Jerry Adams ⋅ Reston , VA U.S. Navy, Lieutenant ⋅ 13 years served

Try Groups on Linkedin.com. Linkedin has been the source of 2 of my 4 interviews.

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco , CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

A few complementary resources you can and should also eventually utilize include:

* The Veteran Mentor Network on LInkedIn (15,000 members)
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Veteran-Mentor-Network-4466143

* your college's career planning resources, alumni network, local alumni clubs and other resources.

* ACP-AdvisorNet . https://acp-advisornet.org/

* the MC4 group on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups/MilitaryCivilian-Career-Coaching-Connection-MC4-3722272/about

* And also request an assigned one-on-one mentor from ACP. The more you can tell ACP about your goals, the more relevant a mentor ACP can provide.
http://acp-usa.org/Mentoring_Program

These are all great resources for Veterans, all working to help Veterans achieve our goals.

### Also see " Force-Multipliers: Which professional organizations, trade groups and/or certifications align with your career goals?
http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=4466143&type=member&item=5799688601138638849&qid=6f7d8ea7-3ace-4086-b554-3900134dec8f&goback=%2Egmr_4466143

" Professional organizations, trade groups and/or civilian recognized certifications can all serve as "force-multipliers" in regards to career-development, networking and job-search.

Most of these organization have local chapters that hold meetings, and are a constructive way to network, which I define as "to proactively start meaningful and ongoing mutually beneficial relationships with interesting and potentially helpful people". (AKA "network").

Conduct research. Which organization(s) and/or certifications align with your career-goals? Let us know what you find

Examples:
Project Management: Project Management Institute (PMI), pmi.org
Information Systems Security: International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC2), isc2.org
Human Resources: Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), shrm.org
Supply Chain and Operations Management: APICS, apics.org
Information Technology: CompTIA, comptia.org
Construction: Helmets to Hardhats, helmetstohardhats.org
Strategy and Competitive Intelligence: Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), scip.org

Bonus career-neutral organization - Toastmasters:
Public Speaking and Networking: Toastmasters, Toasmasters.org
" Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of meeting locations."" ....

Josh Margolis ⋅ Columbus , OH CRM Insights LLC ⋅ 40 years experience

Jamell,

Columbus Business First is a weekly business newspaper (www.bizjournals.com/columbus/) which sponsors free networking breakfasts, sends out daily newsletters, and has a LinkedIn group. The next breakfast is April 12, 7:00 - 9:00 AM, at the NorthPointe Hotel and Conference Center, 100 Green Meadows Dr. S., Lewis Center. You can register online at (URL no longer active). At the last breakfast about 100-150 people turned out. (I collected 19 business cards and gave out 20.) Their website has a Jobs tab with company listings.

Andrew Karp ⋅ Sonoma , CA Sierra Data Science ⋅ 20 years experience

Jerry and Susan have already given you two good ideas. Let me suggest a third and a fourth: 3) get involved with your church, if you belong to one. Service on a committee, team, etc. will introduce you to others with whom you have a lot in common, and a recommendation/reference from a Pastor or other clergy member counts for a lot 4) Look for service organizations (e.g., Rotary Club, Lions, etc) in your community and get involved with them. I am personally not a big fan of "job networking": groups but your mileage, as the saying goes, may vary.

Susan Barry ⋅ Allen , TX Hewlett Packard ⋅ 12 years experience

I am a member of Toastmasters, and they are not only good for networking, but they also specialize in helping members develop their public speaking and leadership skills.

Dayron Alvarez ⋅ Passaic , NJ U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Third Class ⋅ 4 years served

You should also take a look at ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting). They have networking events very often and they have a huge conference every year in a different city. They have over 20000 members nationwide and I think you can benefit from them.

Ghislain Nfonga ⋅ Fairfax , VA U.S. Army, Specialist ⋅ 4 years served

Opportunities can be created at anytime, from any circumstances. Talking about more networking, ACP provides you with networking stepping stones through its advisors. Put this 'opportunity' to work.

Anthony Gibson ⋅ Rochester , MN IBM ⋅ 1 years experience

One thing that I did to help me network after college was found college's and universities in the area. Then I would look on their website and find when they were having a career day of sorts. Depending on the school they will have local and national representatives from all sorts of different companies. ****Note: Sometimes the school will charge an entry fee if your not a student****

Tara Pangakis ⋅ Andover , MA Hewlett Packard ⋅ 30 years experience

I'd also recommending joining a professional organization you're interested in, such as the Project Management Institute, at http://www.pmi.org, if you're planning on pursuing a career in project management.

Jamell Culbreath ⋅ Columbus , OH U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 5 years served

Jerry, Susan and Andrew,

I would like to thank all of you for your input. I do have a linkedin profile, where I am a member of several groups. I am constantly checking and reaching out to individuals, building my network. I am also involved at my church. I will continue to take your input and advice. I really appreciate all your recommendations.