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Businesses and educators are seeking guidance to help increase the return on investment of work-based learning opportunities. Last year, the Employer Talent Pipeline, in partnership with regional employers, educators, and Michigan Works!, produced materials to enhance the best practices of job shadow experiences.
In December, Powell, a design and build manufacturer of chemical processing equipment, based in St. Louis Michigan, hosted a job shadow for Allison, a high school senior at Meridian Early College High School as she explored opportunities in accounting.
This was a great chance for a student to see that her potential career choice has a wider range of employment opportunities initially expected. When a student thinks of an accounting career, they often look at accounting firms or large institutions but rarely consider a manufacturing facility.
Both Powell and Allison declared the shadow a great success.
Allison credits the high success of her shadow to the people at Powell. She was treated as a VIP guest by everyone upon arrival. While the behavior was very professional, they made her feel relaxed with their “human” quality. Allison feels that a welcoming atmosphere helps to assure completion of the program.
As prep for her shadow, Allison completed the student best practices packet provided by her teacher. The materials were largely developed by Jennifer Nosakowski in collaboration with other educators at Meridian Early College High school. These materials, as well as best practice documents for educators and businesses, can be found at https://www.stempipeline.com/business-resources/.
Allison feels that the materials provided are very helpful, including the phone script because that phone call can be such a barrier to overcome for students who do not have the experience approaching adults with requests for help. She also took the suggestion to research the company webpage before the shadow to have a better understanding of the product and process at Powell. Other helpful information for Allison included career education requirements and she was very interested in how working in accounting would interconnect with other areas of the business.
Chris Brown, Controller at Powell, led team of professionals involved in the shadow. He credits communication with Jennifer as key to their success. Jennifer was able to give Chris insights into Allison’s needs, interests and personality that helped him work to develop an agenda for the shadow. That included choosing which employees might provide her with the information she needed.
Powell has a robust co-op and internship program, but they are fairly new to the job shadow experience. Using information provided by Jennifer was helpful and Chris would expand upon that connection, collecting more information on the student for future shadows to provide an even more meaningful experience. This is where employer presence on career platforms is very helpful. Platforms such as Xello or Pathful are used by students to collect and synthesize their thoughts and experiences to put them onto potential career paths. Opportunities exist for employers to join these platforms to interact with students.
Allison’s job shadow is part of an integrated project-based learning assignment. She plans, with Chris Brown’s encouragement, to continue using Powell as a resource for her future questions and research as she completes the project. Allison plans to go to Delta College in the Fall.
Employers who would like to know more about Job Shadow best practices, connect with educators, or connect with Career Navigators to join career exploration platforms such as Xello, can contact Carol McCaul, Employer Talent Pipeline Lead, at cmccaulsps@gmail.com.
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