Where to schmooze your next boss or someone who can lead you to them.

Networking events are great for:

• learning of new job opportunities and sharing some with others
• practicing your elevator pitch and learning from others’
• handing out business cards and receiving others

And more.

Plus, you get these benefits even if the event isn’t industry-related, or even if it’s not technically called a “networking event” at all.

Here are 20 websites that you can use to find local job fairs, networking groups, industry events or any other kind of event that can help your job search.

20 Networking Event Finders

1. Google

You can often find local networking groups and events by simply googling:

• “[where you live] business networking”
• “[where you live] networking events”
• “[where you live] social network”

Or trying the same on another search engine.

In fact, try at least one other search engine such as Bing or Duck Duck Go (the best search engine you’ve never heard of).

2. Lanyrd

Sign in with Twitter and you can see event suggestions based on what your Twitter contacts are planning to attend. You can also subscribe to their email newsletter for event updates, and you can use the Search Lanyrd box to manually look for events.

A cool feature of Lanyrd is the ability to follow “guides” which are curated event lists by topic. You can also create your own guides to stay organized (if you’re a heavy event-goer) or build your personal brand, by creating something valuable for the Lanyrd community.

3. Twitter

Use Twitter Advanced Search. Take advantage of the (albeit not great) “Near this place” filtering by area. You can also try searching by hashtag, since many events now have a dedicated one. Even better, search on the word “event” with a hashtag for the place name e.g. #NewYork or #Jerusalem.

4. LinkedIn

Check out the events that your connections are going to attend via the events section, ordered by date or popularity.

5. Meetup

Once you sign up and tell Meetup where you are, the Find page will suggest Groups or Meetups (events) near you, or you can manually search for events that interest you anywhere else.

6. Facebook

Go to the events page to see if you’ve been invited to an upcoming event. Use the Search box to look for events directly. Ask your friends, or even ask other people by posting a question on the Wall of a relevant Fan page.

7. Upcoming

In the right-hand search box, type in the location where you’re hoping to find events.

In the left-hand search box, type what kind of event (e.g. job fair) you’re looking for, or just leave blank to see what comes up.

8. Yelp

Same as for Upcoming:

In the right-hand search box, type in the location where you’re hoping to find events.

In the left-hand search box, type what kind of event (e.g. job fair) you’re looking for, or just leave blank to see what comes up.

9. Eventbrite

The homepage will suggest local events if it can tell where you are (it thinks I’m in San Francisco but this is probably just by default).

Your best bet, especially if you don’t want to create an account, is to click on the Find Events tab and search there.

10. Eventful

Type [your city] in the Location box and [event] in the next search box. You can use the Advanced Search to refine dates or search on venues, which is handy if you live e.g. near a convention center.

11. ZEvents

All events are listed in the local time. Use the “What,” “When” and “Near” search boxes at the top of the page to look for events in your home area.

12. Craigslist

Choose the location you want to search in the right-hand column and then use the search box located in the left-hand column.

13. Twtvite

Sign in with your Twitter account to search for Events by “location, keyword or hashtag” (many events now have a dedicated hashtag). Click one of the city photos to jump to a list of local events there.

14. Socializr

Sign-up for an account to share events and check out local events from other members.

15. NetParty

Browse local networking parties in different cities across the USA, Canada, Europe and South America.

16. Outside.in

Currently USA-only.

Type in Neighborhood, city or address in the search box and you can see Latest Headlines, Blog Posts and (social media) Updates from that location, which might include event announcements but usually won’t.

17. 4Networking

The Events page lists what’s coming up. Very UK-oriented.

18. Business Scene

Another UK-oriented site, you can search their event listings by region or keyword.

19. Findnetworkingevents

UK-only.

Search events by clicking the Events by Region, Events by Town/City, or Events for Women tab.

20. SimplyNetworking

Click on the Event Types or Future Events tab to see upcoming business networking events around the UK.

What’s your favorite website for looking up local events? Tell us in the comments.

Article courtesy of JobMob. Subscribe to JobMob via RSS or email and follow me on Twitter for more ideas on how to network to your next job.

–Jacob Share

Photo By Tatiana12