Alumni Job Shadow Program

Each shadow opportunity will occur on one business day from May 13-20, 2020. 

Using Eagle Exchange, the Career Center will match students with Boston College alumni based on a combination of factors including overlap in availability and location as well as industry interest areas. Once registered, students will have the opportunity to select their top three hosts. “Favoriting” is taken into consideration during the matching process.

Once a student has registered for the program through Eagle Exchange, they will be able to search through the list of alumni hosts and indicate their top three preferences. We highly recommend that students take the opportunity to favorite by the March 20 deadline.

There is not funding available for completing job shadows. If financial burden would prevent you from completing a job shadow in your area, please apply for a shadow and contact eagleexchange@bc.edu with your specific question once you’ve been matched.

Our matching process will make every attempt to match you with a host with overlapping interest areas. Please note that we cannot guarantee that all students will be matched. Matches are primarily based on location, availability, and industry area. Once registered, filter through the list of alumni hosts to determine who is offering shadowing opportunities in your location and industry of interest.

You will be contacted via email by a member of the Career Center staff with your job shadow match details by April 17.

There will be a mandatory online job shadow orientation via Canvas that will help prepare you. The session will include questions to ask during the day, what to wear, how to follow-up, etc. Students must complete the online module in order to participate.

You will be connected with your mentor through Eagle Exchange. Once connected, you may choose to exchange additional contact information.

We strongly encourage students to attend job shadows that they have been matched with. Failing to show up for a job shadow or canceling at the last minute will reflect negatively on you and on the reputation of Boston College students. In the event of an emergency that requires you to change your plans, please email your job sadow host directly, and CC eagleexchange@bc.edu at least 48 hours in advance. Failure to honor this commitment can result in loss of EagleLink access. In replacement of your job shadow experience, we ask you to reflect on the following questions:

1. Is there an opportunity for you to reach out to your job shadow host to thank them, even though you are not able to attend, and arrange a time to speak or meet briefly to facilitate an exploratory career conversation?
2. In addition to the above, what is one thing you can do over your summer break to help you move forward with clarifying your career goals?

Please reach out to eagleexchange@bc.edu to see if you may be reassigned.

Send a personalized thank you note to each of your hosts including what you appreciated and found helpful from the shadowing opportunity.

Job Shadow Thank You Note Example:

Dear Ms. Hawk,

Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to gain more detailed information about the (BLANK) industry. It was very helpful to learn about your position and hear your insight about the direction/growth/rewards and challenges of the (BLANK) industry. As a result of meeting you and your colleagues, I am even more interested in (major/industry of interest) and plan to take further classes in (BLANK) as you suggested. I hope to have more conversations with you in the future. Thank you for your time!

Sincerely,
James Jones