Job Shadow Day at Microsoft with Sealth High School

What a fantastic day!

A big thank you is in order for the three women who spent hours organizing this very special day. They do it because they care that the girls get to have this experience, which is also a life changing event for them. Thank you to Renuka Iyer, who has organized and held this job shadow event for us for many years. She does 2 a school year and its a big task. WE cannot thank her enough for her dedication to serving girls. Thank you to Christina Delia and Jesica Thomson, for helping Renu pull this off. Without your help it would indeed be to much for one person to do it all. Your work is much appreciated. And thank you to Brooke Schnyder , who always supports us!

Thank you to all of the mentors who took the girls and spent the day with them. When the girls came back one by one, their smiles said it all. They were so happy and completely grateful for the chance to spend the day with you. You all inspired each of them to dream bigger, and never give up. Thank you all for making this day a possibility. Also as a reminder, please log your hours on the volunteer manager website. Some of you have volunteers already this year and may have reached your 10 hours. If not, please keep track and log your hours as soon as you have enough. Your volunteer hours help us pay for valuable events like this one.

job-shadow_12-17-11 SealthTake a look at the comments below, copied directly from the girls evaluation forms.

What did I like best about the event?

  • I really liked the experience of seeing what a person’s job is and what their daily tasks are like.
  • I enjoyed hearing more about how technology is used in almost every career.
  • I loved my mentor because she was really informational, interesting and inspiring. She was very intellectual and easy going.
  • I liked how welcoming she was. I enjoyed the conversation.
  • ONe on one experience with our mentors. WE talked about what it’s like in the field and what I plan on doing. I really will consider this career field.
  • I liked how I got to meet someone who worked in the field, it was nice to work with them and ask questions.
  • The fact that I got to be at Microsoft was great! It was such a good opportunity.
  • I really enjoyed talking with our mentors. She told us about other Microsoft technology that I didn’t know about.
  • My mentor really broke down what IT was in a way that allowed me to understand what I would be doing if I went into an IT career.
  • That I got to learn about new things I never know about. and discovered a few things opened my eyes that I would love to do this in the future.
  • I really enjoyed how welcoming everyone was and how much my mentor taught me. She opened a lot of windows for me and this was a great experience. I am now way more into advertising.
  • There were a lot of things I enjoyed today. Learning about what a Principal Solution Mgr does, seeing the offices, sitting in on a team meeting, lunch, it was all so wonderful. I am so grateful I was able to come and enjoy the day with you. Thank you very very much!
  • I liked how I was able to experience what it was like in a real job.
  • I really got to understand what people at Microsoft do all of the time. The people are really nice.
  • Learning more about the IT Microsoft business, and getting an awesome job. Also seeing different websites they create.
  • Job Shadowing and getting one on one contact with my mentor. I learned a lot definitely want to do this again.
  • I just liked talking to my mentor.

What was the most interesting thing you heard today?

  • I learned about how much money you can make and that you really need to learn how to budget.
  • That IT does not need a lot of math just basic algebra.
  • I enjoyed hearing my mentors story on how she got her job at Microsoft.
  • I got to listen to a conference that people at Microsoft were having.
  • The most interesting thing was how relaxed the environment was.
  • The most interesting thing I heard today was Microsoft opportunities when someone wants to change their jobs.
  • My mentor had a conference call and some of the people were in Ireland and India, and I thought that was pretty cool.
  • I heard about the programs they create here which was highly educational and so inspiring.
  • That the offices in India are completely different.
  • That the whole Microsoft company has 200 buildings.
  • They told me about design and what different fields would be good for me because I am interested in art. We also talked about XBOX and connect and what the people do to create these things.
  • All the acronyms used in the field.
  • WE talked about the things you can connect to your iPhones and can find out what skin diseases you have.
  • Product management, it sounded like something I would seriously consider in the future.
  • That there is so much to choose and pick from, about what you want to do.
  • The most interesting thing I learned was the online advertising and how hard my mentor works to target certain groups of people.

The rest of the comments were about how they wished they had more time and how exciting it was to be at Microsoft meeting their mentors. I asked them if there was anything they would change and all said it was great. or perfect.

All the girls checked the box that they learned a lot and most would be considering a technical degree.

This day was a great success, and thank you again for all you are doing for the girls.

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