14 year old Kauthar Omar spent 3 days job shadowing a Careers24 employee. This is what she learnt.

Have you ever found yourself thinking: “If I knew what this job was really going to be like, I never would’ve chosen it!”? I mean, even though you absolutely love cooking and pursued a career in hospitality because of this passion, you now hate being a professional chef because of the long hours on your feet. It would’ve been great if you knew the downsides before you applied to chef school.

Well, many people feel the same way. When we choose our careers, our vision does not always match reality. That’s probably why so many South African schools allow their students to seek job shadowing experience long before they have to choose what career to pursue.

What is job shadowing?

In order to learn more about the day-to-day responsibilities of a job, students follow a particular employee as if they were the employee’s shadow. In other words, it is an effective tool for learning and career planning.

Job shadowing is an opportunity for students to observe a professional at work. With the aim of giving the student a first-hand experience, the student will attend every meeting, watch the employee tackle every task, and observe the interaction among co-workers. It is a way to immerse themselves into the work life of an employee.

It really is quite a privilege to get a behind-the-scenes look into your dream job and ideal company. In a way, students get to see what their future life might be like.

The benefits of job shadowing

Job shadowing provides many of the answers you may be searching for when trying to choose the perfect career. 

It also gives you the opportunity to:

• gain insight into the typical environment

• gain insight into the required skill set

• gain insight into different job titles within the industry

• help define a clearer career path

• build a great network of professionals in your dream industry

• access to and benefit from valuable mentors much earlier than your peers

• pose questions to experts

Kauthar's job shadowing experience

A young scholar from Al Azhar High School joined the Careers24 content team on the 4th floor of the Media24 Centre for 3 days during the school holidays.

Learn more about Media24’s company culture.

Job shadowing was part of a compulsory school project that required this Grade 10 learner, Kauthar Omar, to immerse herself into the world of her dream career. While she is also interested in pursuing a career as a Marine Biologist, she also has a passion for photography and videography. She wanted to join an organisation, like one of South Africa's largest media companies, that would provide some exposure to see what it’d be like pursuing her passion full-time.

Kauthar’s 3-day stint with the content team at Careers24 allowed her the opportunity to visit a few other divisions within Media24 and as such, she was able to pick the brain of a videographer. Back in the office, Kauthar received first-hand experience of how a digital unit operates. Also, our rising star shadowed one of our writers along to a #CareerPride interview and witnessed journalists and photographers working together to capture excellent stories about real people.

At the end of her time with us, we emailed Kauthar and asked her to tell us a little more about her experience job shadowing a Careers24 employee. This is what she had to say:

Q: Describe your job shadowing experience in 3 words.

Kauthar: 
FANTASTICALLY AMAZINGLY GREAT!!!
But on a more serious note, it was educational, informative and fun.

Q: What was the highlight of your 3 days with Careers24?

Kauthar: 
An experience that will always remain close to my heart is the day I accompanied Portia to conduct an interview with a hearing impaired gentleman. Meeting him and spending time with him made me realise that anything is possible and we can all succeed. At the same time, I realised that we often take things for granted too. 

Here was a guy who cannot hear nor speak, who is out there giving it his all, and making a success of himself despite having the 2 most important tools of communication absent from his life.  A true inspiration.

Q: How did your job shadowing experience bring about a little more clarity regarding your future career path?

Kauthar: 
Indeed it has, it has given me a glimpse of what life in the media industry is about and I certainly wish to explore this avenue in more depth as time progresses. I may not be directly interested in becoming a Journalist, but the photography and videography aspects thereof are certainly up my alley.

Q: What were the things you learnt during your time with us?

Kauthar:
I learnt a lot about how media platforms function and now understand and appreciate how much effort goes into maintaining a site and posting articles.

Believe it or not, I also learnt how to send an email (LOL!!!) Yes, I know it sounds crazy at my age but hey, you’re never too old to learn

Q: What would your advice be to scholars also keen on job shadowing?

Kauthar:
I would advise scholars to give it a try.  At this point in our lives we are often undecided as to what career path we wish to follow. However, you will never know where we fit in until you try different pieces of the puzzle. Also, good luck and enjoy!

Kauthar's job shadowing experience with the Careers24 Content Team proves that it's never too early to start planning your career.

Do you have a job shadowing experience too? Tell us in the comments below, or tag us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.