[verdant]

Every job I have ever had I have gotten either through personal contacts or by sending my resume to a company that I was interested in. It wasn't that people were doing me favors, its just that it put me in the right place at the right time and that was much more effective than browsing online ads. I have read statistics that say most hires are made through personal contacts, otherwise known as "networking"

[btilly]

Every job but one that I've had I got through personal contacts.

However one of those jobs was through a personal contact I made through being on a Perl website, and another was a personal contact I only maintained through LinkedIn.

There is therefore no conflict between searching for jobs online, and finding jobs using personal contacts. Furthermore if you're looking for a job online, I would suggest focusing on activities that build your personal network. Which means mostly ignoring the job boards (that largely don't work anyways), and doing things like being on local mailing lists, going to local meetups, being on discussion boards, and using tools like LinkedIn to maintain your network.

Good luck. In this economy you may need it. :-(