It has always been about who you know and not what you know.  I have been in business for about 11 years in silicon Valley - and almost all of my jobs - at least the successful ones have come by way of friends and too boot I never went to college and regurlarly make in the mid 6 figures. 

Having performed a significant amount of professional hiring I can honestly say college is only a substitute for applicants who do NOT have practical experience - unless you are looking to work for Google-HP- Intel and companies that are very well established.  And the reason for this is simple, can you stay in one place for longer than a few years.  The skills that most people learn in college is how fast and how quickly you can chug a beer - or the social aspect, which while important - not a key stat for business.  At the end of the day, my 10 years of sales experience, my productive network of clients, and overall knowledge of the internet, applications, hosting, and networks will beat the education 100% of the time.  While I have my 10 years in the trenches and know what needs to be done and how to do it - means I am more productive.

Please look at what your degree is and what it is you want to do - Then join a professional group - Join Linked (I have 190 connections and by my 3rd degree I have close to in and see who you know.  Ask family and friends who are in the industry who they know and leverage the networks of others.  make thoughtful statements, provoke thoughts - Don't just send an email to the HR group, find out about the company talk to people inside.  Once you have info about the company, why not build a value statement that is provocative and that shows you understand their business and can explain your value to the company you want to work for. 

Just food for thought... Don't forget to make that student loan payment!

You konw its funny that you sent this.  I recently hooked up with an old colleague, who picked up his MBA from Santa Clara University, which is a great school for business.  What is he doing today you ask?  The same thing he was doing yesterday - Level 2 Tech support for a tech company.  I inquired why he spent $60,000 and 2 years of his life for the same job. His reply was the one most given, "I thought it would take me further."

Here i am making 200-300K a year with no college education in a professional sales career - writing articles for several sites, preparing for a potential run for a local school board, active in my community's political and social scene.  If there is one thing I have learned through my life coaching and so forth - It is the couragous person who wins, since it is the couragous person who is seen by others and acknowledged for their contributions.  And so it is with Jobs - put yourself out there, make a contribution to your potential employers bottom line from the first step in the door.  Do a little research, if they are public learn what their fears and challenges are and attempt to solve one of them.  Even if you get it wrong, its better than sitting in an interview asking "How much vacation do I get?"  Another strategy I employ is to interview the interviewer and not the other way around.  I take control of the process and understand everything I want to know ahead of actually talking about myself, so I can know how to handle objections and address them before they even come up. 

Find different channels to get referrals into the company.  Join Linked in and find out who can bring you closer to your dream job.  Instead of submitting a simple resume and cover letter (which are rarely read completly), find out who is the actual hiring manager, send a proposal for what your employment would mean to that company in dollars and cents.  Show them that you have skills, instead of hoping that a piece of paper will carry your weight.  Stop thinking "I am under qualified..." and start thinking, "they will choose to hire me because of what I bring to a company."  And my final bit of advice, When somebody such as myself or others say, "Let's Network!" get off of your little horse and contact us so we can learn more about you and bring you into our networks. Every week I pass up more jobs than most people will ever hold and if I have nobody to pass them on to, they stagnate in my box.  Just remember somebody will be hired for these positions and if I don't reccommend somebody in, someone else will.

Gerbro