Job Hunt, Yes it is tricky !

Find your perfect job and place to work can be hard as you also have to find the right timing when the job role is available that also matches your requirements and specialization. In my personal observation, there are atleast 50% more candidates better than your when it comes to writing the job application, preparing the resume and also presenting themselves technically and during the interviews. This difference primarily occurs due to difference is the background of each applicant and his/her previous work experience. 
At most time a formal recommendation or referral maybe helpful to you in getting through certain rounds of screening but for more your approach to the job and hiring process it what determines if you are fit for the role. In my personal experience of applying to over 300+ job applications and openings across 6 months, I have realized that with each review of my own applications you eventually better off and tend to improvise your efforts during the technical rounds or the interview rounds. Most companies are interested in your projects than the academic excellence and certainly your skills and the extent of application of those skills matters the most. In my personal experience, I didn't hear back from any companies for even a single interview however, later when I worked on my resume format and catered into to suit the industry standards and include the keywords that most recruiters look forward to, is when i heard back from many firms. 
A tip for the interviews is that, try to match the energy levels and the interest of the person in the topic that is being discussed. For eg: It might be sensing to you that the interviewer has inclination to one project of yours than the other, so stick to it instead of deviating from it. Another thing that is common to all recruiters is the attention span of not more than 15-20 seconds and thus they would not spend any more time than that on reviewing your resume and will question you on that. Try to find some common ground with the company, their software and tech stacks and future goals. Most companies have a lacuna gap for some roles that they want to fill in, in that case you might not find the right job role as soon but you can discuss that with the employer later on.