But what if my parents can't help me network?

Looking at Dan's post ("A networking experience, or two, or three..."), I'm amazed. Wow for him having contacts and using them to the fullest! But what about those of us whose parents aren't in industries where we want to be?

My parents are a real estate broker and a school-teacher. I didn't really see myself in those areas. My sophomore year, I wanted to work for a non-profit somehow related to Japan, and I was a little confused as to how to begin.

I had a meeting with one of my Japanese professors regarding something else entirely, and ended up mentioning my internship search in an off-handed way. My professor put me in touch with the Japan-America Society of St. Louis. Since I'm from Chicago, that wasn't going to work out even if they did have internships available (unpaid internship in a city where I have to pay for housing, food and transportation? Nightmare. That was before the Career Center offered stipends for unpaid internships). I called them up anyway, and mentioned that I was looking for an internship and was from Chicago, and the people at the Japan-America Society in St. Louis gave me the contacts of their Chicagoan chapter counterparts on the spot. Luckily, the Chicago chapter was looking for interns, and voila! my internship materialized. It was a beautiful feeling.

So your parents don't have to be well-connected (although it's really nice when they are!). There are other avenues: professors; family of friends; Career Advisors; people you work with at your part-time jobs (I got myself a contact in publishing in Boston by talking to the secretary at my work-study job; her college roommate had started her own publishing company and was looking for interns).

Sometimes if you just talk to people and tell them what you're interested in, even if you don't think they'll have contacts, they'll come up with the best ideas or people to talk to. And almost everybody is willing to help, because almost everybody has been in your shoes, and they wish that someone would have helped them out while they were looking. So don't feel bad talking about it! It's just a conversation.

Katie