[tacostakohashi]

Having a decent linkedin profile, and getting regular contacts by recruiters on linkedin is the way.

Those recruiters tend to be internal recruiters working directly for the company, which I find less pushy/annoying to deal with, and they tend to be already somewhat keen on you by the time they contact you, because they have already decided you are an appealing candidate. They'll generally fast-track you to an interview, not make you fill in some long ATS application form, keep in contact regularly, etc. - it is a much better experience than cold "applying" via an ATS / workday portal and having that go into a black hole.

I'd say, if you're not regularly getting recruiters contacting you on linkedin every week, your profile isn't very good and you should fix it until you do.

It amuses me a bit when people complain about linkedin post in the newsfeed being lame (which they are), or reminiscing about the old days when people would have their email addresses next to loud warnings saying "do not contact me if you are a recruiter!!!".

It turns out, the only thing worse than being contacted by recruiters is not being contacted by recruiters. It only takes a second to respond with a polite "no thanks, not looking right now, maybe another time!", and it is far easier to start engaging with a steady stream of regular contacts than trying to create that stream when you need it.