1. Network. It’s not who you know, it’s who your friends know that can really influence your success.

Now with companies exercising extreme caution when hiring, it makes even more sense to find a way into the organization, someone with a personal connection who is willing to sponsor you into the organization.

Networking accounts for more than 65 percent of jobs and the further up the career ladder you go the higher that percentage.

2. Make a job. Target the organization of your dreams. Determine where you want to work, then identify the organization’s unmet needs.

Write a letter to the person with the authority to hire you and make a case for how the company will profit by hiring you. Ask for a meeting. Don’t send your résumé; instead, bring it to the meeting and offer it, only if asked. Arrive to your business meeting prepared to demonstrate your value.

3. Identify unlikely or lesser known organizations in your job hunt zone. Contact the chamber of commerce for a listing of member companies or check to see if their publication lists all local organizations within their member cities.

The Monterey County Free Libraries have a reference database that allows users to identify companies by city and state, size, number of employees and annual revenue. Use it to widen your job search prospects.

4. Attend job fairs. There are two well-publicized job fairs in Monterey every spring and numerous other ones in the Bay Area, if you are considering relocation. Prepare in advance. Arrive early, with plenty of enthusiasm and lots of resumes. Rank companies of interest and approach in reverse order – that way you can warm up for your number one choice.

5. Volunteer. Recently, one of my clients decided to volunteer for an organization close to her heart. In the past, her job had kept her so busy she had no time for anything except work.

Without a job, she felt at loose ends without some structure in her life. So in addition to looking for work, she filled in some of her gap time by volunteering. As a result, the organization’s executive director got to know her and offered her an opportunity to interview for an open position.

6. Go online. Forgo the mega-job search sites and focus on the smaller, local ones. Also check the listings for specific companies that interest you.

The kicker is to limit yourself to trolling the Internet for jobs to just two hours a week. Any other time spent on the Internet should be focused on researching industries and companies and making bona fide networking connections that move you closer to an interview.