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Job Shadowing has traditionally been used by educators and students to share authentic job experiences with youth using employee mentors within a real-world setting. In order to have productive placements, students and educators need to know what careers are available and what might interest them. With the tremendous availability of new careers in the workforce, businesses have the opportunity to make more students aware of their talent needs. Businesses can lead the way by showcasing these careers via job shadowing.
There are many young people in high schools across our region without a strong career direction. This is especially true for non-CTE students. The Employer Talent Pipeline assembled a team this past August, along with Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works, to develop resources for effective job shadows.
The team is composed of business representatives and supported by educators from across the region. They have worked to merge perspectives and produce best practices and resources for all stakeholders, including businesses, educators, and students. There are a great number of businesses that are willing to host students on site and help them learn, explore and share emerging, high demand careers.
The process begins with businesses assembling a list of careers/positions that they would like to feature for shadows. Careers that are in high demand and projected to stay in high demand for the foreseeable future are common for job shadows. In addition, a business needs to be able to provide for the safety of students and have a mentor employee that can communicate effectively to students about the career. The mentor will need to speak intelligently about the position and career pathways involved as well as the positive attributes of the business and the industry while maintaining an honest conversation. This will have the greatest impact for both the student and the business.
Most businesses indicate that they are looking for "soft skills" in students during a job shadow. Educators begin by identifying students using the soft skills checklist and matching student career interests (through tools like Xello) to the careers being offered by businesses. Once identified, educators should then work with business representatives to arrange job shadows so that students can learn about the in-demand, high-paying careers in the region.
Student resources were generously shared from Jennifer Nosakowski, Work-based Learning Coordinator at Meridian Early College High School. Meridian students have a required job shadow which is then used as a foundation for a more integrated senior project. The resource packet Jennifer shared, and is being used for this project, provides students with a comprehensive process for a successful shadow. There are templates for initial contacts, suggestions for researching businesses, safety guidelines, job shadow etiquette, questions to ask at a shadow, response sheet during the shadow, and follow up reflections and communications.
Resources for businesses include timeline suggestions, samples of available opportunities to share with educators, evaluations, and feedback templates for employees and students.
Completion of the job shadow by everyone involved is important for success. Students should reflect on the experience and reconnect with businesses by sending a "thank you" note, asking questions or seeking new opportunities. Educators should debrief with students to problem solve, then review and revise before suggesting another experience. Business representatives should do the same with their employees. Many businesses like to debrief as part of the time spent with students at the end of their shadow.
Additional resources, such as Career Navigators which help students prepare with soft skills, or Employer Talent Pipeline Leads to facilitate initial contacts between businesses and educators are also available.
All of the materials will be available in April on https://www.stempipeline.com/. Materials are interactive in that businesses and schools can add their own images or logos, provide specific contact information, video links or websites, remove or add information as deemed efficient or necessary.
Any business or educator interested in participation, looking for assistance with materials, connections, or would like to provide feedback please contact Carol McCaul, Employer Talent Pipeline Lead at cmccaulsps@gmail.com.
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