Career Simulation Lab
Step into a corporate workspace.
Build your professional portfolio.
Launch your career.
Career Simulation Lab
Step into a corporate workspace.
Build your professional portfolio.
Launch your career.
METHODS
Summer 2026 Pilot Program
The Summer 2026 Career Simulation Lab pilot program is designed for college students who are exploring or pursuing an office-based career. The program prepares college students to be competitive applicants for summer 2027 professional internships and entry level jobs. The program consists of these elements:
Participants meet in a corporate-style office immersed in a (simulated) professional corporate culture.
Participants act out company roles. During the Summer 2026 pilot, particpants will operate as junior consultants at a fictional consulting firm, allowing them to tackle diverse business problems.
The optional morning session is focused on real world portfolio projects for students to work on. Participants use open source online data, present results of their projects, revise their work based on feedback, and add the projects to their online career portfolios.
Students conduct informational interviews with mentors matched to student interests.
Participants follow business processes by participating in onboarding and offboarding, corporate training, one-on-one meetings, staff meetings, and review and approval processes.
Benefits to Participants
What you will gain:
Traditional Career Coaching: Create or update your resume, LinkedIn profile, and online career portfolio.
Targeted Skill Development: Identify a skill needed to compete for a 2027 internship and if you chose the optional morning session, work on a related portfolio project.
A Professional Reference: Upon successful completion of the program, the program director can serve as a reference for future job applications.
Career Exploration: Learn about different careers, act out the job of a consultant, and learn more from mentors across various industries.
Core Professional Skills: Practice some of the key skills that employers say recent college graduates lack. Summer 2026 will emphasize verbal communication, team work, and technical skills.
Program Details
Dates: July 20-24 (5 days)
Hours:
10am-12pm (optional portfolio session)
1:00pm - 4:30pm (all participants)
Morning Location:
Los Gatos Public Library
100 Villa Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95030
Afternoon Location:
Office Evolution
16185 Los Gatos Blvd #205, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Cost:
$300 per person (summer 2026 only)
Your payment will be spent only on pilot program expenses.
FREE for SJSU Braven or EOP Students
Devices:
Participants must bring their own laptop each day and pay for any software subscription they need for their personal portfolio project.
Participants:
Maximum of 12 students per session
Example Projects
For the pilot program, you will be playing the role of a junior consultant at a fictional consulting company working on a project for a fictional client.
Example client projects:
Your client is a small business owner. Find a poorly designed or unattractive website for a real small business. Redesign it using the web publishing software of your choice.
Your client is a 75 year old woman suffering from chronic back pain. Her doctor recommends the Intracept procedure, but she wants a more detailed risk / benefit analysis. Review and analyze publicly available data and prepare a factual presentation for her.
Your client wants to invest in a rental property. Part 1: Do a simple analysis to determine how much income it will generate after expenses if your client takes out a traditional mortgage at the standard mortgage interest rate. Part 2: Design a floor plan and budget to convert the garage to a bedroom/bathroom suite, pave additional parking in the side yard for 1 car, and add a storage shed in the backyard.
Your client is a startup pro-football agency that wants to identify potential clients before they are drafted into the NFL. The client does not trust the draft metrics everyone else uses. Use open source data to identify the five most important variables and create a draft metric based on only those five.
Choose a career simulation from Forage Job Simulations: www.theforage.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are there two locations?
Mainly to make use of the resources of both locations. But also to keep costs low for the Pilot Program. The library will be used mainly for participants to work on their portfolio projects and attend one-on-one meetings. Office Evolution is a coworking space we will share with professionals who are working in the cubicles and offices. We will use their large conference room for afternoon team sessions.
What will participants do for lunch?
No lunch is provided. Participants can find food at 7-11 or dozens of cafes and restaurants within walking distance. There are reasonable options like bagel and sandwich shops. But it would be very easy to bring a lunch and eat outdoors in one of the parks. The Pageant Grounds park is right behind the library and has clean picnic tables and low, wide cement walls to sit on.
What kind of prep do I need to do before starting the program?
The preparation is built into the application and interview process. Participants need to find at least two job postings of jobs that are similar to an internship or career job they'd like to have in summer 2027. From these job descriptions, the participant will identify a skill they need to learn to be a more competitive applicant. For example, there may be a type of software they need to learn. Together with the program director, they will decide on a a project or plan to help them develop the skill.
Do I need access to a shared Google drive for this program?
The program has a Google Workspace setup for business. On the first day, participants will go through an onboarding process that includes IT setup to access the Google drives and get their @tomorrowinterns.com email. Many companies use Google workspace, and we will follow standard practices used by disciplined startups and small businesses. On the last day of the session, there will be an offboarding process. Participants will be given time to download or transfer their work and shared resources such as templates and lists of career resources before losing access to the Drive and email.
What does it mean to "simulate" a corporate culture?
Participants will learn corporate cultural practices similar to a big company and will practice them in the afternoon workspace. These include unspoken rules such as food/drink in the workplace, cellphone use, dress code, when/how to interrupt someone who is working, when/how to escalate a concern, how to express appreciation of others, what to do when you are unable to meet a due date, etc. Staff meetings and one-on-ones will be conducted similar to a large corporation. The program will also use business workflows and follow IT practices similar to a well organized small company.
What do I need to bring with me?
Participants are required to bring a laptop or Chromebook each day and their Los Gatos Library card, once they have one. A backpack or laptop bag is recommended.
What should I wear?
The first day, make sure you have walking shoes and clothes that cover your your shoulders, belly, and legs above your knee. We will discuss the finer points of dressing for a professional office job once we are together.
How do you protect participants' safety and privacy?
All meeting rooms used for the program have at least two glass walls, and the people in the rooms will be within full view of other library or office occupants. This adds a degree of safety to one-on-one meetings. Both locations are in safe neighborhoods.
Participants will all link to one another's LinkedIn profiles, but no personal information (email, phone number, etc.) will be shared during any program activities. Application materials, interview notes, and other sensitive information is stored in a restricted accessible only by the program director.