There is nothing more highly valued by employers than experience.
But getting experience is not always easy. While traditional education models cover a breadth of theory, they often don’t include opportunities for practical application.
FourthRev’s Career Accelerators are different. Developed by faculty from prestigious universities alongside leaders from innovative tech companies, the learning outcomes are practical, industry-aligned, and relevant in today’s digital economy.
The Employer Project – the capstone project at the end of our programmes – is the ultimate opportunity for you to experience what it’s like to work on a real-life business case at a real company. You get to apply everything you’ve learned to the project and add the work you do to your portfolio to show employers.
Here’s a closer look at how the Employer Project works and the impact it can have on your career.
The Employer Project comes after three structured courses
While not every Career Accelerator follows this structure to a tee, here’s an idea of what you can likely expect.
You’ll start off with an orientation week where you get to know the learning platform and meet with your Success Manager and Career Coach to discuss your career goals and what you want to get out of the programme. This is a time for you to settle in, find your feet, and practically prepare for the next six months.
After orientation, you’ll start the first of three six-week-long courses. At the end of each course, you’ll submit an assignment. Depending on the programme, these assignments might be course-specific or build on each other over the six-month learning period. Either way, these submissions give you the chance to put the skills you’ve learned into practice. The practical work you do can contribute to a portfolio of evidence that you can use in future interviews to demonstrate your abilities.
Eleonora Bacchi, a past learner on the LSE Data Analytics Career Accelerator, shares a look at her portfolio of learnings that helped her land a job as a research analyst soon after completing the programme. If you’re interested in a career in data analytics, book a time here and we’ll explain how the programme’s focus on a holistic skill set will help you get hired in a very competitive job market.
A reflection week follows each three-week course. This offers a chance to meet with your Career Coach, revisit the goals you set for yourself, and track your progress.
In the final six weeks of the programme, you’ll work on the Employer Project. It’s the capstone that brings together and applies all the skills you’ve learned on the Career Accelerator.
There are elements of theory in the programme, and each one goes directly into a piece of work that eventually goes into a real-life, practical thing you can show when applying for roles.” – Aoife Duggan, King’s Product Management Career Accelerator learner
The project is a highlight for many of our learners – especially those pivoting their careers and needing proof of their skills. Megan could lean on her project experience during interviews, which helped her land a job.
Real businesses set the Employer Project
The project is designed by one of our Employer Partners and usually features a challenge or business case they need support or a fresh perspective on.
We’re excited to be partnering with a range of diverse, innovative companies across our programmes and have seen some really interesting business challenges be presented to our learners.
Some examples of past projects include working with data to increase the uptake of and engagement in STEM subjects in further and higher education among women and under-represented gender minorities. In another, learners needed to develop a data-backed strategy to promote green transportation, like walking and cycling, in major cities.
The Employer Project is a real-life application of design practices; it’s the learner’s chance to do some real work and to get their hands dirty. It will be fun, but more importantly, it will be precisely something employers are looking for.” – Dennis Lenard, CEO of Creative Navy, one of our King’s UX Design Career Accelerator Employer Partners
The idea behind every Employer Project is to give our learners a real feel for what it’s like to work in the field they’re learning about. For six weeks, they become an extended part of the business’ team and work in groups to understand the dynamics that come with working together to solve a real industry problem. At the same time, while the learners benefit from getting a glimpse into the work and industry, the Employer Partner gets a fresh and diverse perspective on a project or business challenge.
Working with FourthRev and King’s College London as part of the Employer Project has been valuable to us as an organisation. We were fortunate to work closely with an extremely talented cohort, benefitting from the insights and ideas they shared.” – John Kostovski, Product Manager – Identify at DocuSign, one of our King’s Product Management Career Accelerator Employer Partners
The Project is designed for end-to-end problem-solving
Every Employer Project is unique, but they generally all follow this structure:
- Assignment 1: Project scope and demand
- Assignment 2: Low-fi recommendation pitch
- Assignment 3: Final presentation and report
- Assignment 4: Individual reflection
With your group of programme peers, you’ll get to research, ideate, and develop a solution directly for the company. Along the way, you’ll get the chance to ask questions, present your ideas, and get feedback from the business, allowing you to be fully immersed in the experience.
You’ll get a real ‘work team’ experience
Before the project kicks off, you’ll be put into a small group with other learners in your cohort. Through six weeks of collaboration, you’ll better understand what it’s like to work as part of a team in the field that you’re interested in.
Working so closely with others will also give you an excellent opportunity to practise the human skills, like communication and empathy, that are necessary in a role.
As a product manager, you’ll work with stakeholders across teams at a business. Knowing how to interact with different people and communicate effectively to achieve your goals is a crucial skill. This is something you’ll learn through the work you do on the King’s Product Management Career Accelerator. Speak to our team if you’re interested in learning more.
You’ll get feedback on the Employer Project from industry experts
We work with leaders in digital businesses and faculty from the world’s best universities to develop the core curriculum. This helps ensure what you learn is relevant to what is going on in industry right now and aligns with the highest standards of education. These experts may host guest lectures during the programme too.
During the Employer Project, you’ll work more closely with a team from a specific company, such as ThoughtWorks, Creative Navy, Agent3, Sky or the Bank of England. To get you started, they’ll host a kick-off session to provide you with the brief and context you need. Halfway through, you’ll give a mini-presentation on the work you’ve done so far and conclude the project with a final, more in-depth presentation and discussion of your solution. If you have questions along the way, you can reach out to the team. The Employer Partner will grade your final submission and give you feedback. Because you’ll be working on a solution for a real business problem that the team is currently facing, there’s a chance your work will be picked up and implemented by the company. This could be something really exciting to talk about in interviews!
Build a portfolio of evidence
Every Career Accelerator has been designed to ensure that everything you work on can contribute in a meaningful way to getting you hired. The coursework assignments and Employer Project can tangibly demonstrate the new skills you’ve picked up to make it easier for you to catch hiring managers’ attention.
Due to the sensitive nature of some projects, however, and the relevant privacy agreements in place, there may be some limitations on the level of detail you can share about the work you do on the Employer Project. Don’t fret, though – if the project you work on does have some privacy agreements in place, your Career Coach will work with you to make sure you can present your new skills in the most effective way so that you can achieve your career goals.
A comprehensive portfolio is really important for anyone looking to pursue a career in UX design. Before she’d even completed the King’s UX Design Career Accelerator, Aman landed a job as a UX designer at a healthcare company. With the support of her Career Coach, she built up the confidence to showcase her skills and go after her goal. Want to learn more about the programme that helped springboard her new career? Get in touch here.
You’ll be supported throughout your learning journey
Your Success Manager and Career Coach will be available to you throughout the programme. There’s no pressure around how you interact with them – they recognise that everyone’s learning journey and career goals are different and factor that into the relationship they build with you.
You’ll also be supported by your peers – the people learning alongside you. There are regular opportunities to connect with the broader group during online sessions or in the community forum. We’ve had many learners stay in touch with their project group, even once the Career Accelerator has ended.
The student community is a very important part of the experience as a learner. There’s a lot of encouragement from the course coordinators for the students to engage with each other and learn from each other, and there are a lot of structured opportunities to have that engagement.” – Andreas Yiallouros, LSE Data Analytics Career Accelerator learner
Take a meaningful step forward in your career
The Employer Project provides you with a unique opportunity to experience what it’s really like to work in a role – before you get hired. You’ll get to test your technical abilities, feel where you fit in a team, discover what’s hard and where you thrive. It’s a chance to get one step ahead and make a more informed decision for future you.
We’re thrilled to offer a range of Employer Projects across our programmes. Take a look at our programme portfolio to learn more. You’ll see all the programmes mentioned in this article, as well as two recent additions: The LSE Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics Career Accelerator and the Data Science Career Accelerator from the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education.
