Keep plugging away!

We receive a lot of CV's, we mean a lot, a lot a lot, more CV's than offers of work. Its a very competitive world out there...
For some, the rewards are high. For most of us, its a good Monday morning feeling. To earn a living doing something you love, dream of and create is a lucky position indeed. Be original, be critical, be good.

Establish what type of design you excel at and enjoy.
Make sure that your portfolio reflects this but also shows breadth in your capabilty and willingness to learn.
Create an emailable portfolio / website and a CV that reflects your experience and aims, show this to your peers - get feedback.
Research companies, designers, studios, print shops and get to know your industry well, subscribe to Creative Review for up to date news.
Find an internship and gather experience even if it means scrimping on pay for the first few months in exchange for valuable experience.
While you wait for that opportunity, create personal projects that demonstrate your ability, vision, ideas and most of all your commitment to design.
Keep learning, visually appraising, scrutinising and critisising. Find faults in all design and think of ways to improve it. Then record your work.
Send out the CV, CD - PDF portfolios - website URLs to as many design agencies as possible. Spread your bets!
If applying to a specific vacancy, rework your CV to cover all criteria that the vacancy requires. Make you seem like the perfect fit!
Be prepared to work long hours, just clipping out objects, resizing images and making tea - but get your foot in the door, you'll soon be on to retouching and thats when the big bucks come...
Keep persevering - and good luck!