The Daunting Task of Cold Calling

Picking up the phone and calling a professional in the career field that you aspire to be in is a daunting task due to barrier in knowledge and professionalism.

Weekly Report 09/25/2017 to 10/01/2017

As we near the Business Symposium, this week was spent solidifying the final drafts of the resumes and furthering research on the topics of interest. The week began with peer-reviewing our resumes in which each person received feedback on the resume rough drafts. The primary feedback received was to keep the format consistent by lining up all the text and declutter the interior of the resume in order to make the visual appearance less overwhelming for the reader. One of the important lessons learned during the reviewal of the resumes was to keep the resume organized and to only include pertinent information that will draw a professional’s attention.

However, with good things there are always obstacles and this week it was the daunting task of cold calling. Physically picking up the phone and making an attempt to call someone who has been in a profession, that I aspire to be in, for years upon years was essentially intimidating due to the large knowledge barrier between a certified professional and a high school student. One of the largest obstacles is rejection and for most doctors offices, the phone calls are redirected to office staff whose job is to essentially block off anyone that is not a patient. Although it is difficult to remain persistent, it is yet another learning opportunity to be able to pick up the phone and talk to someone with a certain demeanor in order to convince the other person to at least listen to what you have to say. Again, practice makes perfect so the direction in which I am approaching cold calling is to to not call the neurosurgeons that I want to be my mentor for the first few calls in order to obtain some practice in calling people before I approach potential mentors.

In addition, this week was also spent researching on the topic of post-craniotomy pain and the negligence of post-operative pains. The facts presented were quite astonishing as to how many surgeries follow up with post-operative pains due to the surgeries being invasive. The onset of various side effects even after surgery makes it the responsibility of future medical students to ensure that procedures are taken care of. For me, it implies that neurosurgery will take years and years of commitment to the field in order to understand and apply all the attributes of the field.

Overall, the process of learning and preparing for future interviews and mentor visits has officially begun. These following weeks will be spent obtaining interviews and officially begin the process of finding a mentor for the remaining ISM journey. Throughout the course of the journey, one of the biggest lessons that will be learned is to stay persistent regardless of the rejections and delay in obtaining a mentor. However, in order to do so it will take practice and consistent effort throughout.