How to Put Shadowing on Resumes: Expert Tips and Examples

What is shadowing, and why does it matter for your resume?

Job shadowing is the act of following a professional during their daily tasks and observing how they do their work. This is a common practice that helps junior professionals learn new skills, understand specific industries, and get used to a work environment. It provides people with valuable work experience and helps them decide if the career is the right fit.

Shadowing is also very beneficial to resumes, telling recruiters about your valuable competencies and work ethic. Here are a few advantages:

• Displays experience: For people with little work experience, job shadowing shows hiring managers that you have a knowledge and understanding of the target role.
• Demonstrates interest: This shows recruiters that you have a passion for this position and industry, including modern tools and practices.
• Showcases work ethic: Shadowing and mentoring demonstrate a strong work ethic and a commitment to continuous improvement, and recruiters are always looking for candidates who are dedicated to learning.
• Shows transferable skills: Besides the role-specific hard skills, job shadowing displays certain transferable skills, including communication, problem-solving, and collaboration.
• Builds a powerful network: Shadowing experience tells recruiters about the talented professionals you’ve worked with, giving them more confidence in your application. They may want to connect and keep in touch, regardless of the outcome of the job application.

When should you include shadowing on your resume?

Before we discuss how to put job shadowing on resumes, let’s quickly cover who it’s best for. While any professional can list shadowing, more experienced professionals should reserve resume space for career achievements. Listing job shadowing on resumes is ideal for these types of job seekers:

• Entry-level job applicants: People just entering the workforce don’t have much traditional experience, and job shadowing helps flesh out a resume and prove their qualifications.
• Career changers: Candidates switching from one career to another have work experience, but it may not be relevant. Job shadowing, transferable skills, and select work achievements help bolster a career change resume.
• Recent graduates and students: People fresh from college and school largely rely on educational merits and accomplishments, and job shadowing allows them to list active work experience.
• People with work gaps: Individuals with gaps in their work history are often questioned about what they did during the gap. Job shadowing shows an active interest in their career, even when they aren’t working.

How to put shadowing on a resume

Now, let’s cover where to list shadowing on resumes. Depending on the person, it’s best to place it in your education or work experience sections or create a new, optional section.

Make sure you grab a professional, flexible resume template to accommodate job shadowing, no matter where you want to place it.

Experience section

This is the most common section in which to put job shadowing. It’s popular for career changers and junior professionals, but anyone can use it to great effect.

Begin each entry with “Job Shadowing Experience,” and then add the company name, location, experience dates, and a bullet list of learnings and accomplishments. It’s best to list the name of the professional who taught you in this list, too.

Education section

This section is best for students and recent graduates, especially if the shadowing took place in a school or university as a part of coursework or an academic program. 

Start each entry with “Shadowing Experience,” and then list the university name, dates of experience, location, and a bullet list of achievements and tasks.

Optional sections

If you have a varied resume that already has work experience, education, and internships, it’s a good idea to separate shadowing into its own section, especially if you have multiple shadowing experiences and want to group them. 

Create a new header called “Shadowing Experience,” and proceed to fill out each entry as previously described. You can easily add this section in your preferred resume template on CVwizard's resume maker.

How to describe shadowing effectively

You want your shadowing descriptions to accurately describe your experience, including what you learned and absorbed. Learn how to put shadowing experience on resumes successfully with these tips:

• Use action verbs: Engage the reader and highlight your participation by starting sentences with action verbs, like “observed,” “assisted,” and “discovered.”
• Draw attention to key skills: Don’t leave it up to recruiters to draw correlations. Make obvious connections to how observations led to relevant skills.
• Quantify achievements: It won’t always be possible, but quantify achievements and use measurable metrics to describe your shadowing if you can.
• Mention people by name: Use your mentor’s name to showcase that you learned from a talented, well-known professional.

“This is a common practice that helps junior professionals learn new skills, understand specific industries, and get used to a work environment.”

Examples of shadowing for popular industries

When learning how to put shadowing on resumes, examples are a great way to absorb it naturally. These sentences would go under the company name and location, in the bullet points.

Here are a few industry-specific examples to review:

If you’re looking for another great way to showcase experience as an entry-level professional or student, check out our guide on building a creative resume and show recruiters your skills.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

You’re almost done. Before you finish up, review the most common pitfalls when listing job shadowing and how to avoid them:

• Being too vague: Don’t simply list “Shadowed a doctor.” Include specific information, including the person’s name and what you learned, such as: “Shadowed Dr. Arianna Moore, assisting with patient consultations.”
• Adding irrelevant information: Make sure your shadowing experience directly relates to the open position – don’t include it for the sake of including it.
• Excluding key terms: Read the job description thoroughly and add important keywords to your shadowing experience. This helps the company’s applicant tracking system (ATS) recognize your application as relevant.
• Listing mentors without their permission: If you’re going to list a mentor by name, make sure you get their permission before writing about them on your resume.

See these best practices in action (plus even more advice) by reviewing our realistic resume examples.

Tips for tailoring your resume to specific job descriptions

No resume should be copy/paste – what works for one application won’t necessarily work for another. Make sure you consider these tips when tailoring each resume to specific roles:

• Match your experience to the description: Read the job ad and find out exactly what the employer wants. Write your resume and shadowing sections with this in mind, focusing on the skills and responsibilities they need.
• Update your resume frequently: Has it been some time since you last updated your resume? Check on it and update it frequently to make sure it’s fresh and relevant for new applications.
• Consider unique aspects of each experience: We recommend using the same shadowing experiences for multiple, unique job roles – simply focus on different aspects. For instance, you might have learned SEO practices and editing from a content marketing program.
• Create a master list: Build a thorough master list of all your shadowing experiences and the skills you learned. This makes it easy to pick through and choose the most relevant skills for each application.

Don’t stop here. Read our top 10 resume tips for even more advice and build the perfect application.

Showcase your shadowing and prove your skills

Job shadowing is an excellent method to gain know-how and drive your passions, and hiring managers want to know about it. Use this guide to effectively display your experience and prove you have the motivation and work ethic to succeed in your chosen career.

Review the job description, add relevant terms and skills, and use actionable language to accurately detail your background, whether you’re just starting your professional journey or you’re switching to your dream industry.

Ready to get started? Dive into CVwizard’s resume maker and craft a professional resume with any sections you need, from work experience and education to unique ones you crafted yourself. They’re easy to edit, too, so jump in and update them to tailor them and keep them fresh.