Leveraging Job Shadowing as a Technique to Increase Doctorate Student Enrollment

Abstract

Most individuals are familiar with job shadowing as a standard practice in industry. Job shadowing takes on many forms, but for university students, it usually involves spending a short period observing someone working in industry. The role or roles they are observing are potential future career paths. Job shadowing helps students define their future aspirations and motivate them to perform in their current studies. Industries also benefit from job shadowing programs as they provide them with a pipeline of potential future employees. Job shadowing programs exist across multiple domains, including STEM fields, K-12 teaching positions, and the medical professionals' field. The body of literature on job shadowing practices covers these domains. These programs are implemented in various ways, with their advantages and disadvantages summarized and presented in publications. This paper takes the knowledge applied across various domains and suggests a new type of mentorship program centered around academia. For students interested in working in industry, job shadowing occurs in tandem with other experiential learning opportunities, such as internships or Co-Ops. These opportunities often benefit students because they allow them to decide if this work is right for them. However, students who could aspire to remain in academia, i.e., Ph.D. students, do not have the same opportunity. It can be challenging for students to understand what a Ph.D. does in academia, which might discourage them from considering the career as a choice. Furthermore, the few who know they want to work in academia may not know whether they want to be a teaching-oriented professor or a research-focused professor. An established job shadowing program allows students to decide what is best for them and their future careers and consider pursuing a Ph.D. as a valid career choice. A consequence of establishing a program like this could be that more students are encouraged to pursue Ph.D. programs, particularly individuals who are underrepresented in academia. This paper presents the results of reviewing the existing literature on job shadowing programs, analyzes the effects of these programs across domains, and provides advantages and disadvantages that would be applicable to the academic setting. In addition, best practices for implementing job shadowing programs are adapted and presented to provide universities and educators with a guide for beginning a job shadowing program. Finally, for students interested in an academic job shadowing program, this paper also presents a roadmap that can act as a guide for students to follow and create their own shadowing plan if they do not have access to one.