I'm not going to beat the "who you know" drum too loudly because it has an element of falseness as well as truth- you ask those you think might help before you refer to lists. If you're interested in the job, you need to be the qualified personality that's called before the list of unknowns is consulted.
Correspondence and phone calls are easy but can be a false economic decision. There's a reason spam filters were invented. Blasting an email costs almost nothing, so any return that exceeds the cost makes it a profitable proposition. Your blind resumes and phone calls are not exactly "spam" but unless you can send thousands, you're probably not going to see benefit, especially if you want a competitive, in demand position.
It comes down to your decision as to what you want and how badly you want it. If you want something enough to do a little homework, study the operation and requirements, direct yourself to acquiring the experience and skills, learn names, pursue potential references, and introduce and sell yourself, then you've improved your chances of not being just another element of the list. But you have to qualified and better known than anybody else- sell yourself.
Sales is an art, one wants to be persistent and directed without being a pest, and you have to have what the customer wants...
Last edited by Devil 49; 15th Jul 2013 at 13:32.