By: Kellie McLeod, Career & Internships Advisor
The lazy, hazy days of summer certainly do not have to be lazy. Alongside internships, part-time jobs and family vacations, summer is a great time for your student to conduct informational interviews or engage in job shadowing. Doing so is sure to enhance the chances of being gainfully employed upon graduation, a target that I am sure you want your student to hit. Informational interviewing is basically an investigative conversation with a person who is doing what you aspire to do. It is NOT a job interview and should not be treated as such. In this exchange, typically about 30 to 45 minutes, your student will ask questions about the professional’s career path and seek advice about the most effective strategies for entering the field. Really, your student is asking professionals to tell their story, relate it to today’s job market, and offer to be a resource which is a “win” all the way around. Most professionals are happy to do this and feel flattered when asked. Typically, they enjoy the chance to shine while offering valuable nuggets of information that your student may not be able to access otherwise. Workers “on the ground” can offer their real-time perspective of a specific job, a specific company, the job market in general or current market trends in the field.
Job shadowing takes the informational interview to the next level and allows the student to spend a half-day or an entire day observing on-the-job. The student can observe meaningful work activity, the culture of the organization and feel the flow of a typical workday. A request to shadow a professional should be made with adequate advance notice so that if needed, there is time to get approval to host a visiting student.
Some specific benefits for students who do informational interviewing/shadowing are:
- Help clarify goals and develop effective strategies for reaching them
- Build confidence while discussing interests/skills and goals; good preparation for future job interviews
- Expand their network of career-related contacts
- Find leads for conducting additional Informational Interviews/job shadowing
- Learn more about specific work settings or a specific employer
- Get advice about career search strategies within a specific industry; every industry has insider tricks
- Discover “hidden” internships and/or full-time opportunities that may never be posted
As a parent, you can be a valuable resource for your student by sharing contacts and making suggestions about who to approach. And please refer them to our Informational Interviewing Guide. This guide is user-friendly and packed with information about how to identify people to interview/shadow, questions to ask, and tips for following-up so that the professional connection remains fresh and useful.
If you are a parent of an incoming freshman, here are a few additional steps that your student can take. If followed, these will definitely result in a less stressful senior year (adapted from a post on LinkedIn by Paul Richardson):
- Develop a keen realization that the job search starts the fall of freshman year. This is not a typo. Your student simply cannot wait to get the ball rolling and should connect with Career & Internship Services, even if they just connect online through PantherLink.
- Attend networking functions on campus (many with outside guest speakers). These events may not be titled “networking function” but there are hundreds of events where networking occurs; they should find out what is going on and engage.
- If possible, they should attend alumni events (or volunteer to assist); this is a huge step that far too many students overlook. HPU alumni live and work all over the country and are eager to be a resource for current students.
- Start the process of researching internships, relevant part-time, volunteer or summer opportunities. Now is the time to start moving away from typical after-school or summer employment and start focusing on building relevant, career-focused experiences (including substantive volunteering).
- Close the loop and follow-up. If your student is not already in the habit of writing prompt, handwritten thank-you notes when a connection invests time or extends a courtesy, you may want to purchase him/her special note cards to encourage this habit. A well-written timely thank-you note can help a student stand out in a very competitive climate (an old-fashioned, hand-written note written on a quality note card is best).
If these steps are taken seriously, it is likely that when it comes time to get a “real job” they will have one. If your student would like to meet with a staff member in Career & Internship Services soon after the fall semester gets underway, please encourage him/her to come over to see us and make an appointment in person – we will be located in the new Center for Student Success. We are excited to be moving to this beautiful new space, and are extremely grateful to the donations from HPU parents that have made it possible. When you are on campus in the fall, please come over and see us! If your student would like to have an individual meeting once the fall semester begins, he/she may go ahead and schedule an appointment with a professional Career Advisor. Appointments may be made through this link. Also, we have made many improvements to our webpage and invite you and your student to visit us online.