Job market's still tough. Seven ways to reenergize your job search.

4. Network on all fronts

Sarah Beth Glicksteen/The Christian Science Monitor/File
Participants conduct six-minute meetings during a speed networking event for alumni of colleges in the New England Small College Athletic Conference in downtown Boston in 2009. Networking skills are crucial because 8 of every 10 jobs that are filled go to candidates with ties to the employer.

Your best friend’s uncle’s daughter knows so-and-so and you landed an interview – the networking maze works time and time again. The connected beat out unknown applicants, period. Eighty percent of jobs are given to candidates connected to the employer, according to both Career Potential and the Five O'Clock Club.

“People still hire people who they feel are part of their inner circle, which means that they were referred through a personal connection,” says Myers. “People do not like talking to strangers.”

Effective networking means calling up relatives, family friends, previous employers, and even employers who you may have just met in an interview. If you can’t make connections through your own social network, then move to randomly connect through social media.

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