What is a Job Shadow?

A job shadow involves a student spending time observing a professional on the job, usually on-site at the professional’s workplace. During a job shadow, a student usually spends a ½ day or longer with an employee or multiple employees during their daily activities.

“By providing a snapshot of a day in the life of an experienced professional, it can help you decide whether or not you think you would enjoy and feel passionate about the job.” – The Balance Careers

Examples of Job Shadows and Potential Fields

Job shadowing is a great way to learn first-hand about specific jobs, career paths, industries, and companies. Shadowing can be especially helpful for any job in which the seeing the job may be more useful than just hearing or reading about the job.

Some possible job shadow opportunities available through PWA include:

Healthcare and medical: physical & occupational therapy, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, radiologists, emergency medical technician (EMT), counseling and mental health practitioners

Manufacturing and production: machine operators, supervisors, product and test engineers, quality control

Public and human services: Human resources, education, firefighting, law enforcement, leisure and hospitality

Technology and product development: software and application developers, web developers, user experience testing, quality assessment, information security

Writing and creative: advertisement, art, graphic design, entertainment, media, journalism

Sports and apparel: apparel and footwear design, business merchandising, market research and data analytics

Architecture and design: designers, architects, interior designers, sustainability

Construction and skilled trades: carpenters, welders, painters, electricians, plumbers, heating and cooling technicians, project managers, engineering

How Can I Get Started?

PWA staff works with students from our school district partners to connect them with job shadow opportunities. If you are interested in job shadowing in a particular industry or workplace, please fill out this form and a PWA staff member will get back to you soon! Note: This program is temporarily on hold due to COVID-19 related restrictions. You may fill out the request form and check back in spring 2021.