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Networking
Made Easy
From Nowy Dziennik
August 31 September 2
By Marcin Szczepanski
About 60 young Polish businessmen, computer specialists, bankers,
brokers, engineers, graphic designers and students from New York
and New Jersey gathered on Thursday evening at Telephone Bar in
East Village to help each other in advancing their careers.
All the people who showed up at the bar are members of Central
European Business Association (CEBA), an organization that unites
ambitious Polish graduates of both American and Polish universities.
The main goal of the organization is to promote young professionals
living in the United States and establish relations between Polish
and American companies.
People like Ewa Lisik, who works at the BMW branch in New York
came to the bar on Thursday to meet other accomplished Poles. Marek
Drywa, a recent college graduate who just moved to New York from
Michigan, showed up hoping to make some contacts and get information
on how he could find an internship or a job.
The members of CEBA meet every last Thursday of the month and hold
"networking events," where more experienced Poles share
their knowledge and offer advice to those who want to advance their
careers.
Next weekend CEBA is sponsoring a canoe trip over the Delaware
River and some outdoor activities. "We do what Deutsche Bank
does," says Kasia Mlekodaj, vice-president of CEBA. "We
want to create a group of people who would join their efforts in
developing this organization."
CEBA is also planning a meeting with some American specialists
in the fall.
About 300 people belong to CEBA. Most of them are employed at such
companies as Chase Manhattan, Pricewarter Coopers, Deutsche Bank,
Johnson&Johnson, Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street Journal and
IBM. In the last two months about 30 new people became members of
the Association.
Kamila Kopij, an architect, came to the meeting not to seek advice,
but to socialize.
Her secretary, she says, talks only about shopping and restaurants.
Here Kopij can "talk to people about her home town Krakow and
things other than her career."
Translated From Polish by Joanna Sufin
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