All but one of my jobs I've gotten without any connections.
Out of college I worked for IBM. Initial contact was at an engineering job expo. I had interviews on campus and then on site.
After that I submitted my resume to Xanga.com on a whim. I had a phone screen and then an on site interview.
From there I got a job at a law firm where my wife worked (the only connection based job I received).
Google found me via LinkedIn. I had two phone screens and an on site interview.
A recruiter found me via LinkedIn looking to fill a position for some other company. I told him I wasn't interested but from our exchange he picked up that I would like to work closer to home. When an opportunity at OpenX came along he contacted me again, and I did two phone interviews and then an on site.
In my experience LinkedIn is a great way to have jobs find you. Being able to interview well helps seal the deal - to do that you have to know your stuff and be able to present it well.
Out of college I worked for IBM. Initial contact was at an engineering job expo. I had interviews on campus and then on site.
After that I submitted my resume to Xanga.com on a whim. I had a phone screen and then an on site interview.
From there I got a job at a law firm where my wife worked (the only connection based job I received).
Google found me via LinkedIn. I had two phone screens and an on site interview.
A recruiter found me via LinkedIn looking to fill a position for some other company. I told him I wasn't interested but from our exchange he picked up that I would like to work closer to home. When an opportunity at OpenX came along he contacted me again, and I did two phone interviews and then an on site.
In my experience LinkedIn is a great way to have jobs find you. Being able to interview well helps seal the deal - to do that you have to know your stuff and be able to present it well.