Designing Your Program

While ECS has a structured approach to our Job Shadow Program (one day, over Ohio State's Spring Break Week, for engineering students registered with our office), each event may look different depending on the employer's goals for the program and resources they can put into their day. Below are tips for designing your program so that you are set up for success and attracting students to sign up.

  • Start your Job Shadow at a reasonable time if you are considering the morning hours as students may be traveling long distances to your location. (A 9:00am, 9:30am, or 10:00am start time is advised.)  
  • If you are hosting a Job Shadow event over the lunch hour, it is recommended that lunch is provided to the students. Asking students about their dietary restrictions is also advised.    
  • Provide a clear, but interesting, event description that includes 5-8 sentences MAX about what your company does; this is your “hook” and will help students determine which job shadows they would like to attend. It's not recommended to just copy and paste something generic. Additional information on what to include in your event description can be found in the “Setting Up Your Event in Handshake" webpage. 
  • Include a detailed agenda for the day. Sample activities include: welcome, company overview, safety training, tour, lunch, networking & engineering panel with Q&A (can include current co-op/internship students), shadow an engineer. Previous job shadow participants have also communicated that being able to hear from diverse company representatives and engaging one-on-one are activities they enjoy. Here is an example agenda:  
    • 10:00am: Welcome and Safety Overview  
    • 10:45am: Company Tour  
    • 12:00pm: Lunch, Networking & Engineering Panel  
    • 2:00pm: 1:1 Shadowing
    • 3:00pm: Overview of Open Positions & Closing
    • 3:30pm: Departure  
  • Download your student attendance list from Handshake and view student Handshake profiles before the event so you are aware of who will be attending and the engineering majors that will be present.   
  • Reach out prior to the event to touch base and get students excited about your day.