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Job Shadowing Program

Job Shadowing will return in-person and virtual for Fall 2025 and Winter 2026. Stay tuned for updates!

The Job Shadowing Program offers an opportunity for deep insight into a particular role. Through a short-term placement, you can connect with diverse individuals, explore potential career paths, deepen understanding of your interests, values, and skills, and gain first-hand insight into a day in the life of a role.

The Job Shadowing program is CCR eligible.

You will have the opportunity to:

  • Develop your career ideas and learn about managing your career through acquiring industry knowledge and gaining insight from your host’s own story.
  • Connect with diverse individuals and practice networking.
  • Understand organizational culture during a workplace tour (in-person only) or through workplace culture conversations.
  • Deepen understanding of your values, interests and skills as it relates to potential career interests.
  • Apply skills in the workplace through a planned activity.

Check out our past list of participating industries:

  • Architectural, Landscape & Interior Design
  • Arts & Music
  • Banking & Financial Services
  • Business Services
  • Computer, Information & Internet Services
  • Communications, Media & Public Relations
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Government
  • Health Services
  • Legal & Security Services
  • Management Consulting
  • Publishing
  • Scientific Research & Development
  • and more!

Timelines

Program application timeline to come.

The Job Shadowing Orientation workshop will be offered multiple times in September 2025. Registration for a workshop begins 2-3 weeks before its start date on CLNx.

Program application timeline to come.

Questions often asked by Job Shadowing participants

If you are interested in applying to the UTSG Job Shadowing program, you will need to attend a UTSG Job Shadowing Orientation workshop as our program is different from other U of T campuses in application and structure.

The Job Shadowing Program is not a recruitment program – it is not about getting a job but rather exploring potential careers of interest, gain firsthand insight into the realities of a career and workplace, and enhance your knowledge and skills about a career and industry. While Job Shadowing does not entail a job at the end of participating in the program, you can develop valuable knowledge and skills necessary to the career field as well as strategies on how to navigate the industry, all of which you can leverage when crafting your applications and going into an interview. You also get real-world practice networking with an employer. These experiences can build your confidence, skills, and strengthen your applications, helping you in your career development.

The Career Exploration Team reviews the application and will do their best to match you with a host of your interest. Please note applicants are not guaranteed to receive a placement as it depends on the number of applications received for that placement and strength of your short statement of interest. The Job Shadowing Orientation will review tips on writing your statement.

Due to the high volume of interest, successful applicants can only shadow one host per Job Shadowing cycle/semester. You can shadow one host in Fall 2024 and one host in Winter 2025, but not two hosts in Fall 2024. You will need to apply to the Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 Job Shadowing cycle separately as each cycle has its own respective application period.

As the Career Exploration team has a process to best match students with their host of interest, and each host has a limited number of placements available, it is not possible for students to switch to another host once placed. This would disrupt the existing matches and would not be fair to other students.

If your host is open to it, yes! Some hosts may be very busy though and not able to stay in touch. It is best to check with them.

We recruit hosts and ensure that hosts understand their expectations for the U of T Job Shadowing program. You will not be able to find your own host for this program; however, we encourage you to continue your career exploration beyond the Job Shadowing program!

For Hosts: Get Involved in Job Shadowing

Interested in supporting student and alumni career exploration and shaping career learning? Become a Job Shadowing host and offer them a firsthand opportunity to experience and learn about your career while sharing your stories and insights! Please reach out to joselyn.wong@utoronto.ca if you are interested in being a Job Shadowing host.

Host benefits
  • Gain insight into student interests and the curiosities that surround your industry.
  • Share your knowledge, stories and experiences to support students and recent alumni in their career exploration journey.
  • Give back to the community and support efforts to create inclusive, equitable career exploration opportunities for students and alumni to self-discover, build understanding of workplace culture and roles, and identify career next steps.
  • Reflect on your career path and spark your own interest and curiosity in career development.
  • Connect with diverse U of T students and be exposed to new talent that informs potential recruitment efforts; make your presence -and organization known to emerging talent.
  • Be in partnership with U of T which can open exciting initiatives and meaningful opportunities to engage with U of T staff and student and alumni community.
Host logistics and commitment
  • Host in-person or virtually for the Fall 2025 and/or Winter 2026 Job Shadowing cycles.
  • Host between 1-8 participants.
  • Time commitment will vary. In-person job shadowing can be half day to two days (or two half days) and virtual Job Shadowing about 4-6 hours over 1 or 2 days.
Job Shadowing Host Guide

View and download the U of T Job Shadowing Host Guide (PDF) for information and tips on being a host in the Job Shadowing program!

  • “It was great! I really appreciate this opportunity to engage with students and the university.”
  • “I received great support as a host, I’ve always had a very positive experience.”
  • “I was never active outside the classroom as a U of T student, so this is my second chance of being part of the university community. I enjoy talking with students and learning about their interests and goals – that in turn inspires me and keeps me wanting to grow professionally and personally.”
  • “It’s so incredibly rewarding to hear back from students who have decided to pursue marketing as a career – or who now know it’s definitely not a fit for them & they have more clarity going forwards.”
  • “It was really lovely to connect with current students and feel like I was able to have an impact on them. It was personally also a great experience to be able to reflect on my career and better understand my own path.”