Professional associations, also known as industry associations or trade associations, are an invaluable resource for career exploration and professional development. The best way to utilize these groups is to attend meetings to learn new professional skills, to meet other members, to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships, and to make a contribution yourself. The worst way is to show up once and solicit a job from persons you have just met.

Social, political, and sports clubs are just as good for networking as are professional associations.

Choose groups that would be fun for you to join whether you make a career-related contact or not - that way, your investment of time and energy is well-spent no matter what happens.

Two excellent local resources for finding professional associations are:

The Puget Sound Networking Directory

Washington Secretary of State Associations and Organizations List

National resources:

ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership

Internet Public Library - Associations on the Net

For articles on how to network effectively, see:

Networking 101

Career Changes Through Successful Networking: Four Case Studies

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