It may sound a bit far-fetched, but those job hunters that haven’t had any luck may need to buckle down and do some time consuming, tedious research. One way to unearth some potential jobs is to go to the local CoC member directories, click on their links (or call them) and find out if they have jobs posted on their website.
Not every company posts jobs online; many rely on employee referrals, or industry memberships. If they don’t have a lot of openings per year, they may just post to the local paper or Craigslist, which is far more cost effective than the major job boards.
They may also keep ‘representative’ jobs up on their website for what is called ‘building a pipeline’. The position may not be open at the current time, but they try to build up a candidate pool for when the position does open up.
Once you have identified the opening, apply. Or, call and ask to speak to the recruiter or HR representative. This is also the best use of LinkedIn; finding people that work for the company and approaching them. Remember: you need to be proactive, don’t rely on others to find *you* in this market.