Certainly, some companies just aren't hiring today so even knowing the right person probably doesn't help. But my (few) jobs over the past 25 years--including o

Certainly, some companies just aren't hiring today so even knowing the right person probably doesn't help. But my (few) jobs over the past 25 years--including one right after 9/11--came through personal connections and didn't even involve a response to a job posting. In fact, in the last case, the job position was created for me. I'm a bit sorry I never checked to see if there was an associated posting on the jobs site. But I've certainly been lucky. A few dodged bullets.