AcadiumReviews of acadium.com

I love the concept of Acadium, but its implementation needs a lot of work still. I initially joined when they were still GenM, and didn't feel it was a good fit for me then. I've got plenty of Digital Marketing experience, sometimes more than the folks supposedly offering me an apprenticeship, so I made it clear what kinds of work I wanted to offer support with that weren't within those frameworks. Sadly, every single company that contacted me wanted me to work with them on the things I have 20+ years experience with. So I left it, made my account dormant, and forgot about them. Fast forward to yesterday when I remembered I have an account with GenM (now Acadium). Cool, maybe things evolved, and I can get an apprenticeship with a skill I'm actively learning (Analytics). I searched through every single offering for "Marketing Analytics" (there weren't a lot), and all but three wanted help with something other than analytics. Disappointing. Then I went to the training, and this is where I got mad. The training was, in a word, ridiculous. Full of grammar, spelling, and misused words, it didn't teach me anything new (and made me hit up a search engine repeatedly to figure out what on earth they were trying to teach me). I ended up giving feedback for 80% of the slides in the program before I gave up -- I'm not doing their job for them. I really wanted to love Acadium, but this isn't the platform for me.

I've been in this program for three years. Done five-six apprenticeships. Completed the Ambassador Program. Now about to finish the Acadium Accelerator Program. Although I was able to network and meet good people and glad I was able to learn things, I do have my thoughts based on my observations: 1. Needs to make training AND securing jobs a priority one 2. You're asking apprentices to work with mentors for a company alongside the team to help perform tasks... you shouldn't penalize people just for asking (not soliciting, just asking a simple question) could apprenticeships lead to work with companies, or if it's paid. Isn't that the whole point of this program? To advance in a digital marketing career? This is what I found dumb as this happened to me when speaking to a representative that flagged my account. 3. I see many mentors and owners complain about the pool of apprentices about not communicating timely, poor quality, etc. I can say the same for some mentors on Acadium. You can tell some are taking advantage of the mentoring label just to get people to do free work for them cause they're cheap. Some I've experienced with didn't communicate timely, ghosted me as well, and had unrealistic expectations of wanting to treat apprentices like full-time employees to perform all these tasks... when there suppose to be working part-time as an assistant. Not to mention, not paid. 4. Some of my mentors used me just for the work where they either didn't publish any or didn't give it much acknowledgment. It was like once the apprenticeship was over, the relationship was over (this is where I mention you feel used). One mentor from the Accelerator Plus program wanted me to do audits for four businesses claiming "it's a way to get your foot in the door". As an aspiring digital marketer that wanted to help in any way I can, I proceeded. Zero success. No acknowledgment. No references. Just a waste of time. One mentor deleted all my scripts after the apprenticeship was over nor used any of them. What was the point of having me as an apprentice? There are many flaws in this program. I feel after this current apprenticeship, I'll be done for good. I'm not saying it won't be the same for you and you may get lucky, but don't think this will automatically lead to job opportunities cause I'm sure I ain't the only one that had zero success.

mediocre at best. The concept is great in theory, but unfortunately the people at acadium just don't have what it take to pull it off. What they try to sell you is all wrapped up nicely with a bow but it's smoke and mirrors. They will take your money, promise you riches with outlandish claims and never offer any help besides things you can find on the internet for free. Save your money, go elsewhere. Hopefully some other company can work on the great premise Acadium was trying to figure out.