 Professional networks are often mentioned as really important for academic career advancement. And international studies suggest that women in knowledge-intensive organizations such as academia often have weaker networks than their male colleagues, leaving them in a disadvantaged position. In our project we examine the perceptions of and experiences with networking among young scholars at Ohu University through a series of in-depth interviews with male and female PhDs, postdocs and assistant professors. Our studies suggest that shows that young scholars believe that networks are really important for their academic career advancement, but they also find it really difficult to become part of networks, and in particular women and international employees have difficulties of becoming part of already established networks and need the support of tenured staff. So our results suggest that gender equality initiatives and diversity initiatives should not only pay attention to the hiring process but also through the process leading up to the hiring procedure.