[dkersten]

Not saying that you did anything wrong - I obviously don't know your specific situation - but my experience has been the opposite (2008-present). The key is definitely networking. Through Python Ireland alone, I have got more job offers and requests for interviews than I know that to do with. Both last year and the year before I spoke to a lot of company reps and employees at Pycon Ireland and the general consensus was that its hard to find good candidates and that companies, large and small alike, are having difficulties filling their open positions due to lack of people. I personally get messages asking if I'm available from work every other week (and I'm not including recruitment agencies/shotgun HR emails in that).