Megan Mann/SCVNEWS.com

West Ranch High School physics students went behind the scenes at Advanced Bionics in Valencia Thursday to explore careers in engineering.

The job shadow experience was organized by Hart School District administrators to increase awareness about possible careers to help student prepare for college.

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“To actually get to talk to real engineers and hear about what they do during the day and see what they work with – it makes a big difference for the students,’ said Pam Malowe, Hart District Career Development Coordinator.

The high school juniors and seniors, six in total, got a chance to tour the Advanced Bionics facility, meet with engineers and see how a cochlear implant is surgically placed into the inner ear.

West Ranch junior Jessica Ancajas said her favorite part of the job shadow experience was seeing the profession microscopes up-close.

“I thought that I’d be more interested in something like electrical engineering, but now I realize that I want to be in a job where I can actually see the product and not just plugging in numbers into a computer,” Anacajas said. “I really like how everyone here can see what they’re producing.”

Rob Hall, Advanced Bionics Human Resources Director, told students that the most important thing they can do in preparing for their careers is to get experience by talking to people who work in the fields that interest them. Once you know what you want to do in your career, he said, the easier it will be to prepare your education goals and skill sets.

Hall said the qualities he looks for in job candidates include great written and oral communication skills, a professional appearance and most importantly, passion in the career and the company.

“Today there is so much information and it’s scary the number of people that come here and don’t know what Advanced Bionics is, who we are or what we do,” said Hall. “I say to myself, how does that happen today? A lot of people loose opportunity today because of that.”

Advanced Bionics is a Valencia-based cochlear implant manufacturer.

“We allow the deaf to hear,” said Hall.