Okay, so it wasn’t exactly LinkedIn that made it happen – but the title has gotten your attention hasn’t it? Let me explain.
I began building my LinkedIn profile in September of 2018 just for the purpose of building my digital resume at the start of my college journey. Unsure of how the platform worked, I found a few of my friends’ profiles and began to connect with them.
At the time, I was working a job as an electrical engineering co-op at an automotive supplier company. As my network grew, so did the hierarchy of my relationships with the people I knew. I went from connecting with a fellow intern to our mutual supervisor to the manager of our units until I finally came across the multibillionaire CEO of the company.
It would be totally weird to connect with him, right? I mean, I’m just an unnoticeable 18-year-old working among 250,000 employees. Maybe I’ll just send a message introducing who I am. I doubt he’ll ever see it.
Well, I did end up sending that message and invitation to connect. And a week later as I was grabbing an apple from the cafeteria, Mr. Andersson happened to be there and approached me.
“Krupa, right? I just saw your message – you’ve got quite an impressive resume. I love getting to know the people I work with. Maybe we can schedule a lunch meeting later this week.”
Uh okay, so did that really just happen? Well to answer that question, I highly recommend Ichiban Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi Bar for lunch if you ever get the chance.
And so, it began. I started reaching out on LinkedIn to people I had never met before, but wanted to know more about. While I’m sure it was bold and surprising to receive a message from a stranger, I found that a lot of my connects were pleased by my forwardness.
Hoping to find a medical-related internship or shadowing opportunity, I built my profile seeking just that. I found that people I reached out to genuinely enjoyed sharing their experiences to help me in any way they could towards my academic and career goals.
Fast forward to December 2018 when I had grown my network to include local physicians in hospitals I had shadowed in the past. A mutual connection popped up quite frequently: a neurosurgeon in New York.
Curious about his medical journey and his practice, I connected with him one morning. I got a response almost immediately.
He told me there was a Neurosurgical Medical Assistant position available for the summer if I was interested. A week later, we were able to schedule a phone meeting and talk more about the position and I was immediately drawn to the offer.
The doctor told me that he admired my curiosity and drive to network with professionals in my field of interest in order to pursue opportunities. He took a chance on me because I took a chance on reaching out.
Now keep in mind, not every conversation on LinkedIn has gone this way for me. Receiving rejections or disinterest is all too familiar – not every connect will come with an open offer, but there is something to learn every time.
I flew up to New York in April to meet the surgeon and familiarize myself with the area I’d be living in for the summer. I was even introduced to another LinkedIn connect, a girl that would be working as a Medical Assistant with me that summer. We hit it off immediately, and she offered to let me stay with her for free the entire time I was there. Seriously Krupa, could you get any luckier?
There are not enough words to describe my time in New York, the summer of 2019. Not only was I able to shadow over 50 brain and spinal cases, I oversaw the practice’s business aspect. I utilized my networking skills to reach out to professional LinkedIn members in the medical field; through this, I was able to attain referrals and patient testimonials for the private practice.
I interacted with the patients and with the support of the surgeon, I built a patient satisfaction survey to continuously update the practice’s online ratings. My work in New York led to an exciting offer to come back at any time. I was even introduced to two orthopedic surgeons, who I would grow to call my supportive mentors.
I was also able to discover a part of myself that summer. The girl I was staying with introduced me to the beauty of the city and we made enough adventurous memories to last a lifetime. Climbing the Catskill Mountain, visiting the historical West Pointe, going cliff jumping upstate, and eating way too much ice-cream are just a few of the things I’ll never forget.
My time in New York was magical, informative, and as cliché as it sounds: life-changing. I truly feel like I was able to give back to this internship as much as it gave to me – I found my passion for entrepreneurship and healthcare in private practice. I experienced self-growth and discovery while falling in love with spine surgery.
This story may seem unreal to some of you. You might be asking yourselves if this was just pure good luck. And truth be told, maybe some of it was. If I hadn’t found the surgeon on LinkedIn when I did, maybe someone else would have gotten this opportunity. If I hadn’t met him, I would haven’t met the girl I stayed with that summer, someone that continues to be my best friend to this day.
What I can tell you though is that these opportunities only came because I didn’t shy away from a simple hi or hello to a stranger. Life as a student can be complicated, overwhelming, and stressful. However, it comes with a plethora of opportunities and experiences that can open themselves up if you know how to ask for them.