Josh ’26 recognizes the importance of networking while working in the MA Statehouse
Overall, I fully enjoyed my education experience of working in the MA statehouse. I made memories from that time that I will continue to cherish throughout my time working in what will hopefully be a very similar career to the people that I was working with.
If I were to choose one main takeaway from my time during this internship, it would be that networking skills are paramount. Beyond anything else, employers, partners, etc. prioritize the ability to speak and communicate well with others when choosing who they would like to work with. In politics, if one has a great ability to speak, or is gifted at writing, the only way that skill will help them is if they have people to either listen to what they are saying or read what they are writing.
As my time in this position comes to an end, I think about how what I learned can be implicated onto the larger political scale that we are seeing with our country right now. In my opinion Tim Walz’s campaign in specific strikes me as the perfect example, demonstrating what I have learned in action. Though a good speaker and writer, the reason people listen to him is due to his networking ability, in his home state of MN, he is known for being an approachable person– it is this skill that helps not only him, but all people in the same line of work.
