The John Stanley Ford Fellowship

Upon beginning their new role, JSF Fellows will receive weekly and monthly mentorship from within their Employer, along with an opportunity to interview for a full-time position prior to the end of their apprenticeship. JSF Fellows will also become a part of the larger JSF network having real-time access to their peers, along with ongoing career coaching from our Flatiron School career coaches to navigate on-the-job acclimation and performance. Lastly, we will be organizing frequent leadership town halls with diverse tech professionals sharing their personal journeys with our Fellows.

1. Enrolled students submit their application

2. Application approved → Student is notified that they are an approved “Candidate” for the JSF Fellowship, within 5 business days of application submission

   1. Application denied → Student is notified that they have not been approved as a Candidate for the JSF Fellowship, due to not meeting eligibility criteria

3. Candidate profiles are shared with participating Employer Partners for consideration for relevant employment opportunities → Student is ONLY notified if they are invited to interview (see next step)

4. Employer Partners select Candidates from that pool to interview for positions → Student is notified that they are being invited to interview

5. Employer Partners extend offers directly to selected Candidates upon completion of the interview process.

6. Once a student accepts an offer from a participating Employer Partner, they become JSF Fellows and are invited to participate in related programming.

No. Eligibility criteria and application instructions can be found here. Specifically, students must identify as Black or Multi-Racial including Black, and provide permission to have their data shared with relevant stakeholders for purposes of operating the Fellowship.

Yes, all enrolled Flatiron students, as well as Flatiron alumni, can apply, but JSF Fellow candidates are unlikely to be presented with relevant employment opportunities until after they graduate. The initial Fellowship cohorts will have employment start dates between September and December 2020, after which we will collect feedback and evaluate our ongoing efforts to advance Black tech professionals – whether through a continuation of the John Stanley Ford Fellowship, or through other initiatives.

All students who apply will be updated on their application status within 5 business days of submitting their application.

• Students who meet the eligibility criteria will be notified that they are approved “Candidates” for the JSF Fellowship, placing them in a pool of candidates available for consideration by participating Employer Partners.

• Students who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be notified that they have not been approved, due to not meeting eligibility criteria.

Students who applied and have not heard anything with regards to their application within 5 business days can contact careerservices@flatironschool.com.

Employer Partners will extend interview invitations to the candidate pool based on each Partner’s unique hiring criteria, as well as the timing and location of relevant employment opportunities. A student whose JSF Fellowship candidacy is approved is not guaranteed to be invited to interview for a relevant employment opportunity.

Employers will each run independent interview processes for their role openings. An opportunity to interview for a position is not a guarantee that a student will receive an offer for that position.

No. Students make the ultimate determination about whether to accept any offer of employment. Students are encouraged to work with their career coaches to assess all offers of employment.

We have many efforts in place to increase access and opportunity for People of Color and underrepresented groups in tech – from our Access Scholarships, to our Women Take Tech initiative, to our NexTech100 scholarships. With the John Stanley Ford Fellowship, we wanted to build a program and resources specifically to increase opportunity and access for our Black students and alumni.

The scholarship program has not yet been finalized. Qualified applicants will be Black prospective students. Details will follow.