I have never really had to compete for a job. All three of my high-school employers hired me on the spot. I worked for my university at a job for which I had to interview, but I can't imagine there were many more applicants than openings. I landed an internship on my first try during my junior year because, as I found out later, my new supervisor had a vicious and tiresome (to her colleagues) tendency to burn my predecessors out. I stuck around, though — long enough to weasel a promotion to Real Staffer after she left. Several months after that, she got me a job with her new employer, and I have now been there (here) for almost two years.
In all that time, I have submitted exactly one resume to a stranger (for the internship). In the last week I've tripled my total – so far, to no effect.
I'm hopelessly clueless about the process. I've been working in offices for far too long to be so ignorant, especially now that I've begun to look around for new daytime environs.