To echo what Windsheer suggested, I was told pretty much as soon as I began training....."It's not what you know, it's who you know!"
I find it amazing that just by talking to people about what you do, you can discover that somebody somewhere knows someone in this industry. Whether it be at obvious places like your FTO or flying club or less obvious places like with your friends, family or former colleagues. The opportunity to network and show your personality and a devotion to achieving your goal to people within the airline world is worth a million cv's in my opinion.