Where are the people you are looking for? Where do they currently work?
When I started as a recruiter we spent hours creating org charts of our competitors trying to find out who held what positions. We used all sorts of subterfuges from calling and asking to speak with the head of engineering, hoping we could learn his name, to asking new employees to bring a copy of the company phone book so we could look up different people.
The Internet has changed everything. We can easily look people up on LinkedIn or Facebook, search the web, and do so globally as well as locally.
Yet, it is still an art to learn who are the best and which people you would really like to reach out and connect with. The articles below offer tips and techniques to help.