How Job Shadowing Can Benefit Your Job Search

It is always a great idea to research an interesting career choice as much as possible prior to actually working in the career. To research certain career aspirations people often use O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/) to look up job descriptions as well as using one of several internet sites, such as http://www.payscale.com/, to find salary information. However, even all the research and information in the world on a specific career can’t beat the knowledge gained through a simple job shadow or a series of job shadows. Job shadowing can be an extremely useful tool in verifying your interest in any career of choice. I recently came across an article from Texas State University that discussed several tips and guidelines that would be useful to make the most out of any job shadowing experience.
http://www.careerservices.txstate.edu/Students/Internships-Experiential-Learning/JobShadowing/Tips.html
I found three tips to be especially helpful in this article; do your research, network, and expect the unexpected.

Before you show up for your job shadowing experience, it’s important to do some research. One way to research a career area or organization is to ask people you already know. You would be surprised how many of your friends or family may know or work with someone in your career of interest. Another good way to research careers or organizations is a simple Google search. ONET, mentioned above is another great source for researched career data. The more you know about the job and the company before you shadow the easier it will be for you to come up with intelligent questions that will help you learn more about that person that job and that organization. Going in informed will also potentially impress your host and make them aware of how interested you really are in the area of work. Doing your homework before you job shadow provides you with a better understanding of the career area in a general way, and the job shadow experience gives you a deeper knowledge through real life experience.

The second tip I found useful is networking. You may not realize it, but job shadowing is the perfect way to get your foot in the door at a particular company or with a group of people that you may someday want to work with. When job shadowing, collect contact information or business cards from the people you meet so you can follow up with further questions after your experience. Staying in touch with the people you meet at your job shadowing experience. They may be able to refer you to others or provide you with another opportunity down the road.

The third tip I liked was that not all job shadowing experiences go the way you think they will. In many cases people job shadow and realize that the career of interest is not a good fit for them. In that case you should not make it obvious that you are no longer interested in the career, you should finish out the shadowing experience on good terms and chalk it up to being a helpful learning experience on the path to finding the career that is a good fit for you. Also, take note of the time you’re saving if you learn that early in your academic career.

You now know a little more about why it’s useful and how to prepare for a job shadow experience; now all you need to know is how to go about setting one up. This can be relatively easy if friends or family know someone in the field of interest; however, it can be tricky if you do not have that initial connection. If you do not have a connection then a good place to start is with your academic or career advisor. In addition, IUPUI students have the benefit of using the Alumni Mentor Database (which can be found at http://www.jagjobs.org/) to get in contact with graduates from IUPUI who are currently working in their field of interest.

I hope that you will try job shadowing as a way to confirm your interests, network with others and learn more about your career of interests.

Chelsey Williams
Career Peer Advisor
psyadv@iupui.edu