One Simple Way to 2-3X Your Chances of Landing a Job

Most college graduates overlook a simple way to catch employers' attention.

Recently, we’ve seen the following trends emerge:

• Getting an internship has become harder.
• AI has started to take over entry-level work.
• Candidates are applying to hundreds of positions with no success.?

Something needs to change. The good news is the change is already happening. Most people just don’t know about it yet.

This week I interviewed Tom Brunskill , Co-Founder at Forage, and Andrew Gilfillan , General Manager at Pearson.

Forage has created a platform that includes job simulations designed by the world’s largest employers.

Here are just a few examples of companies that have created job simulations.

Banking & Financial Services:

• JPMorgan Chase
• Bank of America
• Citi
• Fidelity

Consulting

• BCG
• Accenture
• Tata
• PwC

Law

• Lathan & Watkins
• White & Case
• Clifford Chance
• Leo Cussen

Anyone with Internet access can complete job simulations for free, no need to apply.?

Companies are investing their time and money to create these job simulations. Why? I asked Tom Brunskill this question, and here’s what he said.

Job simulations are not replacements for internships, but they offer something internships cannot. Andrew Gilfillan talks more about it in this interview.

Based on the information provided by Forage, the following data points are hard to ignore.

• Students are 2-3 times more likely to land a job after completing a job simulation.
• Nearly 20% of employers’ early talent hires have completed job simulations.
• 125+ organizations have already created over 300 job simulations.

These are very strong signals of how the hiring process is evolving.

*****

What company should I interview next? What questions should I ask?

(If you have a unique perspective on careers, the future of work, or the transition from education to employment and would like to be interviewed, please DM me.)

LinkedIn Posts

I’ve started developing my career design program, and I’m doing it in public. This means that what I’ve been sharing on LinkedIn is likely to be included in my program.

My ultimate goal is to license the completed program to educational institutions and corporations, helping them teach students and employees how to design their careers.

I’m doing all of this in public for three reasons.

1. It’s more fun

I spend most of my days by myself reading and writing. It’s fun to exchange ideas with like-minded individuals on LinkedIn.

1. Rapid feedback loop

I’ve devoted years to compiling my research. In 2020, I wrote 112 blog posts on this topic, and in 2022, I co-authored a best-selling book. It’s become difficult for me to objectively identify what others find most useful.

For instance, this week I posted a list of the top 20 career self-assessment tools and received very positive feedback. One person even reached out to ask if I conduct these assessments, as she was looking to evaluate her current skills.

I don’t do 1:1 coaching or conduct career assessments, but I gave her a referral for someone who does.?

Knowing that people are interested in learning more about career self-assessments indicates that I should continue to explore this topic in the future.

My best-performing post this week was about Adam Grant’s hierarchy of thinking styles . This idea was new to most people.

1. Accountability

The final reason for building my program in public is accountability. By sharing snippets of my program five days a week at 8:30 am EST, I know that I’m making progress every single day.?

Colby Kultgen publishes a newsletter called 1% Better . The idea of getting 1% better each day emphasizes the power of incremental progress and the importance of persistence and consistency in achieving long-term success.

*****

What do you wish you knew about careers when you were starting out?