I'm reading answers on this thread and having a strange feeling of some disconnect between the question - or rather a possible interpretation of the question -

I'm reading answers on this thread and having a strange feeling of some disconnect between the question - or rather a possible interpretation of the question - and answers. Maybe it's just a feeling that answers make some assumptions which could be substantially wrong? For example, if the question author is a yesterday graduate, he may use the internship route. But then he may not know "the old route" - and mentioning "going past the gate keeper" without elaborating may leave a puzzled look. At least before some figuring out (a.k.a. googling) what's that. Or if the author had a career in another industry, then the idea of internship may look odd, but LinkedIn contacts could be more promising venue. Unless, that is, the industry doesn't use LinkedIn that much. Or if the author is from outside of America. Then advice like "join an association and attend meetings" could be harder to follow. Regarding advice "networking is also a possible venue" - for some this could sound both as too long/boring and to vague of advice. Advice "hire a professional" requires finding one, paying him - which may be problematic for some - and those also look like taking time longer than one weekend or even one month. I don't know, may be some recommendations will be spot on and successfully used. May be the question need to be phrased more specifically.