When a colleague from SAIT (my college alumni) had asked if I was
interested in participating in a job shadowing program, I jumped at the chance.
The reason for wanting to do this was that this was opportunity I was not
afforded when I finished school and wished I had. The students, who are
wrapping up their final semester, are getting ready to enter the workforce with
all the optimism and uncertainty that they can manage. Given the current
economy I felt that I had even more in common with these students as I
graduated in a bleak economic period with little on the job horizon as well. Reflecting
on that time frame I wondered how different my graduating experience could have
been if I was able to bounce questions off someone who had some level of
experience in the industry.
The objective for the students, in their
three hour window with me, was to observe and to ask questions revolving around
how a typical day went and share some advice as it applied. While I could have
had the students sitting with the team and watching them work, I decided that
the time was best spent in them asking questions and then tailoring the visit
based on the discussion
The question that I was asked the most, in
fact by all of them, was “if there is one skill that you would say was the top
skill, what would it be?”
Interesting, but not surprising, was that the
answer to this was likely something that was not going to appear on anyone’s
resume - it was networking.
I explained that especially in a tough job
market the thing that differentiates people from a pile of resumes was that
there is some level of connection to the person filling a position.
With each of the students I identified that
there are many lines of networking to consider. There are several places to
find connections. They range from professional associations, conferences,
campus events, various social media platforms and mentoring opportunities such
as this one. When I had finished school this was an area that was lacking to me
only because I did not have direction on what to look for. As a result I always
felt as though I was pushing a boulder uphill to get some traction on where to
start.
I mentioned that getting the ‘foot in the
door’ is a marathon rather than a race, and to not get discouraged when they
get the sense that people only see them as ‘fresh out of school’. While that
will happen, there are many more people who would see their fresh perspective
and enthusiasm as a benefit rather than focusing on their lack of professional
experience. In many cases, I explained, teams are looking for people who can
ask the right questions rather than necessarily giving the right answers.
This experience was as much a benefit to me
as it was to them. It provides me a networking opportunity also. After all
there is a chance that I could be working with, or for, one of these people
someday.
Take the time to connect and mentor with
someone today.
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Labels: Collaboration, it, ITSM, Job Shadowing, Mentoring, Training
