Free. Tacos. Motivation to do anything? I think so. Every Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., The Front Page - a bar conveniently located directly across from the DuPont Circle metro - has free tacos and $2 Corona happy hour specials. If you offer me a free taco, I'm pretty much in. If you offer me a free taco and the opportunity to network with the countless people that show up at The Front Page on Thursday evenings, I'm in with no second thoughts. The Front Page crowd is pretty young, in their 20s typically. Some are interns, some students, some have full-time jobs. Any way you look at it, they all have experiences to share. But happy hour isn't ALL about free tacos, those just help. I've also partaken in happy hour festivities at other bars with no free food and had just as great of an experience.

It's different…

The culture here about networking is a little different than back home in New Jersey, but I'm totally not complaining. See, back in Jersey they teach you about professionalism, and that doesn't usually include drinking to make connections. It's almost a taboo subject to consider drinking with a current or future boss or someone that would hire you. However, here in D.C. people are all about networking and talking careers over a beer. I LOVE IT. My personal opinion is, why not?! You can maintain a professional demeanor the same over one beer as you can over a cup of coffee, and we have coffee meetings all the time back in Jersey.

And there are rules…

My three roommates all have the same program advisor here at TWC. He advised them that happy hour is a good thing if you do it right. Here are the rules:

1. Go for one, MAYBE two - IF you can handle it - beers, and nurse that beer for the whole of happy hour.

2. Bring business cards and give them out!

3. Be sure to converse with people outside of your circle of friends that you go with. After all, you've already made connections with your friends, so what's the point of networking with them?

4. Don't be afraid to gloat about the things you do at your internship or what you've accomplished back home. The more people are impressed with what you say, the more likely they'll ask for your card and remember you for the future.

But I think I like it…

I don't know about you, but I like the sounds of all of that. I'm a social person by nature and I love meeting new people. So, naturally, I love happy hour. The last time I went to The Front Page, I wound up conversing with a recent grad who now works for an environmental lobbying NGO where he does a lot of work with promotion, social media, and marketing for the group. I do very similar work at Genocide Watch, my internship location, so it was so interesting to talk to someone who does that as a profession. He was able to give me advice about how to market myself based on the experience I had. And, I was able to give him my business card! That my friends, is building up my network.

But The Front Page isn't the only place to go. A couple of Fridays ago I broke my own happy hour networking rules and met up at Mad Hatter with my roommate and a guy I know from high school back in Jersey. I hadn't seen him or even talked to him much in 4 years and knew he was living in D.C., so I figured it was a good opportunity to meet up and catch up. I'm really glad I did! Turns out, he graduated from American University in only 3 years and is now working full time at his old internship site. He was able to give a lot of great advice about getting a job, how to transition from an internship and college life to a full-time job, getting around the D.C. area, and more. It was great to catch up with him.

Seeing as I've had only positive experiences with my happy hour excursions, I think I'll continue to partake in the previously unconventional activity. Care to join me? Here, let me give you my business card!