Professional groups should be an important part of your networking strategy for finding a job. If you're looking for a professional group in your field (or if you're deciding on a field to pursue), here are some of the more prominent ones in technical fields. The Yahoo directory (listed first) is a good place to find any other professional groups that are not listed here.

• Yahoo Directory of Business and Professional Organizations
  
  
  
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  
  
  
• Society of Manufacturing Engineers
  
  
  
• American Society of Civil Engineers
  
  
  
• American Medical Association
  
  
  
• Society for Information Management
  
  
  
• American Nuclear Society
  
  
  
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
  
  
  
• American Psychological Association
  

Professional Organizations for Writing Careers

• Society for Technical Communication
  
  
  
• National Writers Union
  
  
  
• Editorial Freelance Association
  
  
  
• National Association of Science Writers
  
  
  
• Council of Science Editors
  
  
  
• International Webmaster's Association
  
  
  
• International Association of Business Communicators
  
  
  
• American Medical Writers Association