While going to college I never grasped the concept of networking. I always assumed that in order to network, you have to be insincere with people and those people behave the same with you. It was not until my last summer at college when I realized if I needed to get a letter of recommendation for grad school, I would not have any professor vouch for me wholeheartedly. Yes I went to office hours, enjoyed most of my classes and earned decent grades but did not network with the professors. I actually asked an anthropology professor to write me a letter of recommendation and he plainly told me even though I went to many office hours and was earning an A- in his class, he was not willing to write a good letter of recommendation because summer session was very short, he was not able to get to know me. I guess I just asked the wrong guy! I do know now that most professors do not want to be known as the dream crusher for the students future and would write a letter of recommendation otherwise. Although that was a disappointing response I learned to move on.

I have been confronted with the idea of networking again here at my internship at ANCA. The first lecture had been on resume writing and job searching. The speaker emphasized recruiters as the best source to find new jobs and the only way to find a recruiter is to network. The perfect place to find a recruiter if you don’t know one already would be on Linkedin. I have yet to set up an account on Linkedin but it seems like a perfect place if I want to gain momentum for my future. Interning at the ANCA-WR office on Belmont has been another source to network for us interns. It seems as though this office attracts educated and successful Armenian’s from various professions. This has been a great experience so far and a wonderful way to meet intelligent passionate people that love to work for Hai Tahd, most volunteering aside from their regular careers. I think this shows that anyone can do as many things as they want in their lives as long as they are willing to put in the effort and still enjoy life.