Industrial Organizational Psychology? What does that even mean...
When we work on job shadow requests, we always try to place students on-site for a truly authentic experience. We also like to provide as many local opportunities as possible, to help students see how many opportunities there are right here, which can decrease out-migration and brain drain. However, from time to time we get specialized requests for careers not in our area. We then do our best to get students connected to a professional in that field. Such was the case for Seneca Craven. Seneca is a senior at Marietta High School who wants to go into Industrial Organizational Psychology (IO). Needless to say, she chose a very specialized field. So, the search was on!
Per the American Psychological Association, Industrial Organizational Psychology is characterized by the scientific study of human behavior in organizations and the work place. This specialty focuses on deriving principles of individual, group and organizational behavior and applying this knowledge to the solution of problems at work. In order to connect our student to someone in this field, BB2C contacted Elisabeth Kelbley, Director of Organization Effectiveness at Cardinal Health, which has 50,000 employees in 45 countries. She quickly agreed to do a video conference with Seneca and a date was set.
As soon as the Zoom session began, Elisabeth exhibited excitement and exuberance for Seneca’s interest in the field, as very few people even know about her career. She stated how impressed she was that a senior in high school knew about Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Elisabeth shared different paths that Seneca could take along with potential colleges and what to look for in those colleges, depending on her interest of research or application. She talked about what a day looks like for her and the variety of things she does on a day to day basis. Elisabeth’s pathway began in a more indirect way, which is why she’s so happy that Seneca has been able to find her pathway from the beginning. After the video conference Seneca expressed that the placement confirmed her desire to go into IO and that she learned a lot about what to expect.
Elisabeth had this to say, “I always love an opportunity to connect. I found it refreshing to chat with a student who is exploring an opportunity in my field. This type of program is something I wish I had when I was searching to find my own path. Seneca seems like one smart young lady.”
We here at BB2C contribute this highly evolved career planning to several things: 1) the innovative work done in the area schools related to career readiness, 2) the collaborative work we are able to do with the schools, which allows us to give students these opportunities, and 3) Seneca for her dedication to discovering and exploring a career she is interested in. This example shows that our job shadowing program is student driven. Students are the ones with the interest and, given the resources, they can explore careers the rest of us know nothing about.
Have a student that’s interested in job shadow experience? Have them go to https://buildingbridgestocareers.org/jobshadowing and fill out the request form. We look forward to being able to share more job shadowing experiences in the future.