Luck is Preparedness Met Opportunity
Like many others during the beginning of the fall semester, my nights were spent looking for my next big opportunity for the summer. “The summer before your senior year is the most important!” They tell you. But I was ready and I was eager. After all, I didn’t transfer into Babson to be mediocre. My internship search consisted of (but was not limited to) the handshake portal, LinkedIn jobs search, and visits to the Center of Career Development. But I had also developed a healthy habit of attending off campus conferences to network and learn from real professionals about their line of work.
The most impactful conference that I attended in fall 2018 was the Forbes 30 under 30 summit for two reasons:
1. It was where I met the CEO of my current internship, Rebecca Liebman.
2. It was the moment where my two years of career development preparation finally paid off.
I attended the conference with the intent of meeting and developing a mutually beneficial relationship with other talented people working on amazing projects. I was also scoping for potential candidates to interview for the book that I am currently writing. But by chance, I had seen Rebecca at the conference who I had recognized from an article written several months ago by our alma mater, Clark University. A couple seconds of hesitation go by as I was shocked to see someone who I had read about and have so much in common with, in person. But nevertheless, I went for it and approached her to start a conversation. I told her about where I read about her from and the book that I was working on publishing. It was then that she suggested that I reach out to her for an internship position if I were ever interested. After successfully following up and interviewing, I was offered an internship for summer 2019.
My biggest takeaway from this experience is opportunities are everywhere. Beyond traditional mediums such as Handshake, Angelist, LinkedIn, behind those screens are recruiters. And recruiters are real active people that exist outside of their computer screens that reciprocate to the value that you communicate on and off the job. Learning is one thing, but applying it is another. Luck doesn’t happen by accident, it happens when you act on your preparation!