Business Symposium

This week in ISM, we were preparing one another for Business Symposium through mock interviews and networking practice. I was both nervous and excited for Symposium, because I would finally get an opportunity to implement all that I had learned so far and interact with lots of other ISM students from different schools. During class, I researched current events within the field of biomedical engineering and practiced answering some tougher questions that I might be asked. Finally at the end of the week, it was the day of Business Symposium, and I felt ready to put my knowledge and progress within ISM to the test. As I talked to other kids and professionals during the networking session in the morning, I started to realize just how much I had learned already about my field of study. After the initial networking, we had our break-out sessions, and my group was scheduled to hear from the guest speaker, Jennifer M. Scott, about the importance of keywords first. I learned that keywords should be used mainly in the top 20% of a resume, like in a headline or summary, in order to set me apart from others and optimize the chances of a prospective employer hiring me. Next, we had two ISM alumni speakers come and talk to us about their overall experiences within the program, and finally we had three interviews with professionals. All three of my interviews went really well, and I felt confident and prepared for such a setting. I was given lots of advice about improving my resume and making the most of my college education by finding internships at engineering companies, and Business Symposium as a whole was definitely an eye-opening and invaluable experience. This upcoming week, I'm going on two more research interviews, and I will create a topic proposal highlighting my interest in biomedical engineering.