11 secrets of effective networking

8. Go to your alumni reunions: high school, college, camp, it matters not. Just go. You have a natural connection with these groups.

9. Go to places where other professionals who are not necessarily in your industry congregate. Art shows, adventure tours, adult education classes, the bookstore, lecture series, book readings, and the like. Read the weekend section of your local paper to find out what's happening where, and go. Flo, go.

10. Join industry groups and other professional organizations and participate in them as much as possible. Do not put off doing this for even one more week. If you don't know which to join, that's a perfect question to ask an exec to begin a mentor relationship. And no, sending in $25 for the PBS fund-raiser and getting a tote bag is not what we're talking about here. Try something more like the Association for Women in Communication (womcom.org). Go on your industry website and see what associations look good to you. You can sign up online for most organizations, and the membership dues are tax-deductible. The relationships you build in a professional organization will outlast just about any job. When you join, recognize the commitment you are making -- everyone else will. We learned the hard way that giving organizations you join a priority in your monthly schedule is Ka-Roo-Shill.

11. Build your base of Chums through a variety of social events that expose you to new people and new interests. Join a book group (or start one) or form a dinner group, and each month have one person in the group bring a new person as a guest. Tap into the local college. Talk to everyone.

Are you getting the idea here? Get out of your office, get out of your house, get out of your rut, and get looking for a job -- everywhere and anywhere. And no matter where you find yourself, be it the Laundromat or a lecture, make it a point to connect in some way with the people you find there. You just don't know if that person sitting next to you at jury duty could be the connecting thread to your future unless you strike up a little Chat. (OK, here's our dirty little secret. We call it Always Looking for a Job, but normal people call it Having an Interesting Life. Sssshhh.)

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Excerpted from The Big Sister's Guide to the World of Work: The Inside Rules Every Working Girl Must Know by Marcelle DiFalco and Jocelyn Greenky Herz. Copyright 2005 by Marcelle DiFalco and Jocelyn Greenky Herz. Excerpted with permission from Fireside Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.