"Chain migration" is how many people --- myself included --- get jobs.
I went to a very good school, and while I like to think the quality of education is what makes a school "good," let's be honest --- the value is largely in your connections. Friend lands a good job, recommends you when there's an opening, and bam, you're already at the top of the pile of the CVs (better yet, they're the hiring manager).
Friends from school --- peers and mentors alike --- are a great place to start, if you can. Ask to grab a coffee and chat about their career, and be clear that you're in the market. Most people are happy to chat (at the very least, it's flattering).
It's absolutely your geography. I lived in a town with very little tech folks, and I was chasing after every lead I could. Moved to a tech hub, and I was turning down offers left and right. I was also speaking at conferences and doing a lot with the tech community - doing hackathons and contributing to open source while I was unemployed.
90 of those 100 applicants are unqualified and will not get interviews. 9 of the other 10 will be fake, or having someone obviously proctor the interview for them or even just straight up typing the questions into chatgpt and reading what it says word-for-word.
I hate on HR. But I do not envy them having to pour through thousands of shitty applications.
We got about 7 stage-2 interviews out of 2000 applications. (Stage 1 is just the introduction and checking if they're not a bozo. Stage 2 is actual dept folks)
At the entry level, it's extremely tough now. You're competing against engineers who are willing to work remotely for less. If you don't have a portfolio, in my company, youre pretty much a NO.