This past week was very exciting, as I began to make cold calls, scheduled my first interview, and attended the business symposium. Both allowed me to begin to talk to professionals, which I feel has already improved my interview skills and comfort level when speaking to professionals. Although I was originally nervous about both, after doing them, I feel much better.

 

I began the week with cold calls. I chose several labs that I was not super attached to, and went into the hallway to call them. Because I was so nervous, I set up sticky notes with what to say on them, but I don’t think I would do this in the future because it may have cause me to sound too scripted. My first call went to voicemail, and I left a message describing the ISM process and my hopes to get an interview, but the Dr. never got back to me. I plan to call the same lab again to see if I can talk to a person. I am interested in that lab because it is the closest to home: UTD. My second call was to Dr. Michael Shiloh, and this was successful. I attained an interview at UT Southwestern on October 11 at 1:00pm. I think I could have been a little less scripted and more laid back, but overall the call went well. I also emailed him a follow up email to find out directions to the lab and verify the meeting. Before the interview, I plan to do some research on the lab and tailor my questions to his research. I will need to do more cold calling next week, but I think I’m off to a good start.

 

The business symposium on Wednesday was a really cool opportunity, because it allowed me to talk to professionals in an environment that was still somewhat familiar. Being surrounded by my friends who were experiencing the same things as I was helped ease some of my nerves. In addition, the professionals were all very friendly. After all, professionals are really just people. The interviews were my favorite part, which was surprising to me, because I thought they would be awkward. I talked to a photographer and gym owner. While neither professions are related to the medical field, it was nice to talk to them about their college and professional experience. I received good advice from both professionals, including being told to get a headshot, figuring out what professionals looked for when hiring students, and how random life events are often beneficial. I also enjoyed the speaker on college applications and Tumbleweed Textiles. I thought both speakers catered to the audience well and said things I hadn’t heard before.

 

The week was very helpful in beginning the process of actually speaking with professionals. Next week, I plan to use the skills I learned at the business symposium to attend my first interview and continue cold calling. I am very excited to see how it goes!