After the business symposium last week, I learned how I can start contacting mentors. I have widened my scope from initially just looking for research psychologists to people related to the psychology field and have an emphasis on experimentation or are specialized in the area of motivation.
The first place I began my search was through LinkedIn. I am still trying to familiarize myself with how to use LinkedIn, so I did not know what to expect by using it as a search tool. I was surprised to see just how many people the site was able to find me. The ability to specify the location was also incredibly helpful as I could focus on just the professionals in my area. From just the first day of searching, I found many good contacts from LinkedIn alone.
However, the difficulty is not in finding professionals as much as it is actually reaching out to them for interviews. Before I began to contact people, I thought it would be useful to have scripts ready for LinkedIn invites, emails, and cold calls, so regardless of how I need to contact a professional I am prepared. Of course, I plan to personalize each interaction, but it was helpful to have some guide for each time I reach out to someone.
The following week, I will work to expand my current contact list to at least ten people, then I will begin making contact and trying to schedule interviews.
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