Job Shadowing
Career Exploration Workbook
Name: _________________________
Career Exploration
Framework
Career exploration involves an active exploration of both the
internal and external environment to find interests, alignment and
opportunities.
Through ongoing self-reflection and interactions with the external
environment (exploration to accumulate information and experiences, this
cycle can help you identify plans and actions that support your development
of career ideas. This in turn contributes to the development of your sense of
self and career identity.
Self-Identity – your belief of the roles/groups you occupy and traits
Career identity – meaning you make from how you see your
motivation, strengths, values, interests, and skills connecting to
potential career roles (e.g., I am a connector)
Silent Reflection: How might this job shadowing opportunity help you
explore or further develop your sense of self and career identity?
2
Knowing Yourself
Values
Understanding your values can help you identify work that is important to
you, clarify your career goals, and plan your career paths. Values are the
fundamental beliefs and principles that guide the way we want to live, act,
and be.
Part A: What are Values and Why are they Important?
Read to the end of “Why Core Values are Important” in the article below to
gain a deeper understanding of values:
[Link]
My notes from the reading:
3
Part B: My Values in Work
What values are important to you? How might they show up in your work? To
begin thinking about this, reflect on your experiences (be it personal, work,
academic, co-curricular, etc.). Pick one experience that gives you a deep
sense of joy or fulfillment, or that you are most proud of.
Personal Reflection:
1. What were you doing? What tasks or responsibilities did you have?
What was your role)?
2. What was the environment like at the time? Were there any people
involved, and if yes, what was their role in this?
3. Why did this experience make you feel fulfilled, proud, happy?
4. What values showed up in this experience? (You can refer to the list on
the next page)
4
Values in the Workplace:
Are any of the values you identified above transferable to the workplace?
Think about:
What are my priorities when it comes to my career?
What kind of people do I want to work with? What about the
environment?
What do I value more, autonomy or collaboration? Variety or stability?
What responsibilities do I hope to have at work?
Look through the list of values below. Which values are most important to
you and guide the way you want to work? Highlight the values below.
Achievement Effectiveness Helping Others Power
Adventure Efficiency Harmony Recognition
Autonomy Empathy Independence Respect
Balance Entrepreneurism Influence Risk-taking
Challenge Equality Innovation Security
Clarity Family Intelligence Status
Collaboration Flexibility Justice Teamwork
Community Fun Learning Trust
Curiosity Freedom Location Variety
Creativity Growth Optimism Wealth
Value Wheel Activity:
5
Now, input up to 10 values on the wheel on the next page; write the value
above each divided segment of the circle or on the blue line.
Within each segment of the circle, there are ten rows rated on a scale of 1 to
10, with 1 being least important, and 10 being most important. For each of
your values, colour in the segment to their level of importance.
Adapted from Amundson, N.E (2018). Active Engagement (Anniversary Edition). Richmond: Ergon communications
Based on the wheel, what are your top 5 work values?
My top 5 work values are:
1. _________________________
2. _________________________
3. _________________________
6
4. _________________________
5. _________________________
Skills
Skills are the expertise needed to do a job or task. Skills can be acquired
through many experiences, such as academics, mentorship, internship, work,
volunteering, and co-curricular activities.
Part A: Identifying my Skills
1. Reflect on the skills you gained through your academic experiences.
For example, you have likely developed communication skills (writing,
speaking, and digital) through academics.
2. Now think of your non-academic experiences (e.g., a volunteering role
you held or a co-curricular activity you engaged in). What did you do in
those experiences? What skills did you use?
By reflecting on your experiences, you will realize that you hold diverse
skills, some of which you may not have realized before. From the skills
identified above, what are the top 5 skills you want to use in your future
work?
My top 5 skills I want to use at work:
7
1. _________________
2. _________________
3. _________________
4. _________________
5. _________________
What skills do you not have yet that you wish to develop?
Skills I want to develop and use at work:
1. _________________
2. _________________
3. _________________
4. _________________
5. _________________
lnterests
1. To help you identify some career interests, reflect on the following
prompts and use the space below to jot down your thoughts:
What excites you?
What are you curious about?
What do you hope to bring to your future work? (e.g., do you hope
to innovate or increase efficiency in a certain product or service? Do
you want to bring awareness to a certain issue? Do you want to
start your own business for a target audience?)
8
2. What common themes do you notice about the things that interest
you? How might your values and skills align with some of these
interests?
Potential career interests:
Other Assessment Tools
You can also consider using other assessment tools (i.e., online quizzes) to
help you identify your values, skills, and interests*
Job Bank Canada – Career Quizzes and Tests
o Take 3 different career quizzes to help you identify your
interests, abilities and strengths, and work activities you prefer
to find potential career options.
Career Perfect InSight Values/Work Characteristics quiz.
o Gain insight into your values and work characteristics.
1. High 5 Test: Strengths Finder quiz.
9
o Discover some of your strengths. Research shows that when
we’re able to work with our strengths in our careers, we have a
greater sense of job satisfaction and personal well-being.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
o The MBTI test can help you understand how your personality
type impacts career exploration and the work tasks and
environment you may prefer, as well as help you identify
occupations that align well with your personality.
*Please note that results of the assessments are not conclusive of who you
are and all your values, skills, and interests; they are simply one way to
support your self-reflection and offer some discovery insights.
Writing an Effective Application
Identifying Placements of Interest
Placement Choice #1: __________________________
Why am I interested in this placement? What are my goals?
How do my values, interests, and skills connect to the placement (i.e., career
role/job, industry, host’s profile)?
What am I hoping to learn more about in relation to the host, organization
and industry?
10
How does this opportunity support my exploration or development of my
sense of self and career identity (i.e., connection to my personal growth,
academics, and/or career goals, ideas, or curiosities)?
Placement Choice #2: __________________________
Why am I interested in this placement? What are my goals?
How do my values, interests, and skills connect to the placement (i.e., career
role/job, industry, host’s profile)?
What am I hoping to learn more about in relation to the host, organization
and industry?
11
How does this opportunity support my exploration or development of my
sense of self and career identity (i.e., connection to my personal growth,
academics, and/or career goals, ideas, or curiosities)?
Placement Choice #3: __________________________
Why am I interested in this placement? What are my goals?
How do my values, interests, and skills connect to the placement (i.e., career
role/job, industry, host’s profile)?
What am I hoping to learn more about in relation to the host, organization
and industry?
12
How does this opportunity support my exploration or development of my
sense of self and career identity (i.e., connection to my personal growth,
academics, and/or career goals, ideas, or curiosities)?
Draft Your Statement of Interest
PLEASE NOTE: statement of interest is submitted on CLNx via Step
1: Pre-Questionnaire.
Using the space below, draft some ideas to respond to the interest of
statement question:
How do your values, interests/curiosities, and skills connect to the
placement(s) you applied for? How do you see this job shadowing
placement opportunity helping you explore or further develop your
sense of self and career identity?
Be sure to review the host placement profile and make clear connections
between yourself and the placement.
My ideas:
13
14
How to Develop Thoughtful Questions
To help you form relevant questions for your host, first reflect on the
following:
What do I already know about the host, organization, and industry?
What are my goals for this job shadowing placement?
What am I hoping to learn more about in relation to the host and
industry?
Remember:
Ask your host questions that can't easily be answered by a search
engine.
Ask open-ended questions and ensure relevancy to the host and their
work, and your goals.
Let’s Practice! (Case Study)
What are my goals for this job shadowing placement?
What do I already know about the host, organization and industry?
What am I hoping to learn more about? What key pieces of information might
be helpful to research prior to engaging in this job shadowing experience?
What questions might you ask the host given their profile and your interests
and goals?
15
My Job Shadowing Experience:
Pre-Placement Reflection
Use the template to help you prepare to engage with your host and develop
thoughtful questions relevant to your host, their work and industry, as well
as your own goals.
Placement: __________________________
1. Why am I interested in this placement? What are my goals and
expectations for this placement?
Interest:
Goals - what do I hope to achieve? Expectations (how will I show up
(e.g., it can be related to building knowledge, as my best self, host and
applying skills, connecting learning experiences placement experience)
with career ideas, learning about yourself,
personal development, etc.).
Tip: Make SMART goals – specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
16
2. What do I already know about the host, organization, and industry
based on my research?
3. Questions for the host as it relates to their job, industry, host profile,
and my own goals:
17
During Placement Reflection
Is my placement experience aligning with my expectations?
Do the values of the workplace align with my own? Do I see myself
working in a similar environment?
Do I feel welcomed/supported by my host and the Career Exploration
team?
Post-Placement Reflection
What is one surprising thing that I’ve learned from my time with my
host? What’s a major takeaway?
What are some new ideas or career possibilities to consider? (idea: you
can create a mind map with the industry at the center and career
possibilities branching out)
In what ways has this job shadowing experience influenced the way I
approach career exploration and my career thinking? What about my
personal development?
What is my next step in my career journey?
18
19
Career Exploration & Education - Resources
AI | [Link]
This Student Life page on AI provides guidelines and tips for using AI as a
tool to support your learning.
Career Start | [Link]/careerstart
Career Start is an interactive hub for online, self-directed career learning &
exploration. The tool invites you to learn about relevant career programs,
services, and resources that can support you in navigating your questions
and curiosities, including:
What can I do with my degree(s)?
How do I get a job?
What about further education?
20
Career Start contains activity sheets, videos, e-modules, and pdf toolkits.
Career Navigator | [Link]
Career Navigator is a tool to help you find out what you can do with your
degree, explore opportunities, meet University of Toronto alumni, and
connect with career and industry-related resources.
Career E-Modules | [Link]/careermodules
We offer two e-modules series focused on:
Resume & Cover Letters
Applying to Further Education (e.g. graduate school, etc.)
Both series include 7 micro-modules, each taking 5-10mins to complete,
allowing you to enhance your resumes, cover letters, and further education
applications at your own pace. You can begin with any topic of interest and
proceed in any order that serves your learning.
21
