Newsworthy

With so many hours in the day, single-mindedness is difficult to maintain.  Even if you're juggling job searching, professional skills sharpening and networking events, you'll probably yearn for a little distraction.  Though http://www.perezhilton.com/ is tempting because we all love us some Britney and Lindsay gossip, the return on career enhancement is minimal.

Not all networking conversations and not the entire interview is going to be about you and your professional experience/skills.  There is always going to be room for small talk, but small talk can actually have a big impact.  No matter what role/function you're seeking out, it will be in the context of an industry which will be in the context of a nation's economy which will be in the context of the global economy.  Spending a portion of your day reading the latest news is not only a good break from more focused job hunting activities, but can really help season your conversation.  Most news can be gotten online and should be your primary source, but it's always good to be able to name drop that you get at least one traditional subscription to a prestigious periodical like the Financial Times or The Economist.  Bringing the latest copy for the commute enroute to a networking event is a great prop to carry around for conversation seeding.  

Now, I see three areas worth tracking:

1) Global Business News

What's the latest stimulus plan status?  Who's going bankrupt?  Who's getting thrown in jail?  What countries are nationalizing?  Who's joining the EU?

Even if not directly related to your target industry, most senior level people will be up on the latest news.  I prefer the Financial Times because it's more global focused than the Wall Street Journal and more concise than the Economist. 

2) General News

What are the latest medical breakthroughs?  Any natural disasters recently?  What's going on in the Nobel sphere?  Any species getting more endangered or more protected?

There is a world outside of business and those developments can directly or indirectly affect industry down the line.  I've found that http://news.google.com does a great job in aggregating the top stories.  Other sites like CNN and MSNBC are good for aggregation by popularity, though there may be some editorial bias.

3) Industry News

What products/services have been launched recently in your industry?  Have any CEOs or inventors fled one company to join another?  Who's looking to be a big new player?

At the end of an interview, it's always good to ask questions about the competitive landscape.  If you can talk about how a certain company is launching a new product and ask the interviewer  his/her opinion on the impact to his/her company, you will seem most more insightful than asking canned questions about "How do you like the culture here?"  There are some industry news sites, but I prefer blogs that have postings daily.  Subscribe to at least 5 different industry blogs to get the latest dirt.