-: Being able to reach out
and just say I admire what you do is great,
but put some depth to that.
So, do your homework, essentially,
on what that person's working on
and identify, sort of, what it is about them
that you are inspired by.
I think it's helpful if you have, sort of,
the problem that you're trying to solve.
Whether it be I'm interested in this field
but I'm not sure how to get there.
Or, you know, I wanna make this transition
in my career, or I wanna start working a little bit more
on doing independent research,
or whatever the case may be.
If you have that, sort of, problem that you want to solve
and you've identified that person
as someone who you think can help you,
and the reasons why that you think they can help you,
I think that's helpful that, you know,
you've thought that through before you've approached them.
You know, I can't speak for many other fields
but Genetic Counselors, by and large,
I think are very open to sharing their experience.
We share just, kind of, by nature.
A lot of professions have that as part
of their professional activities,
where you, you know, you do gain some recognition
for maintaining those relationships.
It's sort of expected of you if you're
in a faculty track position, in some places.
In academia and in research organizations,
that there is that component of mentorship,
because it goes both ways.
You learn from your students, they learn from you.
So, it's a way of giving back
once you've gotten a little bit further out.