Unfortunately this is the only avenue open to people who do not have the privilege of having a rolodex full of industry contacts who they keep regular enough contact with that it's not awkward to reach out for help.

Let's say I've worked with roughly 1,000 people throughout my 20 year career. Let's say generously 20% of them I worked with closely enough that they know who I am and have a vague sense that I'm an awesome worker. 20% of those I've actually developed a friendly relationship with beyond water cooler chit chat, where we'd trust each other enough to be willing to help with a job search. Maybe 20% of those are now in companies where I'd want to work. And further 20% of that list are in positions so close to the hiring manager at one of those companies where they could actually speak up and have some influence on a decision. We're down to one or two people in the entire industry.

These numbers are guesstimates (pretty much match my own situation), but I just don't see how "networking" is the silver bullet everyone says it is. I'm sure when it works it really works, but I wouldn't rely on it.

I've seen it work well for people. Those people spend a lot of time talking to, getting to know and befriending people on the business side of things, like managers, VPs, and technical leads.

Think of it like sales. Salesmen don't only sell to people they happen to run into at home or at the office. They go out of their way to target (ie: chat up and befriend) people who buy what they sell.

Definitely not true. Most jobs are given to people that apply online.

That's false in my anecdotal experience. It's also false according to common wisdom, so it seems that most people share my anecdote.

I couldn't find any data suggesting that it's true, but I did find this survey that backs up my assessment: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/new-survey-reveals-85-all-job...