saracottrill2If you’re interested in learning about a particular career option, job shadowing is an excellent tool to use. Don’t worry if you can’t make it to the annual Spring Break Job Shadow Day—although you should try!—because you can always set up a time to job shadow on your own or with the help of a career advisor.

That’s what Sara Cottrill (’10, pictured) did. As an English major, she was interested in working as an editor. She told us why she decided to job shadow: “How are you supposed to know if you’d like to do a job unless you’ve had firsthand experience of it? I thought I might like to be an editor, so I decided to look into it a little more.”

Cottrill’s career advisor told her about an opportunity with a large publishing company and put her in touch with the company liaison, who helped her schedule a time to come in and job shadow two project managers/editors.

What did Cottrill learn? “The experience was interesting. I learned a lot about the day-to-day tasks that an editor deals with and the responsibilities they carry. Each project involved a different set of challenges. I did decide that being an editor, while interesting, was probably not the career for me. I learned that I enjoy interacting more with people, which set me on other career paths. I am currently looking into non-profit organizations.”

Although her experience helped her decide that editing wasn’t a good career option for her, Cottrill says, “I would definitely job shadow again. I was able to learn about a career I wasn’t familiar with and network at the same time.” Cottrill points out that it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity to meet people within your field of interest: “They could one day be your coworkers.”

Ultimately, she says, “Stay in touch with your career advisor; they have a lot of contacts and can point you in the right direction, even if you’re lost.”

Take action: Set up an appointment with your career advisor to talk about potential job shadowing options, or reach out to your network of contacts. Tell your friends and family about your career interests and ask them if they know of anyone who you could potentially job shadow.