of the tasks you’d complete as an employee and learn more about the career path and company.
Why Should I Do a Virtual Job Simulation?
There are multiple reasons why you should do a virtual job simulation, all of which can help you with your career planning, job search, and landing your dream role.
1. Helps Your Application Stand Out
First, completing a virtual job simulation can help your application stand out, especially if you think or know the employer uses skills-based hiring. While using the STAR method to explain how you’ll use your skills on the job can help you during the interview, you need to have the skills in the first place.
When you complete a virtual job simulation, you’ll be able to talk about the specific skills you used and learned. This will include your hard skills, like coding, working with spreadsheets, and forecasting. But many simulations also allow you to use and build your soft skills, like presenting and problem-solving.
>>MORE: What Are Transferable Skills? Definition and Examples
2. Can Make You More Likely to Actually Land the Role
Foragers are more than 3.3x more likely to land a role after doing a Forage job simulation. That’s because when you complete a virtual job simulation, you’re showing employers that you’ve built the experience and skills you need to not just do the job you’re applying for, but to succeed in it.
Doing a Forage job simulation also demonstrates your above and beyond commitment to working in that industry or for that specific company. For example, if you do a company’s specific job simulation then apply for one of their roles, you’re showing that company that you’ve gone the extra mile to show your interest.
3. Test Drive a Career
One of the fantastic things about an internship is that you get to immerse yourself in the job, the career path, and the company. During that time, you may discover that this is what you want to do after graduation. Or you might find that this is not the career for you!
Completing a virtual job simulation is also a fantastic way to “test-drive” a career and see if you want to go forward with an internship or job. However, a virtual job simulation requires less time than an internship. Instead of committing to eight or twelve weeks — or longer — to complete an internship, a virtual job simulation only requires a few hours of your time.
That’s not to say a virtual job simulation isn’t challenging. It is! You’ll take part in real-world tasks that employees encounter daily and grow your skills when you complete them.
You can learn what careers are right for you by getting real experience and understanding of what roles in that career path are like — and learn which ones you don’t like!
4. Low Barrier to Entry
Landing an internship takes a lot of work. You have to fill out the application, interview (possibly more than once), maybe participate in a superday, and then, hopefully, be selected for the program. Sometimes, this whole process happens over a year and a half before the internship even starts!
>>MORE: Ultimate Guide to Internship Application Deadlines and Open Dates
Virtual job simulations generally don’t have a prerequisite or application process. They’re open to anyone and everyone, and you can usually enroll in any simulation you want. That said, some are more advanced than others, so already having some basic knowledge of the topic may be helpful.
What Will I Learn in a Virtual Job Simulation?
That depends on the simulation. On each job simulation homepage, you can see an overview of what you’ll do in the simulation, including specific tasks and skills.
For example, banking and financial services job simulations let you explore careers in commercial banking, investment banking, or asset management. The specific skills you learn depend on which job simulation you complete, but they will be the kinds of skills you’ll use in that line of work.
For example, in an investment banking job simulation, you may learn how to identify a merger and acquisition target, then prepare a discounted cash flow valuation. In a wealth and personal banking job simulation, you may learn how to assess client risk appetite and investment restrictions, then make recommendations based on their criteria.
How Long Will a Virtual Job Simulation Take?
That depends on you!
Every virtual job simulation on Forage includes an estimated time frame of how long the entire simulation will take to complete, though your mileage may vary. And that’s the beauty of a virtual job simulation. Though the estimate may say it takes “between five and seven hours to complete” you can spend as much time on each task as you like. If it takes you more or less time to get through the entire simulation, that’s totally OK!
And because there are no due dates or set schedules, you can complete the simulation whenever and wherever works best for you.
Types of Job Simulations
Regardless of your career interest, Forage has jon simulations that can help you explore a variety of fields.
Finance
Careers in finance span across many different types of services and expertise, from helping people do their yearly taxes to advising on large company transactions. If you have strong math and data skills and are interested in working in a fast-paced, often intense work environment, finance careers might be right for you.
Technology
Technology is an ever-expanding field with ever-expanding opportunities. Whether you’re interested in programming and want to build video game features or love to design and want to build out an entire website’s look and feel, Forage has a range of job simulations that can help you explore just that.
>>MORE: What Tech Job Is Right for Me?
Consulting
Consulting careers focus on providing expert advice to help companies improve. For example, strategy consultants may advise companies on business decisions or processes like economic policy or mergers and acquisitions. Technology consultants may focus on improving the systems and softwares a company uses to make them more efficient and save money.
Engineering
Engineering careers use math and science to solve the world’s problems, from creating sustainable water systems to designing safer and more efficient airplanes.
If you’re creative, love thinking outside of the box, and have stellar math and science skills, engineering might be a good career path for you.
Law
Professionals in the field of law study, practice, and apply legal principles to resolve disputes, protect rights, and ensure justice. There are a variety of different types of law, from criminal law, where you represent those accused of crimes or prosecute potential criminals, to environmental law, where you address legal issues relating to the environment.
Client Services
Client services careers are careers that focus on building and maintaining relationships with clients. These professionals may work in a variety of industries, from technology to sales.
If you have stellar interpersonal skills and are looking for roles where you speak to a variety of people, client services might be a good fit.
Sales
If you’re a people person who’s great at persuading people to see your point of view, sales may be a good career path for you. Sales professionals focus on selling other people or organizations products or services. While sharing their sales pitch is a large part of their role, sales professionals also look for prospective clients, build relationships, and manage generating revenue for their company.
Project Management
Project management careers focus on ensuring work projects are done efficiently, effectively, and on time. Project managers are highly organized people who can coordinate between different teams and make sure everyone is doing their part. They’re also responsible for managing project resources and timelines, ensuring every professional has the right amount of time, tools, or and budget to get the project completed.
>>MORE: Don’t see what you’re looking for in this list? There’s more! Explore all Forage job simulations.
What Job Simulation Is Right for You?
Know you want to take a job simulation, but unsure where to start? We’ve created a quiz that takes into consideration your interests, strengths, majors (if applicable), career knowledge, and more. Once completed, you’ll get job simulations recommendations completely tailored to you.
Virtual Job Simulations: The Key to Unlocking Your Career
Like everything about your job search, there are no guarantees that completing a virtual job simulation will ensure you get the job. But, completing the tasks can help you build the confidence you need to talk up your skills in your cover letter, on your resume, and in the interview. And with the shift toward skills-based hiring, you’ll be a step ahead of the competition.
Check out all of Forage’s virtual job simulations and get career-ready!
Image credit: Canva
