Kaitlyn Kittle is a freshman at Ashland University and is already making big plans for her future. The fabrication of this plan started a little over a year ago when she began job shadowing various careers to see what they were all about.
Kaitlyn’s sister has dreamt of being a medical doctor since she was a little girl…and she’s doing it. As she watched her big sister start college, aspiring to be a doctor,
and now working through med school, Kaitlyn developed her own aspirations to work toward the goal of med school. The thought of opening a private practice with her big sister and owning their own family business was a dream come true! But that dream quickly faltered after job shadowing her own family practitioner. “I hated it.” She remarked laughing at her own blatant response. She explained that she did not find working with the whole body enjoyable or interesting at all. She realized she preferred focusing on one area of the body, but had little interest in performing surgery; a necessity for specialized doctors.
Kaitlyn was disappointed that she was not interested in being a family practitioner. However, she still had her heart set on practicing within the medical field. She then became dead set on becoming a pharmacist. Kaitlyn decided to job shadow a pharmacist and found their day-to-day job to be incredibly boring! Another disappointment.
At this point, most students would begin to question their purpose and start researching different industries to focus on. But Kaitlyn knew that God was leading her to the perfect career. At a routine appointment with her family dentist, Kaitlyn expressed her disappointment in not enjoying the medical fields she had job shadowed. Upon hearing this, her dentist offered Kaitlyn an opportunity to shadow her. Reluctantly, Kaitlyn agreed…and LOVED it. In total, Kaitlyn shadowed six different fields before deciding which career path was best suited for her.
“Job shadowing can help you find out if you are actually going to enjoy what you are going to pursue and allows you to make an informed decision.” She remarked. She first believed that job shadowing in the medical field was pointless. She saw what doctors did when she went to her own appointments. Why shadow them to see the same thing? What she didn’t realize is how much goes on behind the scenes. There is far more that happens in any profession than the public-facing side. Kaitlyn is proof that job shadowing allows an individual to have hands-on experience and to ask specific questions about what is happening in the field of study.
In addition, job shadowing is great for making connections for future jobs. Kaitlyn is a perfect example of this. Last summer, when Kaitlyn’s sister had her wisdom teeth removed, Kaitlyn asked the oral surgeon if she could job shadow him some time. Not only did he agree, but he allowed her to experience the removal of her sister’s wisdom teeth from the medical side. After job shadowing him a second time, he offered her a job as an oral surgeon’s assistant.
Everything lined up so perfectly for Kaitlyn to be able to job shadow, be hired for her current job, and help her prepare for her future. This was her confirmation she is following her life calling. “I am trying to follow God’s plan for my life and as of right now, I feel that this is what He is leading me to,” Kaitlyn suggests that students try out a lot of different things because there were a lot of different career paths she was thinking about pursuing. If I wasn’t for shadowing, she would have never even considered being a dentist. Her advice to students is, “Don’t be afraid to reach out to people. They won’t reach out to you. Meet them to help establish those relationships to get yourself ready for your future.”