When you ask someone, unexpectedly, “Which state in the U.S. Next, we came up with questions - everything from general strength and weakness questions to an abstract set of logic questions that gave us insight into the candidate’s thought process. actually speaking to them can be very different) (One thing we did discover was that sometimes the impression you get from reading someone’s resume vs. Although that number of interviews put a burden on us internally, we felt it was worth it. We had over 50 interviews scheduled over a 2–3 week period! The level of talent was just so good we couldn’t resist. By the time we finished our culling process, things had gotten a little out of hand (in a good way). We began sending connection requests to our top choices to set up initial phone interviews. We intended to let the fellows come to us but soon discovered we were way too eager and started initiating the process. Fellows created profiles about themselves, and companies created job opportunities for fellows to explore and apply for. A few weeks after this, VFA sent out credentials to join their Match portal where companies and fellows have the opportunity to securely connect with one another and begin the interview process. We reviewed their LinkedIn profiles and resumes and began ranking 160+ fellows based on our needs and organized everything in a shared Google doc. So in 2016, we founded our Baltimore office and were able to become a VFA company partner.Īfter that first Selection Day, we were sent a list of the accepted fellows for the Class of 2016 and we immediately started digging in. But, if Selection Day was any indication of the level of talent we could add to our team, we knew we had to expand our presence into Baltimore to qualify for the program. Unfortunately, in 2015 we were unable to hire any VFA Fellows since the location of our headquarters was too far from Baltimore (which was added as a VFA city in 2015). Selection Day is an event where all the Fellow hopefuls come to NYC and are put through an intense, competitive business experience - just imagine a hyper accelerated version of the Apprentice, but with judges and entrepreneurs watching your every move. We started our association with VFA in 2015 when we were a judge at their Selection Day. Now that you have some context on VFA, you can probably see why we were so excited to be involved. It certainly looks like VFA is well on its way to achieve its goal of creating 100,000 new jobs by 2025. Since 2016, VFA has helped hundreds of recent grads kick off their careers in a meaningful way , with 26% of their fellows going on to start their own business. VFA trains fellows to become highly productive startup employees who can help their companies grow, then provides the mentorship, network, and resources they need to become successful entrepreneurs. Fellows spend two years in the trenches of a startup in an emerging city, where they learn how to build a business while making an impact. In an effort to achieve Andrew Yang’s vision, VFA created a fellowship program for recent college graduates to launch their careers as entrepreneurs. It would also prepare our young people to go on to become the builders and entrepreneurs our country needs - A.Y. This would help the companies succeed and create jobs in these communities. His vision is below.Ĭhannel talented young people to early-stage companies in Detroit, New Orleans, Providence and other U.S. Venture for America is an organization started by Andrew Yang. Since then, we’ve added seven more and it feels like the perfect time to write about VFA and share our experience. Back in 2016, we hired four young and talented Leverege team members through a program called Venture For America (VFA) .
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