People looking to reskill or upskill usually have a common goal—to have a more fulfilling and dynamic career in tech. To achieve this, many consider attending short programs at coding bootcamps to learn new skills that will get them started on this path. One of the most important considerations people have when looking at schools or bootcamps is, “Will this experience help me find a better job?” Looking at the outcomes and success stories of program graduates can help you answer this question.
If you’re in the middle of doing your research on which bootcamp or school can give you the best possible outcome, General Assembly is most likely among the bootcamps at the top of your list.
Founded in 2011, General Assembly is a pioneer in education and career transformation, offering short courses and Immersive programs that focus on teaching today’s most in-demand skills. With 80,000 global alumni and over 19,000 hiring partners worldwide, General Assembly is one of the most popular non-traditional education providers globally, and with good reason.
General Assembly’s programs ensure its graduates are fully equipped with the skills required by top tech companies. It also has an Outcomes Team that works to connect graduates with companies resulting in win-win relationships for both the company and the graduate turned employee.
All of these efforts produce measurable results. According to General Assembly’s Outcomes Report for 2019, over 90 percent of General Assembly graduates find a job 180 days after graduation, and 97 percent are working in their field of study within one year of graduating.
Thanks to the track record of General Assembly graduates, plus its active Outcomes and Partnerships Teams, people who finish their programs here are in high demand by employers. Let’s take a closer look at why companies look for and consistently hire General Assembly graduates.
The General Assembly Graduate
One of the primary reasons that make General Assembly stand out for employers is the quality of its graduates. Immersive program students receive up to 500 hours of instruction, resulting in more extensive training compared to other programs. All this hard work is evident in their job performance.
“Our biggest advocates for hiring are our alumni. A company will post a job, and a General Assembly grad will apply. Once they get into the company, they do a good job, and they become real advocates for the program, “ said Shahier Rahman, Senior Regional Partnerships Specialist at General Assembly.
“Then the General Assembly graduate moves up in the company and is adding members to their team, or their manager, when hiring someone new, will ask, ‘Where did you go?’ They might look at their resume and ask, ‘How do we get another person like you?’ Then they’ll reach out to General Assembly,” he continues.
The General Assembly graduate is equipped with all the skills they need to get hired, and this is seen when they start working. Fortunately, this also helps future General Assembly students. “We’ve demonstrated through our programs that if you are hungry, eager to learn, can adapt and grow, and always on the lookout for something new and interesting to learn, there are companies that will hire you. You don’t have to go through a traditional education path to land a job in tech,” Shahier further shares.
A Fully-Committed Outcomes Team
The bootcamp actively collaborates and connects General Assembly graduates with top employers making it a vital pillar of its success. General Assembly constantly works with partner employers to match jobs with graduates, “There are different kinds of employers. Those who are actively hiring, those who have hired from us in the past, and those who have reached out to hire from us,” Shaheir shares.
“Most of the time, the employers reach out to us. We have some affiliate programs in places where people can learn about General Assembly, and they reach out to us when they have an open position. We also have a hiring talent page on our website. We get a lot of companies that contact us through there,” Shahier continued as he explained more about employer partnerships.
The Outcomes Program consists of both Career Coaches and the Partnerships Team who are fully committed to placing a graduate with a company. They work together to build long-term partnerships with hiring partners without cost or commitment to the employer partner. This encourages the employer partner to continue working with General Assembly
General Assembly’s Outcomes Team provides students with career coaching, connections to hiring partners, and more.
Browse General Assembly’s Immersive courses here.The Talent Program
The General Assembly Talent Program is an extension of the Outcomes Team that directly connects graduates and hiring managers. Companies become employer partners after careful vetting from the Partnerships Team.
“If it’s a new organization, one that we haven’t worked with before, someone from the Partnerships Team will do an intake call where we vet the organization and find out a little more about them and what they do. If it’s a legit employment opportunity, we figure out what they are looking for,” said Shahier.
To give its graduates as many opportunities as possible, the Partnerships Team will examine all employer partners before working with them. Not only do they look if there is a fit between the company and General Assembly graduates, but they also determine if the organization or company will allow the graduate to thrive.
Shahier further explains the reasons behind General Assembly working with an employer partner. “A lot of the time, an employer will have a boilerplate job description on their website that they reach out to us about. They’ll have a list of things they’re looking for. Often in my conversation with them, I’m trying to find out what is really essential in this role,” he said.
“Do you need someone who meets every single criterion you listed or are you looking for someone who is knowledgeable, adaptive to learning, able to learn in a fast-paced environment, and can bring new ideas and technology that your company might not be aware of? Also, if the organization has an openness to hiring from non-traditional education backgrounds or if they need someone with a Computer Science degree for a software engineer role. Many people who enroll in our program do not have a Computer Science degree. They specifically enroll at General Assembly because they can quickly learn new skills. These are the biggest things I’m trying to figure out from our conversation,” Shahier further explains.
“The next thing I look at is, what is the support structure in the company or organization? Most of our recent graduates and the job seekers that we are supporting are more suited for junior roles. If they come to the company, and they’re the only person working in that division, or doing design, that’s not going to set them up for success. They need guidance, a manager, and some mentorship. I’m really trying to figure out if there will be people to support this new hire in the organization or will they be on their own?” he continues.
When the Partnerships Team decides that the General Assembly graduate will be sufficiently supported by the potential partner, the team proceeds to work with career coaches to match candidates to the partner employer.
The Talent Program offers companies the opportunity to immediately interview hand-picked candidates that are recommended based on the company’s budget and deadlines. This program further strengthens the Outcomes program and ensures that both companies and graduates find what they both need.
Emphasis on Long-Term Employer Partnerships
Since it started ten years ago, General Assembly has worked with thousands of employer partners in placing its graduates. Many large companies, like Google, Twitter, and Capgemini, have active talent pipeline partnerships because they’re always looking for new talent. Every month, General Assembly compiles and shares a list of new graduates with these organizations.
For other partners who have job openings as needed, after the Outcomes Team finds out what a partner employer is looking for, they compile a list of candidates they think will fit the position. This list includes each candidate’s resume, portfolio, contact information, and a brief blurb about why the career coach and the candidate think they are a good fit for the job. The Outcomes Team will also include the top five technical skills and the top five human skills instructors have observed in the graduate. There is also a section where General Assembly solicits feedback from the employer about the candidates presented.
“We ask the employer, ‘What did you think about them?’, ‘Did they meet the experience requirements necessary for the job?’ Did they have the technical experience?’,’ Do they have the human skills that you’re looking for, and are you going to interview this person?” Shahier shares.
“That’s the only thing we ask of our employer partners. This is all free. We don’t charge employers for working with us to find talent. We’re not a staffing firm, we’re not a recruitment agency. We will connect you with our graduates for free. The only thing that we ask for in return is feedback is to let us know what you think of these candidates,” he continues.
Because of this open feedback loop between partner employers and General Assembly, the bootcamp can use this valuable feedback to constantly improve both the program curriculum and career coaching. This allows students to have the best possible outcome—finding a job that fits their skills and needs.
Employers also have positive feedback for the ease and efficiency of the General Assembly recruitment and hiring process itself.
“We recently hired a new developer to join our crew at Anchor & Alpine. We knew we wanted a better range of diverse candidates than we could get from LinkedIn and one of our current developers mentioned General Assembly. The recruiter we worked with was fantastic and all three of our final candidates came from General Assembly. We were impressed with the caliber of people that completed the program and it was a really hard choice to choose our final person. We’ll definitely reach out to General Assembly the next time we hire,” shared Amber Sawaya of Achor & Alpine.
Other companies have had the same experience. “Working with General Assembly to find a front-end engineer has been amazing! The GA team was always responsive, super prompt and helpful in sharing qualified and passionate candidates. This made my life so much easier and I saved a great deal of time and effort to find great talent for my company!,” said Ashima Sharma of Dreami.
Most of its graduates are hired as junior-level software engineers, often as front-end engineers and support engineers. It’s important to note that Software Engineering is also the bootcamp’s most popular Immersive program. Next on the list of the most common roles that graduates are hired for are UX designers, UX researchers, product designers, and data scientists.
Giving Graduates a Direct Path to Employment
General Assembly graduates are consistently hired by the world’s top tech companies, such as Amazon, Microsoft, and IBM, thanks to past positive experiences with alumni. With the Talent Program that allows companies to work directly with General Assembly to source much-needed talent, there are even more opportunities for companies and graduates to find the right fit and meet each other’s needs.
The General Assembly acceptance rate and percentage of placements speak for itself. General Assembly programs ensure that their students graduate with the in-demand skills they need for a highly competitive tech world, while the Outcomes Team works to give each graduate the support they need to find the right job for them.
If you want to have your own success story and land your ideal job, learn more about how GA can help you here.
About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
