Fast Lane Next-Generation Talent Academies

Talent academies are not just education programs. Candidates need to apply and need to pass a rigorous selection process making sure that they have the right personality and attitude to complete the program. Furthermore, candidates are matched up front with their future employer. This ensures that an organization's investment yields precisely the certified, highly qualified experts they are seeking.

Once admitted, students are mentored throughout the whole program to cater to their individual needs, learning challenges, etc. thus ensuring that they will achieve the desired results.

All academies use a common methodology; the content is specific depending on what technology is covered by a program. Most programs offer various levels: usually associate level, professional level and expert level.

Next-Generation Talent Academies are available as a full-time program or as continuing education in parallel with students’ work.  (More details below.)

Important note: Program fees are usually paid by the (future) employer and students usually have an employment contract for the entire duration of the program once admitted. It’s also possible for fees to be paid by students but so far this has been a rare exception.

In contrast to standard education / certification programs, our Talent Academy programs include:

• Recruiting, assessment, admission
• Modules covering all required pre-requisites
• Additional study material far beyond the standard course material
• Ongoing mentoring
• Assessments, test preparation, quizzes
• Managed internships

Hybrid Learning Approach

Information is presented using a hybrid learning approach which appeals to a wide variety of learning styles:

• Online resources, recommended reading
• Self-paced modules (various eLearning packages)
• In-person group mentoring
• Individual mentoring for the entire duration of the program
• Assessments, test preparation, quizzes
• Certification test including test reviews and re-testing
• In-person classes and boot camps covering advanced topics

Student progress is constantly monitored and reported. In addition to theoretical information and lab exercises our programs offers optional 4-week long internships which include soft skills training and coaching.

Internships: Real-world application along the way

As a (highly recommended) option, our programs offer several internships to ensure students can apply all the theoretical knowledge they’ve acquired. Each internship lasts four weeks and students will perform work related to their current skill level at their future employer. We will work with the employer to define the scope and will guide the student for the entire duration of the internship. An important part of the internship is ongoing soft skills / presentation skills guidance and requiring the students to present their work at the end of the internship.

A major component of this program is its unique program entry, assessment and selection process. When we conduct the recruitment, our in-house recruiters and outside headhunters look for various types of candidates:

• Technical degree, interested in focusing on advanced topics
• Any degree, interested in a career change
• Dropped out of university, eager to start a career
• Mid-level education in IT or any other technical area
• High school education, interested in starting a career or changing their focus

Depending on the individual situation of the candidate we conduct various interviews, assessments and potentially an in-depth, intense evaluation to make sure that the candidate has the potential to successfully complete the program.

After candidates are recruited, they proceed through these stages. After successfully passing all stages, candidates are approved to move on. They are then assigned to a suitable group and learning begins.

Fast Lane’s Success Guarantee

If Fast Lane performs the complete recruitment and selection process, we guarantee success. If we admit a candidate who doesn’t make it past pre-defined checkpoints, we will replace the candidate with another one without any additional cost to the employer.

Employer-provided candidates

Employers may provide their own candidates; we will admit them into the program if:

• the employer waives the right to our success guarantee or
• the employer agrees to permit Fast Lane to assess / evaluate the candidate the same way as our own candidates, and we reserve the right to reject candidates who do not pass the evaluation process

Entering at other stages 

We accept candidates who wish to enter the program at various stages (e.g. if they say they meet certain pre-requisites and don’t need the corresponding modules). However, in such cases we can’t guarantee success and candidates are signing up at their (or their employers’) own risk. If such candidates don’t make it, program fees can only be refunded in part depending on when the candidate drops out.

Every single part of the program can be delivered in various formats to be as flexible as possible in accommodating the needs of candidates and / or employers. Options include: 

Online Delivery

In the uncertain times surrounding the global fight against COVID-19 (coronavirus), online delivery which allows students to work from the comfort of their own workspaces is the way forward.  In this setup, students work through the material in a combination of self-paced e-learning and instructor-led online (ILO) sessions. Both program durations-  standard and extended- can be delivered in the Online Delivery format.

Instructor-Led Online (ILO) sessions feature the same content and labs as our classroom sessions but in a virtual environment delivered via WebEx. Our strictly managed online program guarantees candidates will receive the highest level of education quality.

Some of the key features of our Virtual Classroom are:

• Instructor-Led Training
• Hands-on labs
• Voice and video for remote students to interact with the Instructor
• Electronic whiteboard for Instructor notes
• VoIP or conference bridge audio
•  Low bandwidth requirements
  

Guided Self-Paced Delivery

Students don’t have to be present in person because all content is available online and can be accessed whenever convenient for the student. Typically, students have 2 or 3 weeks to consume the content of a 5 day class. However, to make sure that students achieve their goals, guidance (suggested learning per day, checks, monitoring) is made available to the students at all times. Furthermore, our mentor has a dashboard that shows student progress and will guide students as required. Coaching as well as technical mentoring is provided daily. Even more flexibility is achieved by scheduling an end date but allowing flexible entry dates, so students have variable time to complete a lesson or a module. As needed, students have the flexibility to allocate time as needed per module if required.

For example, the infrastructure foundation module consists of 3 courses so students have either 6 or 9 weeks to consume the corresponding content. Testing can be scheduled and performed at any time during the course of a module.

Mixed Delivery

In case we need to support very diverse groups (due to existing knowledge or geographic location), we can use a combination of the various delivery methods to offer individualized mixed deliveries. For example, some foundational knowledge can be consumed via self-paced delivery while the remaining content is consumed either as standard or extended delivery.