Michael Sheinblum ⋅ New York , NY ⋅ 10 years experience

Hello Craig,

First, thank you for your service!

In my experience, officially joining professional organizations were not very helpful in finding job opportunities. That said, joining websites and receiving newsletters can be helpful, depending on the industry. For example, in my former industry (market research) Quirks.com publishes job opportunities.

I found groups in my industry on Linkedin to be EXTREMELY helpful. I'm in a number of market research and quantitative research groups and have participated in many discussions in those groups. My posts brought attention to my Linkedin profile and some people from the group viewed my profile (make sure to post thoughtful, correct and spell/grammar checked posts...posts can backfire and leave a negative impression on the group as well).. Furthermore, recruiters sometimes seek out the members from those groups because they know that they are more likely to be actively engaged/interested in the industry and because it is an easy way for recruiters to contact people in their target industry.

Good luck!

Craig Petronella ⋅ Clarksville , TN U.S. Army, Master Sergeant ⋅ 19 years served

Morgan,

Thank you for your input. Sounds like an opportunity to meet people with similar interest. Now I just need to decide which ones I am interested in.

Morgan Lerette ⋅ Glendale , AZ AAA ⋅ 6 years experience

Hello Craig,

I'm sure you'll love this answer: It depends! Never satisfying.

A professional organization can help you build your network which can lead to someone reaching out to a recruiter within their company for you. However, the job leads are only as good as the organization in which you belong.

I'd encourage you to join an organization for which you have a passion. This ensures when you join, you can connect to people. Then, try to figure out how you can help the organizaion...not how it can help you. Maybe help plan an event or join a committee. It can be a bit of a time suck but people are apt to help those who help them. Plus, it allows you to meet the organizational leadership who are likely well connected and passionate about the goals of the org.

Hope that helped a little.

MCL