The four weeks between semesters may be too short a time to get a full-blown internship, but may be just the perfect time period to try a Job Shadowing experience in your chosen major or profession. Job Shadowing is essentially spending time with and observing a full-time professional at his or her workplace and getting a feel for the day-to-day work tasks and issues of that field.
This can be an eye-opening experience for you if you have only a vague or even no idea of what your potential career is like, or if you just want to learn more about a particular career or work setting.
Start with your own network of contacts, and try to arrange a work place visit lasting anywhere from a single day to a week or more. Be polite and professional in your request. You should have some definite goals in mind for the experience and what you hope to get out of it, such as investigating for the first time, or confirming, a particular career choice. Be sure to develop a list of questions that you will try to get answered during your job shadow time.
The Career Services office may be able to help you set up such a work site visit/ experience, as we did for one first-year student this fall who shadowed an Occupational Therapist at Hershey Medical Center for 2 days during Thanksgiving week. Her comments follow.
“My time spent job shadowing [in the Occupational Therapy department at the Hershey Medical Center] was a positive experience for me. My main goal of shadowing was to determine whether my major and career plans were best suitied for my interests and me.
My expectations were limited heading into the shadowing experience. I really wanted to deepen my knowledge of the career. I learned a lot of different techniques used in the practice [of OT].
This experience was extremely valuable to me. It has assured me that I am heading in the right direction for a career that I will enjoy. I would recommend taking the time to job shadow your career choice. I am extremely satisfied with my time spent job shadowing, and am happy that I had this experience.” – Shelley Erb, 11/30/10
Let us know if we can help you connect with an employer in your future career field too.