Young
professionals meet friends of like mind via network
Press of
By COURTNEY MCCANN
Ah, the joy of having your first full-time job. Your rent gets paid. Your
mother finally takes you seriously. And your long hours continue to pay off
with promotions and raises.
But while your career is on the fast track, your social life is left in the
parking lot.
Laura Occhipinti, 29, of North Plainfield, felt that way two years ago when she
moved from Bergen to Somerset County to start a new job as a social worker.
"I was living all by myself, and I was starting a new job,"
Occhipinti said. "I didn't have any friends."
It prompted her to form the New Jersey Young Professionals (NJYP), a group that
provides social and networking opportunities for the state's career-driven
twenty and thirty-somethings.
Now in its third year, the group has 5,500 members. Professionals can be
single, married or in a relationship and there are no dues. A weekly newsletter
and the group's Web site at www.njyp.org keeps members updated on social
events.
"We do everything from dinners and pizza parties to happy hours,"
Occhipinti said. "We also do singles events at least once a weekend
because such a large majority of the group is single."
Die-hard workaholics can get a little social interaction and further their
careers by attending NJYP's networking dinners.