Keeping up with the Jonses'

I often hear from students who want to get into a particular industry, however don't know anything about that industry. This can clearly make networking within that area somewhat difficult!

Fortunately the extensive access of information that we have at our disposal can come in extremely handy at this point. Consider reading industry-related blogs and articles to gain a better understanding of what is going on in a particular business segment. Just a few examples include:

• Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association
• Word of Mouth Marketing Association
• Computing Technology Industry Association

It's pretty easy to find the industry organization that you might be interested in. Start off with some basic Googling. Search for things like 'Sports Marketing Industry Association', or some such variant.

Another very cool tool is Google Alerts, which allows you to tell Google to email you when it discovers a new link that is relevant to the terms that you give it. This can be an excellent way to stay on top of new happenings in cost accounting, financial planning, retail marketing, or any other industry!