If you have shadowing experience and like to showcase it in your resume, you need to be rest assured that it is mentioned in the right place. Most often, candidates are confused about whether to include this experience in their resume or not.
Shadowing is considered to be something that is best to avoid on your resume, especially if you seek a job after completing your education. However, with people’s notions changing constantly, they have realized that learning and knowledge need not have to be the conventional way. It is a different case altogether that shadowing has always been a traditional way of pupils gaining knowledge from experienced professionals.
Ideally, with changing times, it has become all about skills, so if you have acquired some skills that you feel will contribute to your new job profile and would help you provide better solutions at your work, then there is no reason why you should not mention it on your resume.
And, if you have already understood the importance of mentioning your shadowing experience on your resume and are confused about where to place it, then you have come to the right place.
We’d be discussing how to list shadowing experience on your resume based on your requirement. For example, you could be a fresher or an experienced professional. If you feel that shadowing experience is relevant to your job profile, you will have a way to add it.
Bonus Read: The Best Resume Examples That Will Get You Hired in 2022.
What is Shadowing?
Shadow experience is the job experience you gain by working closely with professionals in your field. This is a kind of on-the-job training more than job experience itself. It is a way to gain insights into the working of the organization and the area of work. Usually, young and enthusiastic students use it as a learning opportunity to understand the requirements of the job better.
Now that we know what shadowing is, let us move on to learn how to list shadowing on your resume if you seek a job opportunity or want to switch jobs.
How to List Shadowing on Resume?
Returning to the main concern of those candidates who have decided to mention their respective shadowing experiences on their resumes. Their main concern is where to place this relevant experience.
To answer this, you need to figure out what is more relevant for you. If you have never worked for any organization and do not possess relevant experience, you may consider mentioning the shadowing experience at the very beginning. However, suppose you possess the prior working experience and would like to highlight that experience. In that case, you may try to focus more on that aspect and use shadowing experience as an addition to your resume.
Use “Shadow Experience” as the Sub-Title
This is one of the most straightforward ways to showcase your shadowing experience by categorizing it as a separate entity. In addition, it will allow the interviewer to have a look at your experience by directly reaching out for this section.
In case they are not interested in your shadow experience. They can give it a quick glance and move on to the other important sections.
If you do not have any prior work experience, you must mention that you grabbed the first learning opportunity that came your way. We’ll discuss in a while what is the best way or how you can best describe your learning experience.
On the other hand, if you already have some experience, you can still go ahead and mention the details of your shadowing experience in your resume, but you may choose not to highlight it. It can be completely a subjective matter if you want to prioritize this experience other than your other experience.
You can mention the name of the company where you worked and also mention your role in their company. There is no need to go overboard while describing the company or what they do. Just mentioning the location o the company should suffice.
The most important thing you must not miss is describing your job responsibilities while there. The idea is to mention important details about what you gained through your involvement there. Instead of mentioning only the responsibilities, also mention a self-analysis wherein you can add what skills you acquired and how those skills can prove beneficial for future companies.
Example For Shadowing on Resume
Job shadow has taken over almost every industry. Let us take the example of teaching. Like other industries, job shadow has become pervasive and so routine that these days teachers are not simply employed to fill a part-time niche, as used to be the case earlier.
Many scholars tend to take lectures and start teaching under the guidance of working professors. The way they do it is very different from how most graduate students teach, though there are two things in common: firstly, many teachers try not to go too far beyond formal topics; secondly, their purpose seems more focused on providing pedagogical support than educational material. That may also be because these types often end up running into problems with actual learning itself.
This sort-of model also works quite nicely for undergraduate courses that might have a lot going against them if taught by an instructor who tends toward ‘dumb’ research styles – someone so interested they won’t even focus on proper citation patterns before presenting his ideas.
Examples
Shadow Experience
Shadowed Prof. John to learn management and deliverance of lectures.
Queen’s School, Jacksonville, FL
January-August 2022
Participated in several university-level seminars and partnered with interns to prepare departmental reports.
Inspired and motivated young students to get into research along with taking examinations.
Observed the working of various departments and their faculties involved in diverse cultural and social events.
Take Another Example:
Shadow Experience
Followed Miss. Green to gain insights into conducting radiography of over 30+ people every day.
Scalene Co., Toronto
May – July 2019
Closely monitored the process of technical handling.
Assisted senior doctors in preparing final reports and handing them over to patients.
Frequently engaged with patients to help them understand their concerns.
Use Verbs That Best Describe Your Skills
Going back to the same point where it was suggested to get into self-analysis mode. Taking forward from here, you can use this opportunity to describe your learnings by using verbs that define you and your skills.
- Teamwork and collaboration are two keywords that will show them your capability to work with people from different walks of life to provide the best solutions.
- Participation and delivery are the keywords that focus on action and show your contribution to the organization.
- Inspired and motivated are terms that make them feel how relevant you are when staying in a position and getting better each day.
- Improved and exceeded are words that allow them to know that you can get better and beat your competitors to take the organization to new heights.
Pros of Listing Shadowing on Resume
- Starting early is great, and interviewers get highly impressed to see dedication among the candidates who are willing to learn.
- It lets the organization know that you are committed and have some idea on how to manage in a workplace.
- You get the upper hand from the other candidates who do not have any experience and are seen as freshers.
Some Cons of Listing Shadowing on Resume
Some people feel that shadowing does not provide a proper work experience which is why they advise against putting it on the resume. Along with that, there are several other cons that can come into your way of getting an opportunity with the help of showcasing your shadowing experience. These are:
- The experience, despite all your hard work, could still not be taken seriously by the recruiters because, as mentioned before, it is not a proper work experience.
- Perhaps, one of the reasons why people do not like to “waste their” time and energies on shadowing. Instead, they devote their resources to getting something that can be shown with proper certifications.
Summary
It is a great idea to include shadowing experience in your resume as it allows the interviewer to know what you have been up to. Also, you are not required to write in detail about this experience, as anyone interested in gaining more knowledge about it will directly ask questions regarding the same during the interview.
Mention what all you did and learned while being there without sounding too out there. You need to go into self-analysis and mention only those details that you find are in sync with the job profile you seek.
