We keep hearing that the best way to find an executive job is through networking. But not everyone knows how to network effectively or has good contacts to mine.

This may explain the allure of structured-networking groups -- organizations that schedule meetings and other opportunities for members to connect and share job leads with the help of facilitators.

This format is especially good for shy executives or those who have difficulty with seeking referrals and leads through others. "You can be very good at your job but not know how to job search," explains Richard Bayer, chief operating officer of New York-based Five O'Clock Club, a group offering structured-networking meetings.

These get-togethers range from informal meetings to formal programs with prescribed reading or coursework. The groups offering them may be for-profit, not-for-profit, or state-sponsored. Defined by profession, income level, geography, demographic or some combination of these factors, they seek to make job hunters comfortable with networking.

Networking organizations may offer other assistance as well and charge higher membership fees to provide it. However, the group-networking events tend to be affordable -- in the $30 to $45 range -- and their organizers stress that everyone participates.

One popular technique at every group is the "elevator speech" -- also known as a one- or two-minute pitch -- or some variation of it. By delivering it, group members share information about themselves and practice making the speech itself.

"We go around the room at meetings," says Matthew Bud, chairman of the Financial Executives Networking Group (the FENG), a national organization headquartered in Weston, Conn. "Everybody does a 90-second 'elevator speech.' It's the answer to the question, 'Tell me about yourself.' "

ExecuNet, a Norwalk, Conn., career-services organization for senior-level executives, offers about 65 meetings monthly in 45 cities. David B. Opton, the group's founder and chief executive officer, facilitates some of them. He tells attendees, "Take 30 seconds and talk about yourself. Then take 15 seconds and tell us what you can do to help people in the room, and 15 seconds to tell people how they can help you."

In response to a job seeker seeking an entrée into the consumer-products industry, for example, a helpful comment might be, "I know people at Colgate-Palmolive Co." "You can say a lot in 60 seconds," Mr. Opton says.

ExecuNet member Paul Wigsten of Trumbull, Conn., considers the exercise useful. "Most people don't have that public-speaking desire," says Mr. Wigsten, who is an information-technology executive. "You can learn it in a nonthreatening forum, so when you get in front of somebody, you come across a lot smoother."

The Professional Area Network for Women in Technology (PANW, pronounced Pan-W) of San Mateo, Calif., uses a 30-second pitch. "You say your name, what you do, and what you're looking for," says Michelle Benson of San Mateo, a software-engineering manager who is a PANW member and volunteer. People take only about a minute to form a first impression, she says, "so if you can tell someone something in 30 seconds, you're halfway there."

PANW program chair Laurie Dieck adds, "Some people are shy. After a while they get rolling, and it builds their self-esteem."

When attending structured-networking events, don't expect to make instant contacts. Mr. Opton and Mr. Bud say members must get to know and trust you before they'll give you a referral. Mr. Wigsten agrees that patience makes sense. "If you drop in, have a good session and get employed, you're lucky," he says. Most networking relationships form only over a long period of time. "As people get to know you, they help you out."

The Five O'Clock Club builds a learning curve into its rules, asking members to attend at least four meetings and master their two-minute pitches before initiating contacts.

Leaders of these groups also encourage job hunters to join more than one type of network. A group in "your [professional] discipline is a good place to start," says Mr. Bud, "but financial people also have to be involved with marketing and human-resource people."

Structured networking isn't just for the unemployed. The groups encourage employed executives to attend and often maintain ties with former members who have jobs. About half of the Five O'Clock Club's members are employed, says Dr. Bayer. Charles Carnahan, a nonprofit executive in Boston, was working but looking for new opportunities when he joined the club. The Technology Executives Networking Group offers associate memberships for IT executives who aren't actively searching but want to stay abreast of current opportunities in their field.

Ms. Benson landed a position as a software-engineering development manager after about two months in PANW. Although employed, she's stayed active on PANW's programming committee and now finds herself in a position to give back. Her new company, a provider of service-management solutions in Mountain View, Calif., is hiring product developers, such as a director of software development and a senior product architect.

"I advise everyone to get involved," she says. "You can go to events and exchange business cards with people, but until you've worked with them and gotten to know them, you don't know whose cards you have. Now I can feel confident presenting them to hiring managers."

Mr. Wigsten joined ExecuNet in 1990, and stayed involved during his eight years in his last position as an IT vice president. "The easiest and fastest way to find a job is a network," he says. "If you don't keep that network up, you'll have a difficult time because you'll have to restart the process, and the longer it takes to do that, the longer between jobs. ExecuNet gives me a way to keep my finger on the pulse of the job market."

Members credit networking groups not only with generating leads, but with helping them sharpen their search skills. Mr. Carnahan says that he didn't get specific contacts from the Boston Five O'Clock Club group because the other members were in different fields, but sometimes when he heard of a new approach "a light bulb would come on," and he'd think about how he could apply it among his own contacts.

"One of the biggest things I learned is that no one's going to give me a job," he says. "I've got to put myself out there and do the work, make the contacts and make a case for myself. The Five O'Clock Club provides a lot of guidance." While he got his present chief operating officer job through a classmate in an executive M.B.A. program, "the club helped me realize that the networking process isn't serial interviewing. You need multiple things on your plate working at various levels, and eventually one will pan out."

Kevin Meyers of Marshfield, Wis., got "a couple of leads" from Forty Plus but located his sales manager job online. However, he found the group invaluable because "little nuggets would come out, like what to expect in a salary offer and negotiating tips."

At his first meeting, two attendees announced that their searches had ended successfully. "It was another ray of hope," he says. "It got me out of the house, gave me a reason to put on a suit, and encouraged me to be more focused on my job search."

Ms. Benson says when she volunteered to chair a large PANW event, "I had a purpose again, I had a task, I had a job. My main focus wasn't just looking for another job." She met several influential people while organizing the event, and "instead of saying, 'Hi, you don't know me,' I could say, 'Hi, I'm Michelle Benson from PANW.' " While she got her new job through a friend, she credits PANW for giving her "back my confidence and self-esteem, and that made all the difference in the interview."