Many students graduate from high school and head off to college, blissfully pursuing a career. Sadly many students quickly realize they do not truly understand their chosen career. Job shadowing is the little known secret that allows students to get hands on, real life experience in their career of interest. Here are five reasons why you should pursue some job shadowing hours – even if you are a senior in college! Christmas break is coming up for students and it is an excellent time to line up some observation hours.
1) You Learn What You Like
Shadowing is one of the best ways to learn and understand what you truly enjoy about this career. Pay attention and ask questions about every part of the day. If there happens to be down time, do not zone out and get on your phone, remain engaged and focused. For instance, medical professions will have a lot of required charting. This is just as much a part of the job as seeing a patient; you are still career shadowing, even during the paperwork – that’s part of every job.
*Please note that sometimes charting, phone conversations, etc. can include private or sensitive patient/client information and you may be asked to leave or not observe. Please use discretion, particularly in a medical setting.
2) You Learn What You Don’t Like
Just as shadowing helps you understand what you do like about this field, it can also help reveal what you do not enjoy. As you observe throughout the day, keep notes on aspects that might be uncomfortable or difficult for you to accomplish. Ask the professional you are shadowing about these concerns (Did they struggle with these as well? Do they see these aspects as crucial for job success?) and seek opportunities to ask other professionals in the same field about these. Some of your concerns may seem trivial, but that does not mean you should ignore them. The purpose of an observation day to is to make sure you are truly interested and able to pursue this field.
Keep in mind that skills you will acquire in your education should not be of concern to you. For instance, do not list your inability to code as a concern for pursuing computer science, this is a skill you will acquire in college. However, finding out that a physical therapist may have patients who suffer a blood clot and pass away during treatment would be a legitimate reason to assess whether you will be able to confidently handle this career or not.
3) You Begin Your Professional Network
Networking, networking, networking. Arguably, this word may be slightly over used and tossed around a lot in today’s world. But it is undeniably true. Professional networking plays a key role in lining up job interviews, internships, and even career shadowing.
- Begin with who you currently know. In your neighborhood, at church, at work, at the gym – who do you know is in the your field of interest (or anywhere close)?
- Approach them professionally. This is preferably done face to face, but can be done over the phone. Avoid using email (except to clarify a good time to speak over the phone) and do NOT text them unless they specifically ask you to use text.
- Be clear in what you are asking for. Are you asking for one day? Multiple days? Do you know who specifically you want to shadow or just the career you are interested in observing? Have some specific days and times you are available before you approach them, do not just tell them “I’m free whenever).
During your observation day, collect business cards from anyone you shadow, observe or meet. If business cards are not an option, make a note of their name and (if appropriate) ask for their email or phone number. Every observation you complete allows you to build your professional network by at least one more person. Consider creating business cards (vistaprint.com has a free first order deal) with just your name, number, and email on them. This allows you to quickly and easily provide people with your contact information.
4) You Meet Potential Future Employers
Most of the previous paragraph also applies here, but I believe making this point warrants a paragraph all to itself. Job shadowing is not a one day event, it is not a “breeze in, breeze out” experience. Each career observation allows you to meet and impress a potential future employer. This should impact everything about your day – how you dress, how you speak, how you greet people. Remember they may not be asking you interview questions, but you are giving everyone you contact a first impression of you. Make sure you rock that first impression! It might mean an awesome job one day!
5) You are building your resume
Can you put observation and shadowing hours on a resume? Absolutely you can! Keep a careful record of each observation and job shadowing you complete. Record the location, the date, the number of hours you actively shadowed, and the professional you were observing. Additionally, record any unique experiences or skills you observed during this time. For instance, my second day shadowing a speech-language pathologist I was able to watch her perform two swallow tests with a flexible endoscopy. Now that may not be super impressive to you, but that amount of detail is an excellent addition to my resume and CV (curriculum vitae) for my graduate school application.