If you were to take inventory of the professionals in your field that you admire most, would you feel too intimidated to reach out to them? Kelly Corrigan — EXPLO parent, Writer-in-Residence, and New York Times best-selling author — says it's time you feel otherwise.
Whether you are inviting an inspiring entrepreneur to speak at an event, asking a CEO how to launch the career of your dreams, or connecting with a reputable industry professional over coffee, it can be incredibly intimidating to send that initial email. However, Corrigan believes that the moment you do, you are immediately setting a bar for yourself on what's conceivable.
By remembering that we all had to start somewhere in our professional field — and that we are universally all at different stages in the career cycle — we can minimize the fear of “networking up” with professionals we admire. Corrigan encourages us to reach out to those we can learn from and to remember that in terms of accessing professionals, nobody is out of anyone's “league”.
Just by knowing one person who is a published author, a student might think [that] maybe their odds are better than they thought they were — or maybe it is more viable than they would have thought. I myself had never met a published author until I was in my 30s, and I just think it would have changed my sense of what was possible…
At EXPLO, we encourage the pursuit of lifelong learning — which means we are constantly doing our own studying up, reading on, or relearning the concepts that we teach throughout the summer. Here are some really interesting (and some just fun) links that we've been recently reading on gaining access to professionals.
Networking is like espionage: it's just as productive to make contact with the embassy cleaning staff as with the economic attaché
When reaching out to someone for professional guidance, here's how to write an email that seals the deal
If you are interested in reading one of Corrigan's top-selling books, we suggest "Tell Me More", a memoir about the 12 most powerful phrases we use to sustain any relationship
At EXPLO, liberal arts takes many forms, exercises, and events. Just a few EXPLO experiences that encourage students to choose undecided include:
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