In the past month, I’ve been to an event–a packed house–geared toward getting more women on boards and have been asked by a couple people just how you get on a board.

It’s more difficult than you may think.

There’s often a time in your professional career where you’ve interacted with a board, know someone who is on a board and perhaps have been asked to be on a board and you start to think, hey, this could be a fun road to go down.

But just how do you get recruited to a board role?

Generally, you have to have some specific experience or knowledge that the company or current board is seeking.  Given today’s SEC requirements, having a very strong financial background–ie, having held the responsibility of publishing financial statements either as a CFO or as a Business Unit Head, is experience in high demand.

Here’s some additional tips:

-network through your local NACD chapter events if you are on a board

-submit a profile to www.boardrecruiting.com, the NASDAQ product

-submit a profile to the large search firms who do more volumne in board searches

-make yourself identifiable–beef up your Linked In, edit your ZoomInfo bio, etc.

-publish articles, take on speaking roles—showcase your expertise and thought leadership