How is this different from a virtual internship or a course?
A course gives you material and a certificate. A simulation gives you a task nobody reviews. This gives you a named supervisor who reads your work, sends it back, and then puts an assessment of you in writing.
How do I apply?
Run the one-minute check and leave your email; we send you the application details for your programme. You apply in writing, and there is no interview or call: you hear back within a week. No payment until your application is accepted.
How much time does it take, and when?
Around five hours a week, for 2 to 24 weeks, done whenever suits you: evenings, weekends, before work. No set hours and no rota. The one fixed point is a short weekly check-in, scheduled around your study or your job. Fewer hours than that? Say so in the eligibility check and the brief is scaled to fit. It never grows past five hours, however much time you have.
Do I need prior experience or a degree?
No. The programme exists for people who have not been given professional experience yet, so asking for some would defeat the point. The eligibility check looks at your stage, your field and your hours, not your CV.
Is this a paid job?
No. It is a training programme, and you pay for it. You are not an employee or a worker of ours or of any partner company. You are under no obligation to carry out work for anyone, you set your own hours, you receive no wage, and everything you produce belongs to you and is not used by us or by any business. That is the line between training and unpaid work, and the programme is built to stay on the right side of it.
Does it guarantee a job or an interview?
No, and be wary of anyone who says theirs does. What you get is a defined role, dated experience, a piece of work you can show and, subject to satisfactory performance, a professional reference. Turning those into a job is your part.
Is the reference guaranteed?
No. Reference eligibility is subject to satisfactory performance, assessed against criteria written into your role brief and shared with you before you start. Supervisors write only what they can honestly say, and they can decline. If that happens you are told why at your final review, shown the completed assessment, and can appeal to a second assessor who did not mark your work. A reference you did not earn would be worth nothing to you anyway.
Is my work experience guaranteed?
Yes, once your application is accepted. Every accepted applicant is placed with one of our partner companies, in their field, and we name the company before you pay. Your start date is agreed with you, subject to supervisor availability. If for any reason we could not place you, you would get a full refund. What is not guaranteed is a job, an interview or a reference.
Who are the partner companies?
Small businesses with someone senior enough to supervise properly. We name the company hosting you before you pay, so you can look it up first. Two things we do not claim: that partners are vetted by anyone, or that every partner is a company we have no connection to. The programme runs with a small number of them, some closer to us than others. The reference, subject to satisfactory performance, is on the partner company’s letterhead and signed by the supervisor who actually read your work.
Does the partner company get free labour out of this?
No. Your brief is modelled on the work that company really does, but it runs alongside their live work, never inside it, and they do not use, sell or rely on anything you produce. Partners take part to develop their own people as supervisors, not for output and not to recruit. If a partner ever asked you to do production work, we would want to know that day.
Is it fully remote? Can I apply from outside the UK?
Yes to both. The partner companies are UK-based and everything happens online, so you can take part from any country. Feedback comes in writing, so you work at hours that suit you wherever you are, and any call is booked at a time that works for both of you. We confirm a partner company that suits your timezone before taking any payment.
I'm 16 or 17. Can I take part?
Not yet. The programme is 18 and over, because supervising under-18s carries safeguarding duties we would rather meet properly than partly. At 16 or 17, your school or college can usually arrange work experience for nothing, which is a better route than paying us. Come back and run the check the day you turn 18; there is no list to join before then.
What if I change my mind?
You have 14 days from the date your place is confirmed to cancel, for a full refund and without giving a reason. If you ask us to start your programme inside those 14 days and then cancel, you keep the right; we keep only a proportionate amount for the part of the programme already delivered. After the 14 days, refunds are considered case by case. Nothing here affects your statutory rights.
