This will also help you develop a career-shift approach to your job search. Cultivate such relationships. Ask for advice, not just about your situation, but about management issues in the industry. Become a participant in such dialogues. You'll learn a lot, and you'll also start to project an attitude that will get you invited into more management circles.
People hire people they know first, then they resort to other mechanisms.
Get known among the people you want to work with. That's not why Bob wrote the piece, but you can use it to get yourself past some of the more hackneyed questions that arise in interviews. Being able to initiate discussion about a critical issue like the problems teams face will earn you more respect in an interview than just fielding questions. Use resources like EE Times to raise your awareness of what really matters, and be ready to talk about it . That's the best way to prepare.