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Externships & Job Shadowing

Externships are similar to internships in that they provide a professional setting for students to gain valuable insight into a specific career field. An externship is a short-term job shadowing experience (usually ranging from one day to one week). Each extern experience is different depending on your interests, the career field, and the particular sponsor with whom you extern. All externships are unpaid, and externs do not earn academic credit. The UT Center for Career Development & Academic Exploration does not place students directly with externship sponsors, but does provide guidance and support in developing an externship experience.

Job shadowing can be a one-time or repeat opportunity to observe functional roles within organizations of interest to help you add to your career exploration and success in interviewing. Job shadowing is not a posted opportunity that you will find on a job board, but rather an activity initiated by you as a strategic next step to informational interviewing and networking within an industry of interest. Making an inquiry to job shadow a functional role within an organization can be a natural next step to an informational interview

Guide to the Informational Interview