Job Shadowing Meaning
Job shadowing refers to the process of following professionals performing one’s job of interest to help them learn the required skills and ace the role. The tenure of shadowing could range from a couple of hours to a few weeks in a row, giving individuals a chance to observe the professionals closely and understand every aspect related to the job role.
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Through job shadowing, freshers get an opportunity to observe the professionals from the field they aspire to work in. It is similar to on-job training to ensure they gain some practical experience before officially entering the professional world. As a result, when they get placed as employees in different firms or organizations, they effectively prove their worth at the workplace.
- Job shadowing refers to observing a mentor and ensuring a new or existing prospective employee develops expertise in a job.
- Observation, regular briefing, and hands-on training are three versions of job shadowing in the corporate world.
- Dressing formally, taking notes, maintaining confidentiality, sticking to the schedule, etc., are a few tips visitors must follow while shadowing their mentor.
- The primary purpose of job shadowing is to help students, interns, or employees understand a job profile better in which they do not have any experience.
Job Shadowing Explained
Job shadowing opportunities help individuals thoroughly observe the future roles they want to take up. Colleges/universities or employers hold these programs to provide individuals the required exposure to the corporate world to ensure they are trained to handle the job responsibilities of the role they are meant to join soon.
The job shadowing program is conducted in various forms, given the requirements of the job role and the level of exposure an individual or professional needs. For example, whether one is a junior employee expecting a promotion or a fresher, the process of shadowing might vary from observation to regular briefing to hands-on training.
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Observation is when a person enrolled in the program observes the mentor perform the day-to-day activities, including attending meetings, interacting with clients, etc. Typically, it represents what the mentor does as an employee daily, making the process useful for the visitor to understand the job profile.
On the other hand, a regular briefing is about the visitors following the mentor over a specific period for some particular activities, usually preceded by a small briefing followed by debriefing. This job shadowing is effective when the visitor and the mentor work in proximity. The mentor can inform the visitor about the schedule of the specific activities that are of value to the subject’s job profile.
The next is the hands-on form of shadowing, which is a mere extension of the observation model. Here, the visitor can carry out some tasks after observing the mentor. As a result, the visitor gets the hands-on experience of the role while remaining protected by the mentor’s close supervision.
Importance
Shadowing mainly aims to help students, interns, or employees accompany their mentors as their shadows and learn their skills and actions. This, in turn, enables them to understand the job profile they may be interested in joining as a fresher or promoted employee. Job shadowing benefits visitors by letting them gain practical experience even though they are not officially experienced in the field.
It provides them with much deeper insight into the role to get a feel of the ins and outs of the profile. The best part is that the program helps them understand whether or not they can fit in the shoes of the person they are shadowing.
Tips
College and university pass-outs, along with freshers and juniors, considering job shadowing as a measure of improving their professional skills, must take note of a few things to ensure their efforts lead to fruitful results. First, shadowing is the phase that helps students get a chance to move beyond a theoretical lesson to the practical implementation of it.
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As visitors follow mentors, they are expected to notice even the minutest tasks the latter carry out and try to understand how they make decisions and take responsibility for their actions. So, the first thing is to wear a formal dress, look confident, and remain proactive. The next thing recommended is to keep asking questions to clarify doubts, no matter how minor the query is.
Carrying a notepad to take notes is a must. The guidelines and way of working along with each observation should be recorded. This record could be further used as a reference when the visitors reach the position the mentors currently hold. It is important to maintain professionalism and stick to the schedules. Job can’t be secondary. Hence, individuals and junior professionals must be punctual and disciplined.
The most important practice is to maintain confidentiality. For example, freshers and established professionals sometimes job shadow one professional in one organization and join the other firm for practice/experience. In such a scenario, visitors must maintain confidentiality and not share or reveal the details of one company to another.
Advantages & Disadvantages
The job shadowing benefits are many, but they come with multiple limitations too, one must be aware of. Listed below are the pros and cons of the process:
Pros
- It helps the candidates decide whether the job role suits them.
- Instills certain core values in the students to help them in their professional journey.
- Makes freshers witness how classroom learning translates into a professional environment.
- Emphasizes the reality of job roles and helps the students understand why some jobs pay higher than others.
Cons
- If the observer lacks specific knowledge about the job, there is a chance that they will lag during the internship.
- In some cases, the mentor may find it difficult to share all the information with the newly introduced observer as most of it may be sensitive.
- The observer may have to work long hours to understand the work in the initial stage.
Examples
Let us consider the following job shadowing examples to understand the concept better:
Example #1
Gary, a graduate, always aspired to join his family business after his studies. Hence, he joined his father, Stephens, as soon as he received his degree. Though he desired to act as an owner, his dad asked him to follow the executives and managers of different departments separately for a specific time to get the hang of their duties. Stephens knew job shadowing would help his son learn different skills and act according to the company requirements to emerge as a worthy owner in the future.
Example #2
Cara, an executive, performed brilliantly, generating high revenues for company X since she joined. Given her marketing skills, the management decided to promote her within seven months of employment. First, however, for practical exposure, the management asked Cara to observe her mentor and see how the person acted per the company’s requirements.
Job Shadowing vs Internship
Job shadowing and internship are similar concepts but differ in their mechanism. While shadowing is about observing how the mentor works, an internship is about the real work experience one gathers. The former doesn’t count as work experience. However, an internship where individuals work and learn simultaneously adds to the years of experience one has.
Some of the differences are as follows:
| Category | Job Shadowing | Internship |
| Duration | Few hours to a couple of weeks | 6 Months to 2 years |
| Based on | Observation | Real work experience |
| Deals with | Learn new skills and study the actions of mentors | Implementation of whatever skills have been learned |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is virtual job shadowing?
As the name suggests, virtual shadowing refers to observing a mentor, helping fresher or junior professionals learn the required job skills and gain practical exposure to the corporate world through an online or virtual connection. It is considered an on-the-job employee training program and is a very effective form of professional training for individual job profiles in the virtual working atmosphere.
Is job shadowing a good sign?
Yes, the program is quite effective as it helps individuals and junior professionals follow their mentors’ daily activities and actions and understand how a corporate structure works. As a result, they emerge as an active professional when they officially join a company.
Do you get paid for job shadowing?
No, individuals are not subject to any remuneration during their shadowing tenure. They start to receive payments only when they join as an employee.
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