Recap of L&S Career Services Winter Break Job Shadow Program

The L&S Career Services Job Shadow Program, which occurred during Winter Break (January 3 to 20, 2012) was a very successful opportunity for approximately 95 students to visit 12 employers in major geographical regions of the U.S. The goal of the program was for students to explore their career interests and goals, learn about various types of job functions at an employer, and build a network of professionals and mentors. In turn, students were able to identify internship and full-time opportunities available at the employers.

Most of the employer hosts were UW alumni that either worked directly with L&S Career Services (as former clients and/or as current recruiters) or with other UW affiliated programs. The alumni hosts provided opportunities for students to observe meetings, go on informational interviews, do case studies, and get some hands-on practice with various job functions.


The host employers of the job shadow program included:

American Field Service (AFS-USA)
Brunswick Group, LLC
Coyote Logistics
Direct Supply
Google
GRAEF
Kohl’s
LaSalle Investment Management
Madison No Fear Dentistry
Starcom Mediavest Group
Summit Commercial Finance
Teach for America

Presently, L&S Career Services is receiving feedback from the students and employer hosts about how the program went. Included in these evaluations will be testimonials about the program, that will be featured in an upcoming blog post and included in publications about about the program. We expect to do a program during Spring Break (April 2 through 6, 2012) and other timely periods of the academic year.

For now, I close this particular blog post with the following testimonial from a student participant, a sneak preview of more to come!

“I just wanted to say thank you for providing me with the resources to partake in a job shadow this winter break. I truly enjoyed the time I spent at Madison No Fear Dentistry. Sometime as a student you can get lost in a textbook and forget why you were inspired to pursue the field you are pursuing. Shadow days like these bring that inspiration back to life and reassure me that a medical field is worth the pursuing.”

If you are a student or employer that would be interested in participating in the job shadow program (as a student) or hosting students (as an employer), you are welcome to contact Greg Iaccarino, Career and Internship Advisor and Job Shadow Coordinator, L&S Career Services, at gjiaccar@wisc.edu or (608) 265-9205.