There's a cliché when it comes to job hunting: "it's not what you know but who you know." Of late I've been thinking if and when this is actually true.
Early in one's career the cliché is probably less true. I landed my first couple jobs not because I knew someone at that company but because of whatever skills/credentials I had (until they found out I actually didn't have those skills but by then it was too late... ha ha, suckers! kidding). And this experience seemed true of my classmates and most other people I've worked with. Indeed, early in their careers most people seem to be hired for what they know.