Total shadowing opportunities
Experience a Day in the Life
The Alumni Job Shadow Program is an opportunity for students to gain insight into an industry/organization/job function of interest, make connections, and further discern how their skills, interests, and values translate to the workplace. Using Eagle Exchange, the Career Center will match students with Boston College alumni who will serve as hosts for one-day shadowing experiences.
Details
Shadow an Alum for a Day
A job shadow is a one-day experience where you'll have the opportunity to follow a working professional throughout their daily activities and learn about their career field. While job shadows vary based on the organization, a typical job shadow experience may include the opportunity to:
- Explore potential career paths within the organization and the profession
- Review a current project or case study
- Conduct a simulation of a real situation being faced by the company
- Complete a tour of the office space
- Attend staff meetings
- Conduct informational interviews and network with BC alumni and other employees
- Enjoy lunch with BC alumni and other employees
- Review current trends in the profession
After participating in the Alumni Job Shadow program, you will be able to:
- Identify at least one skill you hope to incorporate into your career paths that aligns with the skills employers are seeking in recent college graduates.
- Connect the skills, interests and values you are gaining at Boston College to specific opportunities of interest.
- More confidently demonstrate effective networking skills to communicate with alumni and professionals about your industries of interest.
- Articulate 1-3 next steps in your career discernment and planning.

Questions?
Email us at eagleexchange@bc.edu
2020 Opportunities
Top Locations:
- Boston
- New York City
- Washington, D.C.
- Chicago
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Miami
Opportunites by Cluster:
- Business, Consulting, Finance
260 Opportunities - Communication, Arts, Media
97 Opportunities - Education, Nonprofit, Social Service
124 Opportunities - Government, Law, Public Policy
81 Opportunities - Healthcare and Nursing
46 Opportunities - Science, Technology, Engineering
75 Opportunities
Featured Hosts:
- ABC—The View
- ESPN
- Angell Animal Medical Center
- Bonhams Fine Art Auctioneers
- Children's National Hospital
- Pine Street Inn
- EF Education
- Harvard Kennedy School
- Cigna
- Microsoft
- AIG
- Digitas
- WarnerMedia
- CNN
- The Broadway National Tour of Waitress
- NBC Universal—The Today Show
- Tennis Channel
- Ecotarium Museum of Science and Nature
- Goldman Sachs
- Deloitte
- New York Unified Courts
- United Nations
- U.S. Department of State
- U.S. Department of Justice
- GrubHub
- Nestle
- Save the Children
531
214
Unique alumni hosts
“Participating in the Job Shadow Program was an amazing experience and opportunity. Our host went above and beyond to ensure that we had a great day. We had the opportunity to meet executives in various departments and I am so grateful and thankful for this opportunity.”
Student FAQs
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:
- 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?
- 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