MY FUTURE Careers Newsletter

Work Experience

How you could use Forage Work Experience to build your skills online

 

Forage is a free online work experience provider that gives you access to real industry-related tasks from actual employers, and they’ve been around for a little while now, so I thought it was time we had a closer look at how their programs work and how you can use them to make your resume stand out from the crowd.

 

In almost every interview you’ll face a question about your industry-related experience – even as a school leaver. Whether you’re interviewing for a job or a place in a course, you’ll need to be able to show that you’ve done your homework and confirmed that this industry is right for you. But if you’ve only just left school it can be difficult to get that all important experience, which is where programs like Forage can bridge the gap.

 

If you’ve completed online work experience in a relevant industry, then the interviewer can see that you have put in the effort and are actually interested in the role. Forage and other similar providers offer work experience for a huge range of roles, which means you should be able to find something that suits the job you are applying for,  and the programs can usually be completed relatively quickly online from home.

 

Let’s look at an example; imagine that you’ve scored an interview for a legal cadetship but you don’t have any work experience related to law, or any opportunity to speak with an actual lawyer. You could jump on to Forage and in around 6 hours complete their Ready, Set, Law program. In your interview, you’ll be able to talk about what you’ve learnt from the tasks you completed and justify your interest in the role.

 

Show me the programs

 

Ok, I’ve pulled out some of the programs I think could be great for students in Years 9 to 12 here, but don’t forget to check out the full range online. I’ve tried to focus on programs from Australian companies here:

 

Coordinators

Informers

Innovators

Guardians

Linkers

Makers