In the past, I have found new jobs through:
- recruiters - twice
- personal contacts - twice
- applying on the company website without knowing anyone - once
While many people will tell you that direct applications online yield zero results, it looks to me that the approach might succeed in smaller companies and with a specific type of skill. Both my DH and I have found jobs this way; mine turned out to be a bad fit and I left after a year, but DH is still with the same company after eight years and seems happy there. Sending resumes can be a numbers game if they are sent mindlessly. Targeting it to specific segments might work better here.
LinkedIn approach has worked for a few people I know. Let recruiters know you are available and really stand out with your profile to start getting bites. Another way to meet recruiters is at professional networking events; I see a local recruiter present whenever I have breakfast with the local chapter of a national organization. Recruiters can be useful in the process, as long as it is understood that they make their livelihood of finding good hires. They will usually do a decent job with matching you with an employer not because they like you but because they want to get paid and they only get paid when they place someone. Some provide a guarantee that the new hire will stay with a company for a period of time - those usually do the most to get to know you and your preferences before placing you somewhere. Either way, it helps not to be vague.
I have experienced the best career moves so far with personal contacts, which brings the topic of networking to mind. The thing about networking is, this: network building should be done before you are looking for a job, not when you're looking. You can talk shop with your contacts, perhaps work together on a small project and, once you are looking, you will have a number of people who already know you to give you leads. And some people will give you leads even if you're not looking.
I hope this helps.