Foothill Career Specialist Linda Kapala believes that even a negative job shadow experience can be helpful in choosing a career.

“Having a “bad” job shadow can stop you from having an illusion that this is what you want to do and frees up your time to pursue something else,” Kapala said.

For example, one Foothill student who wanted to become a radio DJ realized the job wasn’t right for him after shadowing at a local broadcasting company.

“He came back and said that it had been a waste of time, but I told him that he had had a great job shadow. I said, ‘Two days ago you thought this was your passion and now three to four hours proved that it isn’t,'” she said.

Foothill’s Job Developer Karrie Thompson-Carey agrees.

“The most important thing is that by the time everyone graduates, they know what they want to do and sometimes even more importantly, what they don’t want to do,” she said.

To help students narrow down the many job options, Kapala and Thompson-Carey held Sophomore Career Day during FIRE period Wednesday.

Students had the opportunity to listen to either website designer Vern Green, geneticist Maria D’Addario, scriptwriter Sierra Hall, dentist David Satnick, elementary school teacher Lynn Bova or Federal Bureau of Investigation agent David Freihon.

Kapala and Thompson-Carey hoped that the wide variety of speakers would give students a better idea of what career paths interest them.

Students who didn’t sign up for a speaker were assigned to one, a situation that some students expressed discontent over.

“It seems like we weren’t notified well enough, I was never told to sign up,” Adam Braver said.

Though Thompson-Carey acknowledges that some sophomores may not have been interested in the speaker’s occupation, she still feels that what was presented is valuable.

“I do find that every speaker has a bit of wisdom that can apply to any career, and I hope that everyone picks up on that and at least takes that away,” she said.

Marisa Martinez was one of the students who did know to sign up for a particular speaker, and she got her first choice. 

“My ears immediately perked up when I heard ‘FBI agent’ [on the daily announcements],” she said.

Martinez said that having a father who is a police officer has made her interested in becoming an FBI agent and that she was looking forward to hearing what Freihon had to say about the profession.

Freihon, who drove up from Los Angeles to speak, drew a large crowd into the Media Center.

In his speech, the federal agent gave an overview of the field, explained how to get into it and also why he enjoys it.

“We have talented people all over the place, we have a diversified workforce and we draw people from all different backgrounds,” he said.

Freihon said that the career usually comes with a lot of traveling and that being multilingual helps to get a job with the bureau.

Without hesitation, Freihon said that the people he has met are the best part of being an agent.

“The job will not make you rich, but I’ve met friends all around the world,” Freihon said, “It’s a wonderful network, and I know people I can trust with my life.”

“I love it, I would do it all over again, but it’s not for everyone,” he added.