Shadower will be useful to college students who 1). are unsure about future career paths 2). feel like they need more real-world experience to be competitive or 3). are unable to secure an internship for whatever reason. Considering the first group, a 2017 NCES study found that one-third of all bachelor's students change their major at least once and 1 in 10 students have changed their major more than once.4 With Shadower, students can efficiently narrow down the correct major for themselves before investing too much time and money pursing the wrong education or degree.
Looking at the second group, a recent survey by Hanover Research asked over 5,000 postsecondary students what factors would have made them feel more prepared for their careers and as the data below show, the majority felt that they needed more internships and professional experience.5 Note also that better access to tools and networking ranked fairly high.
Overall, this result makes sense. When surveyed, employers overwhelmingly respond that they prefer for candidates have work experience. Consequently, it is vital for college students to specialize their knowledge through internships, but finding good internships can be challenging, which is where Shadower can help the third group of college students, those without internship options.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, "In many colleges, the landscape of internships is best characterized as ambiguous, unregulated, potentially exploitative, and—for many students—inaccessible."6 The problem boils down to the fact that there simply aren't enough substantive internships available, especially for "disciplines that lack direct and obvious connections to employers." Data from the New York Times show the top 20 fields which posted the largest number of internships in the U.S. between September 2015 to October 2016.7
In 2016, the United Stated had 19.84 million college students, but as the bar graph above reveals, the number of internship postings ranged somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. Of course, this does not account for internships informally acquired, so the real number is likely higher, but the point stands nonetheless. As the Chronicle explains, "For cash-strapped colleges, many of which may not have adequately resourced career centers, it is fantasy to to be able to design a mandatory internship program for all students." Students of these less-equipped colleges must cold-call various professors and companies on their own if they hope to get experience. If students don't know exactly what's available or fail to meet the required academic prerequisites, these challenges can, at times, feel insurmountable.
It's worth noting that in the New York Times data plot, business-related activities account for four of the top seven spots; underrepresented are internships in creative and scientific fields, two areas where acquiring internships is most critical. By analyzing internship postings in relation to entry-level job openings, a Burning Glass report found that internships are most important in the competitive areas of art, video and graphic design, engineering, communications, marketing and social media. Shadower provides the perfect outlet for colleges students to get a foot in the door when it comes to those highly-competitive fields.
As further evidence of the lack of hands-on education in America, consider the following data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)8, which show the number of schools offering subbaccalaureate occupational education in the United States in 2013, by state.
Using Colorado as an example, according to the Colorado Department of Higher Education, Colorado has 432 institutions of higher learning,9 but the NCES data show that only 104 schools offer occupational education. Looking at the country as a whole, America has 7,151 postsecondary Title IV Institutions10 (and many, many more non-Title IV higher educational institutions) but only 5,590 offer occupational education.11 Shadower can partially fill this gap and the internship gap by providing a simple platform for students to find subbaccalaureate training. Shadower will allow many more students, especially those at smaller institutions, the chance to operate the tools of the industry and make face-to-face connections with possible future employers without requiring a formal internship.