This week, I had the chance to present all the research and work I have done up until now at the ISM Business Symposium. Of course the biggest aspect of this symposium was networking and finding people that I could reach out to. While I was not able to find anyone directly related to my field of research, I did get to practice my interviewing and communication skills in a professional environment which will benefit me greatly when I do start reaching out to possible mentors.
The interviewing and networking was only a small aspect of the symposium. We also spent a lot of the day meeting with ISM 2 students and ISM alumni, learning about their experience in the program. From these panels with previous ISM students, I got to learn a lot about what I can expect during my time in this program. Particularly the aspect of reaching out to mentors. I learned that I would need to expand my original scope when looking for professionals to reach out to. It does not necessarily need to be someone working directly as a psychological researcher, it can be a psychology professor, someone in a psychology related field like human resources, they can even be from out of state. This was reassuring to learn as I was worried about if I could find enough professionals to reach out to in this field.
Another aspect of the symposium was being able to meet other ISM students from different schools. It was great being able to reach out to others and hear about their topics and ideas. It was especially interesting when a student was studying a field I had not heard of before because it gave me the chance to learn something new.
Overall, the business symposium was a great experience. After thinking about everything I did at the symposium and identifying areas I will need to work on, I know I will be prepared as I start sending cold calls and emails to potential mentors.
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