[loumf]

I don't recommend you try to do this without networking. I was successful at getting projects from a big company, but I don't think blind applications would have worked. That being said, I will try to explain the process that one VERY large company (>10k employees) used.

Even though I was effectively hired by a senior executive (former colleague), I still had to become an approved contractor in their procurement system. They used a 3rd party (http://www.pontoonsolutions.com). So, I was instructed to make a proposal via that system -- to be clear, though, I had already negotiated everything before this even came up -- but it was a requirement to get the work.

However, once I was in, I had visibility to other work that was being put out for bid. I personally was fully booked up with work from my network in this company to take advantage of it though. My sense is that it would not be a good idea to bid blindly for these projects -- most of them were commodity IT work, not necessarily interesting projects. I found out about those from my internal networking.

So, I guess I would suggest looking at Pontoon -- seeing if there's a way into companies through 3rd parties like this.

I would also suggest just looking at giant company career sites and seeing if they have any contractor positions listed. Once you are in, you can find other projects. The easy networking you can do is with the company's recruiters (they probably call you) -- find out how they hire contractors.