2 posts tagged “job shadow”

One of the key qualities that employers look for in applicants is soft skills.  What are these nebulous skills that are so important?  Soft skills include attitude, communication skills, leadership abilities, character, business acumen, flexibility -- and on and on.  For a longer list, check out "On the Up" at http://blog.ontheup.org/2008/03/31/identifying-soft-skills-for-the-social-innovation-camp/.  Soft skills are the skills, characteristics, and personal attributes that are hard to define and even harder to teach.  Employers can teach you the basics of their business and help you develop your technical expertise in the area of interest; however, they have less ability and even less time to teach you the nuances of interpersonal communication, coping skills, and the other intangibles that will make you a valued employee.

When you're searching for a career, the best move you can make is to "try before you buy."  In other words, get an internship -- or at least do some volunteer work, spend some time job shadowing, do some informational interviews with a wide variety of experts in the field you're going to enter.  Would you buy a mattress without testing it first?  Would you choose a car without taking it for a test drive?  Then why choose a major or sign on to a job without knowing what the ins and outs of the field are really like (and you can only learn so much from reading about it).  I speak from experience!

I spent 2 1/2 years earning my teaching credential and Master of Arts in Teaching -- only to get to the end (you know, the part where they actually put you in the classroom, with live children running amok, parents beating down the door, and administrators waving policies) and find out, "This teaching gig ain't my cup of tea!"  The theory textbooks didn't mention the disconnect between schools and parents.  The professors didn't spend a lot of time on the red-tape bureaucratic structure of school boards, administrative policies on curriculum, school committees, and constraints on actual time allotted to teaching.  Even our one required behavior management class wasn't sufficient background material for dealing with in-the-flesh situations with smart-lipped teenagers and classroom power struggles.  I love teaching and I love teens -- and I even love teaching teens -- but not in the traditional setting of a regular classroom. 

An internship experience a little earlier in the game would have saved me a lot of angst.  Live and learn, though.  I don't regret my classroom experiences and the lives I touched as a teacher, hopefully a few of them effectively.  I personally find the non-traditional library setting more satisfying as an educational arena -- no standardized tests, minimal restrictions on curriculum, fewer behavioral management issues.  I still love teaching because when I'm guiding others through the learning process, I'm completely wrapped up in the experience -- no need to watch the clock, count the ceiling tiles, etc.  As they say in psychology, I'm in "flow."  When I give a presentation and can get the participants involved through asking questions, doing role plays, talking to each other -- I've got my A game going.  The moment a participant comes up to me with the eyes of someone who has just seen a light for the first time, then I know that the years with the theory textbooks were valuable (as were my short-lived times in the trenches).

Lessons Learned:
1.  Find your passion and do it; keep your eyes off the clock and get caught up and swept away.
2.  Break a sweat, get your hands dirty -- get an internship, get a job, volunteer -- you'll be in your career longer than you'll be in a new car.
3.  If your new career isn't the right one, it's not a prison; regroup and move on -- your skills transfer to other settings.