HOW JOB SHADOWING CAN HELP YOU CHOOSE YOUR COLLEGE MAJOR

"Congratulations! You did it. You graduated high school, you're in college and you've got your whole life ahead of you. No pressure, but, we need you to sit down and decide what you're going to do with it. It's only sixty years, approximately. Please think quickly your course enrollment cut-off date is...tomorrow."

That's how it seems to feel sometimes.

I have always thought it was ridiculous for society to expect us between the ripe ages of eighteen and twenty - to choose what we should do for the rest of our lives.

This is the hardest age to make such a decision for at least four reasons:
1. We're still figuring out who we are.
2. We're just now taking the first step away from the sheltered community life of our school and home and moving into what we think is the real world. We know that significant changes loom at the door and whether or not we admit it, it's a little overwhelming.
3. As graduates, we're still greatly influenced by what our friends are doing. At this age, it's not so much peer pressure, it's more a general social push to be accepted at certain universities, join similar fraternities and sororities as our friends, obtain respected degrees, secure good jobs and earn great salaries. We're not really sure if this is what we should do, but sounds good; we'll just go with that.
4. We cannot confirm exactly what we want, therefore, we cannot determine what is good for us right now - let alone, later. (See number 1).

More and more high schools are developing programs to help their upcoming graduates make informed decisions by providing a semester for students to partake in On-The-Job familiarization. Even if it's not something that's organized through a school, all students should consider some form of job shadow experience prior to officially choosing a major and pursuing any degree. This can be extremely beneficial for many reasons.

Job shadowing provides a living example to replace the perceived idea of an occupation. "A day in the life of..." experience can help to accurately introduce a specific job and outline what it entails on a typical daily basis. There are aspects of the position that students may have never considered skills and expertise that maybe weren't obvious or ever emphasized. Through observation and personal hands-on experience, it's possible to gain better insight and deeper perspective on a particular job. Being present

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