Network

Every job I've found I learned about because of who I know. (I flatter myself that it's not WHY I got the jobs!)

Some companies prefer not to use agencies, because the markup is considerable, and when a company is just about start looking, if someone in that company can recommend someone, they'll often jump at the chance to keep the overheads down.

If nothing else, it opens yet more avenues for finding job prospects.

Oh, and really, really make sure your CV is perfect. In a tough market, employers are lookig for any excuse to pare down the list of interviews they have to do. e.g. writing 'Summery' instead of 'Summary' - Neither a spell checker nor a grammar checker will spot that in a title. And I've thrown out CVs with that error .... if you can't get your CV right, I don't want you messing with my code!