What It’s About
Job Shadow Day focuses on bringing together local students, schools, and businesses to connect employers to future talent, while opening attendees’ minds to a variety of available careers.
The City of Schertz Economic Development Corporation’s (SEDC) local Job Shadow Day started as part of a larger SA Works initiative in 2015, with 25 local students visiting various City of Schertz departments. Over the years, student participation has grown tremendously thanks to the involvement of Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District (SCUC ISD). Another area of growth has been local business participation; with more businesses stepping up to host groups, students can stay in the community to explore their opportunities. This year, 404 students from Samuel Clemens and Byron P. Steele III high schools visited 19 different employers in Schertz and Cibolo, learning about careers ranging from manufacturing and supply chain management to agriculture and public service.
As with any large event, Job Shadow Day starts with planning. Six months out, the SEDC works closely with partners such as the school district to recruit company participants. The district then matches students with host businesses based on their industry interest. Student groups range in size from 10 to 40 students and are accompanied on the day-of by SCUC ISD staff during their visit.
Benefits
- Students | ‘I never knew this career/industry existed’ | Students are introduced to potential careers, interests, and future job connections.
- Companies | ‘I never knew this business existed’ | Businesses gains the opportunity to expose students to career opportunities at their company and within their industry.
- School District | ‘Without this event, students wouldn’t have explored this industry’ | Educators can see, firsthand, skills needed within industry and integrate new ideas into curriculums.
Highlights from 2019
Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD junior and senior high school students were encouraged to “Look before you leap into a career,” during the district-wide Job Shadow Day, held on February 18. The annual event, a partnership with the school district and the Schertz and Cibolo economic development corporations, gives students a chance to look into local companies and discover the employer’s expectations and educational requirements before leaping from high school into trade school, college, the military, or straight into the workforce.
“We see Job Shadow Day as just one element to fulfilling the corporation’s role in workforce development. Through our business roundtables, our industries indicated they wanted new ways to build career pathways with high school students,” said Jennifer Kolbe, Business Retention Manager, City of Schertz Economic Development Corporation.
According to Career and Technical Education (CTE) Director, Amy Massey, the district wants students to visualize what working in a field requires and gain insight into companies they may want to be a part of someday. “Our students are always excited to spend the day outside the classroom and gain a realistic outlook on a career and may even be introduced to a career they may have never heard of or considered. Careers explored this year were logistics, manufacturing, public service, advertising, engineering, utility workers, business, agriculture, business, IT, and culinary,” Massey said.
The event, which requires year-round planning, was developed in response to the district’s plans to ensure every student is prepared for a career, college, or the military and to address a mounting need for new talent within existing businesses. More than 404 students from Samuel Clemens and Byron J. Steel High Schools visited 19 companies. Before the end of the school year, almost 500 students will have visited a least 25 firms.
“As the program has grown over the years, students have added the experience on their resumes and expanded their networking contacts. This has turned into internships, part and fulltime jobs,” Kolbe said.
Participating employers included Armstrong Relocation, Caterpillar, City of Cibolo, City of Schertz EMS and Police Departments, Comet Signs, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, H-E-B, Liberty Oilfield, Major Wire/Flexmat, Mortelloro’s Nursery, Northeast Lakeview College, RDO Equipment, Schertz Animal Hospital, City of Selma Fire Department, Setien & Associates, Sysco Central Texas and both the Schertz and Cibolo YMCAs.
“H-E-B is an active participant in Job Shadow Day and has been for several years. We feel it is a great way to showcase career opportunities with our great company. We offer job shadow opportunities with our engineers, architects, manufacturing, general business, IT, digital and meat procurement teams,” said Katie Chain, H-E-B Education and Workforce Program Manager and Schertz resident.
Setien and Associates has offered students jobs in their engineering design office as well as welding in the fabrication shop.
According to Megan Zella, Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative’s Talent Acquisition Specialist, GVEC has participated for the past three years. “We like to share the vast opportunities that GVEC is able to provide whether a student wants to go on to college or if they want to go straight into the workforce.”
Kolbe commented, “I’ve seen that the benefits of Job Shadow Day are not all one-sided. Employers also get the chance to meet prospective employees and introduce them to the company’s culture, business ethics, customer service and quality standards, beginning the employee development process even before the student applies or is offered a position.”
Thank You and Sign Up for Next Year!
The SEDC would like to extend a special thank you to each participating company, SCUC ISD, and the City of Cibolo Economic Development Corporation for helping make this year’s Job Shadow Day a success.
If your company is interested in hosting students for next year’s Job Shadow Day, contact us or reach out to SCUC ISD’s Career and Technical Education Department at (210) 945-6086.