If your town has a college or university, find out if it will host any guest speakers who are in the industry you want to get into. If your town has an art gallery, find out if there will be any visiting artists you can meet. If your town has a bookstore, there may be a visiting author. Seek out ways to build your network and it will grow. One person I know lived in the Chicago area and when the local art gallery hosted some animators from Disney, this person made it a point to go to the gallery and meet the animators. He stayed in touch with them and later interned at Disney.

By writing this monthly column since June 1999, (almost seven years!), and by becoming a career coach, I hope I can save other people some missteps on their career path.

If you have a story to share about getting started or a career or work related question you want to see addressed in this column, please write to me in care of editor@awn.com.

Pamela Kleibrink Thompson is a recruiter, hiring strategist, career coach and speaker. Pamela is available for personal consultations and speaking engagements. If you are interested in her professional services as a career coach, speaker or recruiter, contact her in care of editor@awn.com.