In my opinion a central point of improving the likelihood of getting a job is making yourself known. Show the world and thus also your future employers what you know. There are a few ways to do that.
You can contribute in mailing lists, newsgroups or forums. For some time I was very active in some German Visual Basic newsgroups. And I actually got quite a few job offers (permanent and freelancing) in those days. But that was still during the apprenticeship so I didn’t accept them. There is probably some list for just about any topic you might be interested in. If for some reason there isn’t anything, yet, you can always create a mailing list yourself (or a forum though I have a strong dislike for forums).
Having your own Web site also helps. This can be a list of articles you wrote, you can publish software there (more on that in a future article), put on your CV (though I personally have not published it because it contains private information) and also publish private information as well. Today a weblog is often the easiest and most logical solution for that. Personally, I use both. I have traditional Web site with long term stuff, such as software I published, and my weblog where I nowadays publish all of my stuff. It’s actually possible that one day my weblog will replace my Web site.
On that Web site of yours write about your experience with technologies, report proudly when you found some bug that you were able to fix, publish learnings, recommend tech books you like, etc. There is endless content just waiting for you to write it. And if you decide to also write about other topics, that’s fine. On my weblog I write about a lot of other stuff as well (politics, Peru, Japan, Switzerland and sometimes a bit of private stuff).
That Web site will serve you nicely when applying for a job. Put the Web site URL prominently into your CV and your future employer can find out a lot about how much you really know and who you are. It gives you a lot more credibility when the company can read details about actual problems you have solved in C++ than when you just write “have worked with C++ for two major projects” into your CV.
Make sure that your Web site doesn’t come after you. For example there is at least on blogger in Switzerland to whom I’d be reluctant to give a job because of his weblog. He publishes a lot of things that lead me to conclude that his knowledge in the topic he writes about may actually be good, but that he is very arrogant about it. I don’t like to work with arrogant people and try to prevent it from showing up in my behaviour. And I’m sure people will also call me arrogant for writing this.
Anyway, let me conclude with saying that only people who know you will consider giving you a job. And by making yourself known to a wide audience you may actually get job offers instead of having to run after a job yourself. And what’s better than that?