Most people have grown accustomed to thinking of all meetings, mixers, and referral building as networking. Networking in to an organization by definition is when you use the name of someone you know to get a meeting with someone you do not know. You should be meeting with decision makers within your target who would be in a position to hire you if they had an opening. You should meet with them whether or not they have an opening at the current time. Networking meetings should be treated differently than a job interview. You should have some specific take-aways when you leave the meeting: 1) their insights on the companies on your target list; 2) industry insights they might have; 3) suggestion(s) of someone else to talk to; 4) whether or not they would have any reservations in hiring you if they had an opening; 5) if so, try to find out what they are! You will go away armed with GREAT information! Most job seekers make the mistake of allowing networking meetings to turn into an interview and end up leaving empty handed. You do want to share your resume with the decision maker because it can provide you with invaluable insights as to your positioning and your pitch. Before leaving, you should also ask permission to keep in touch and then do it. Follow up every couple of months with everyone you have networked with–otherwise it is not networking.