How to Prepare to Make Connections

After collecting phone numbers and emails for 30 civil engineers in the area, the next logical step is to contact them for a brief conversation. Now, obviously, as a high school student who mainly only talks on the phone with friends and family, I wasn’t prepared to make professional business calls. On the other hand, I’ve always thought of my email communication skills to be relatively professional, as I’m very familiar with writing professional emails to teachers and other school administration - I wasn’t too worried about communicating over email. I drafted a brief email to be sent to these professionals, and quickly got it approved. My phone skills, however, needed, and still need, work.

I started by setting up my voicemail, which I had never done before. That took an embarrassing amount of research to figure out. Once I was happy with my voicemail greeting, I worked on my voicemail message. I think it’s important for a voicemail message, and any phone conversation, to remain lighthearted and have clear inflection - it’s hard to show emotion over the phone, so I worked on making sure my voice was cheerful and not monotonous. I wanted to ensure that I didn’t sound like any high schooler, but also that I didn’t sound like I was reading off of a script (even though I was). I think I’ve managed to make myself sound conversational, yet professional in my voicemail messages.

I also worked on the script I would use if I was answered by a receptionist. This one is tricky to perfect, as I’m not entirely sure what a receptionist would say to my requests. This is something I’ll have to figure out on the spot, but I worked out some talking points. I know now how to explain who I am, what I’m doing, and what I’m asking. I’m a bit nervous to put this into action, though, so I’ll definitely have to practice some more.

For next week, I’d like to start by sending emails, and getting on those phone calls when I gain more confidence. I’m hoping to contact all the professionals on my contact list by the end of the week, and hopefully I can schedule several interviews. I guess that’s one more thing I’ll have to practice, once I’ve scheduled my interviews.