Do you remember being a teen and it seemed that every adult you met asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up? Hopefully you were one of the few that knew exactly what you wanted from birth and didn’t even bat an eye when drilled with this question. More than likely, you were like me, clueless about your future, and began to come up with either outlandish responses or tried to say as little as possible. Heck, some of us adults still don’t know how to respond to that question. One of the best things that happened to me after high school was a class assignment that asked me to job shadow someone in my chosen field. I learned more by shadowing, then I ever did reading a text book.
What is job shadowing
Job Shadowing is tagging along with someone in the workplace for a period of time, which allows someone exploring that career path to see what the day to day experience is like. Being a shadow gives one the chance to ask questions as things are happening. It basically gives the student a glimpse into their possible career. Let’s explore how job shadowing will benefit kids.
What can job shadowing do for our youth
If your youth get started with shadowing early on in High School, it’s going to guide them with their future after graduation. Shadowing will give teens a good idea about “next steps” after high school.
Many kids go to college because that’s what kids do or learn a trade because that’s what their parent did. Shadowing can help your kids possibly avoid years of going down the wrong path.
These are ways that job shadowing will benefit our kids:
Real World Experience
Resume Builder
Explore your interests
Prepare for Adulthood
What it takes to get the job
Your teen has the opportunity to learn the steps needed to become what they want to be. They will have an insider’s track on what education, skills, connections, and experiences are needed to land their dream job.
Save you Money– Post High School education is expensive. Starting a degree/career path only to find out sometime later that it’s the wrong career can be a costly mistake. If you already know what you want and what it takes to get there, you will be in a better position to not pay for unnecessary education.
How can we find an opportunity to shadow someone
When I was interested in getting into Athletic Coaching, I knew nothing about coaching as a career. I had an interest in sports from my playing days and was excited about the possibility of coaching as a profession. I began to reach out to anyone in coaching to get more insight and offer to volunteer to learn more. Below are tips that will help you find the right opportunity.
Be proactive– Don’t be afraid to make that phone call or email to ask for a chance to shadow. It may not happen with the first person you try, but you will find someone that will be willing to help you out.
Network– Talk to friends and family to see if they know of anyone in your career path. Many people in your circle of friends probably know someone that does what you want to do. Having someone that can speak on your behalf will make it that much easier to get that shadowing opportunity.
Social Media– Scour the various groups on Social Media to connect with people that are doing what you are interested in doing.
Research– Find places of employment in your area in your interested field. Make contact with HR reps to coordinate a shadow opportunity.
How to prepare for your job shadow
The last thing you want to do is make a negative impression on the job site. Preparing for you job shadow can be similar to preparing for your first day on the job. Doing a few things beforehand will help to maximize your job shadow experience.
- Be on time
- Bring something to jot notes on
- Be polite and professional to those around you
- Come prepared with your questions, make a list before you go
- Dress the part
- Be clean and well groomed
- Be a good listener
- Show respect, put your phone away
- Be prepared to adapt if your shadow isn’t able to spend every second with you
- Get contact info, it could help you land your job
- Send a thank you note
Helping your kids learn about job shadowing and how it can help them answer the “what do you want to do” question, will set your youth up for future success.
Great post! I think it’s a great idea to send teens out for job shadowing. It’s one thing to say what you want to be when you’re older but it’s important that they completely understand what that job entails so they can decide if that’s really something that they want to do.