In the launch edition of Royal Holloway's School of Management new blog the focus was on Careers' and Employability. This included an insightful article about the value of workshadowing from Royal Holloway's Academic Director for the Year in Business programme, Dr Catherine Harbor. https://managementroyalholloway.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/april-2018/
This article is particularly relevant for our YIB students preparing to secure themselves a placement.
Job Shadowing
By Dr Catherine Harbor, Lecturer
So that summer internship with PwC or the hot advertising agency
didn’t work out, and you’ve ended up working at your local supermarket,
or at a holiday camp or theme park. That’s still good, because it’s work
and it’s experience – but it might not give you the insight you want
into the professional position you’d like to hold eventually.
How about job shadowing? This is when you observe a professional in
their job; you are not likely to get hands-on experience, but it will
give you some insight into what they do.
If you do have a job, ask your line manager whether it might be
possible to spend a few days shadowing different management positions
where you are working. Or exploit your contacts: Mum, Dad, uncles,
aunties, cousins, that friend who graduated last year and scored a great
job. Ask them whether there might be opportunities for job shadowing at
their organisation. Or approach a company yourself: send them your CV
along with a cover letter explaining the role(s) you would like to
shadow and how this could benefit you.
So why bother? You’ll get some idea about a job you might be
considering for the future. You’ll get an understanding of the workplace
and can build your network of contacts. And it may help you decide
whether your dream job is really that, or might just be a nightmare
