Maybe you guys can help me with this. So lately a lot of people

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Maybe you guys can help me with this.

So lately a lot of people have been giving me the advice that using online job boards and filling out applications is a waste of time in the current market. The only way to supposedly get a professional job now, is to be able to talk to someone in a hiring position directly, either through your personal contacts, or by finding them on linkedin, facebook, google, etc.

This makes sense to me, as putting a job on an online job board means a company is going to get flooded with useless job applications to sift through. Far better to hire through a personal connection as it also means someone has pre-vetted this person by speaking to them outside of the application process.

However, there's a lot about this whole system that just seems stupid to me.

It makes perfect sense if you have a laundry list of companies that you want to work at, and know exactly what sort of job titles you would be fulfilling. And trying to apply for jobs this way has taught me about what sort of job titles companies use for the sort of jobs I'm looking for.

But at the same time all of that is completely arbitrary right? Companies don't necessarily list the jobs relevant to what you want under certain titles.

What if you don't know what kind of job titles you need to be looking for?

What if there's a company you want to work for but but you don't have personal contacts and can't find the decision maker?

What if you know what kind of job you're looking for, but don't know about the companies that would have that type of position?

Also, how would you find out about jobs that you are capable of doing, but aren't related to your degree or experience?