Is job-shadowing a better, or adequate alternative to internships?

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 12:08:15 -0400

I have struggled to find internships that are more than vaguely connected to the line of work that I wish to pursue when I complete my degrees. I am wondering, would it be an effective alternative to contact someone in the position that I want to be in and ask about job-shadowing for some time - essentially, seeking out an unpaid internship, where they haven't officially asked for one?

Response by PO3 Galon Miller made Oct 9 at 2016 12:11 PM

PO3 Galon Miller — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 12:11:47 -0400

Sounds like a great approach but the concept out there is "you get what you pay for" with an unpaid internship, so even seeking compensation under those circumstances may be a better idea. My two cents.

Response by Sgt Wayne Wood made Oct 9 at 2016 12:26 PM

Sgt Wayne Wood — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 12:26:08 -0400

Hmm... seems kinda intrusive... good luck!

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 9 at 2016 12:52 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 12:52:38 -0400

Since you didn't state what type of degrees, I'll just give you this:
http://vsfs.state.gov/projects

Working well for me so far.

Response by SPC Erich Guenther made Oct 9 at 2016 1:05 PM

SPC Erich Guenther — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 13:05:11 -0400

I would not do that myself. Seriously, you have to consider what you have been told in another thread. #1 Your not complete with your Undergrad. I had a Undergrad BBA in Finance from a Big Ten University and a decent GPA. Nobody and I mean nobody was interested in me my Junior year for a profession related job without past job experience. What did I do? Sucked it up and got an hourly job as a Night Auditor at a local Wyndham Garden Hotel. From that job I could claim office experience, IT systems experience and Night Manager experience on the resume. It was a crappy $7 an hour job though no matter how you look at it. So if I were you, seek out a VOLUNTEER job near the part of City government you want and go for that and use it to make contacts. But do not call up and offer yourself for free as a unpaid intern. City Government is not hard to crack. During one of my unemployment stints I researched history for the City Historian and got to know some city contacts that way as well as influence some decent sized construction projects. Not the projects themselves but the architecture, paint, etc........via research I did. But the terms of my work were clear I was working when I had free time at my own choice. Unpaid intern your on their terms and I feel your going to be taken advantage of unless maybe you set the terms up front?

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Oct 9 at 2016 1:43 PM

LTC Kevin B. — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 13:43:34 -0400

Shadowing is better than nothing, but I wouldn't shadow for too long. With shadowing, you're just watching someone else do their work, rather than doing work yourself. Yes, it's helpful in the sense that you get an opportunity to observe someone else in action, and you can definitely get a feel for their line of work, but shadowing is not particularly useful on your resume. Internships allow you to actually do work that leads to accomplishments that you can put on your resume. Employers care more about "what you accomplished" than "what you witnessed". I tell my students that the pecking order is as follows:

-Full-time work
-Part-time work
-Paid internship
-Unpaid internship
-Volunteering
-Shadowing
-Nothing

You want to move up the pecking order as much as possible.

What line of work are you considering, long-term? That might change things somewhat.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 9 at 2016 2:47 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 14:47:11 -0400

One Citizen's Academy that I participated in last fall included a shadowing assignment as part of the curriculum. The organizer of the Citizen's Academy and some of the county employees as well as the other participants select the participants to shadow specific county employees. The county employees that the Citizen Academy participants shadow include everyone from the elected council people to the county manager to department managers.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Oct 9 at 2016 4:11 PM

CAPT Kevin B. — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 16:11:29 -0400

Classic results will vary situation. Saw one comment about local government doing it. Those programs are typically geared to show the public their tax dollars are actually doing something worthwhile. Internships require less management involvement. So the question is what does a company or manager get out of having a shadow. Problem is the shadow has no authority, can't even sit in on sensitive stuff, and is essentially a management burden with likely little potential return on investment. That said, if the objective is to create a pool of folk who will complete their college studies in a more focused manner, you create a better paid intern pool later. So on the Fed side we had shadowing to see interest, summer hire to see if they could function and are still interested, and intern programs which capped out at GS-12 depending on the series so we could grow our own from our farm team. Catching the good ones young is always a benefit.

Bottom line is to match up ongoing workplace interaction while you're doing school so you hit the ground running with a degree. A very interesting intern program is the one Disney runs. You usually work like a dog, but learn a ton about how things really work. Success in a program like that is a good line on any resume.

Response by Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen made Oct 9 at 2016 4:36 PM

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 16:36:55 -0400

Shadowing is a good way to get the feel of a particular job, but as others have said, you're only watching, not doing. Also, don't know what your circumstances are, but many degrees require some type of internships. If that's the case in your situation you need to check to see if job shadowing counts, otherwise you would just be wasting your time.

Response by SSG Jeremy Sharp made Oct 9 at 2016 10:27 PM

SSG Jeremy Sharp — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 22:27:54 -0400

I have mentored many people over the years and have participated in internships (highly structured, documented and usually evaluated for credit), job shadow (short duration, little structure and if evaluated for credit it is usually limited to a participation grade or an essay grade based on the experience and finally the ride-along (no structure, single exposure) conducted to provide a glimpse of the job like a snapshot,little time to address the why but just to exhibit the how.

Response by MAJ Rene De La Rosa made Oct 9 at 2016 10:49 PM

MAJ Rene De La Rosa — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 22:49:58 -0400

I created an internship by first volunteering for a couple of weeks during Christmas time. There are far less issues during this time, and people are just plain nicer. A couple of nice to do projects were done, and I was able to do two summer internships with the same municipality. Just bring something to the place for them to consider you.

Response by Cpl Justin Goolsby made Oct 12 at 2016 3:11 PM

Cpl Justin Goolsby — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 15:11:24 -0400

I like the job shadowing approach because you typically get a chance to see the ins and out of a company's process while gaining knowledge that you might not get with an internship. You also might get firsthand knowledge of any potential job openings before they go public.

Build a name for yourself and you might be able to get your foot in the door before a job is announced.

I tend to look at internships (especially the unpaid kind) as the busy work person. The person that just gets all the work dumped on them that no one else wants to do.

At least when you're shadowing someone, in my opinion, you could be learning something that is actually useful for what you are trying to accomplish.