September marks Workforce Development Month—a dedicated time to recognize, innovate, and strengthen how we connect our community's talent with future opportunities. It’s a month to celebrate collaboration between employers, schools, districts, and community organizations working together to build a vibrant, skilled workforce. 

To support this effort, SchooLinks is excited to offer four simple yet impactful challenges designed to help communities and districts easily invest in their talent pipelines. These challenges are crafted to encourage action—whether through career exploration, mentorship, work experience, or exposure to real-world environments—so students can discover pathways, develop skills, and open doors to meaningful careers. 

Today’s focus is the Job Shadow Challenge—an easy, high-impact activity that can make a lasting impression on students while requiring minimal resources. 

Challenge #1-  Set Up a Job Shadow — High Impact, Low Effort

Career exploration isn’t always about big projects or expensive programs. Sometimes, all it takes is a few hours for a student to get a glimpse into the real world of work—an experience often called a job shadow. 

What is a job shadow?
It’s a straightforward opportunity for students to observe a professional on the job, gaining firsthand insight into what their future careers might look like. It’s an experience that takes very little planning but yields enormous benefits. 

The reason these are easy is because you aren’t setting an expectation of a student getting to “do the job” in the way an internship or apprenticeship is. The objective of this experience is to get a taste of a space, a culture, and a profession by simply observing how someone in your shoes navigates their day. 

Why focus on job shadows?

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Flexibility -  They are simple to implement and incredibly effective. A student can spend a day or half-day observing and asking questions, immersing themselves in a profession they might have never considered. You can do one day, a few days, or something that occurs once a month for a stretch of time. Since the student is not responsible for direct projects or tasks, the amount of time and effort can match whatever you have to offer.

Spark Inspiration- You never know what may inspire someone, it may not always be the actual job! Often the environment, the people, the clothes, the hours, the conversations do more to tell a student the things they do and maybe don’t want to pursue. And for your organization, it’s a way to deepen community ties, showcase your work environment, and contribute directly to workforce readiness. 

Grow Perspective- The exposure to careers that may be in their orbit of influence may have little variety or just be limited in general. Students may make assumptions about work strictly by what shows they watch on television, what they see in social media, and from the adults in their close community. By hosting a job shadow, you are giving a glimpse into a different reality and adding to their knowledge of what the “real world” actually is. 

Steps to take: 

• Ask - Engage your office to see who would be interested and could potentially partner with you in hosting someone to shadow. 
• Plan - Pick days or times that work for you. Don’t over think it. You never know what accommodations a school may make or how a student's schedule may align. Start small and give it a chance. Consider even just 3 Fridays in a month. Maybe you’ll want to extend it?
• Post - Use SchooLinks or your local districts’ engagement platform to post and share with the local students about your opportunity and see what happens! 
  

Getting maximum engagement

Make sure this effort doesn’t go unnoticed! Share on social media, ensure your organization knows you are giving back in this way, and tell others. By starting a small ripple of action to support the next generation of learners and earners is a powerful initiative and investment that could create waves of impact for students, your organization, and your industry. 

Ready to get started?

Get started by creating an account here, and see this guide for how to post your opportunity for students.