Networking can materially help, but it is not a substitute for a strong application and interview performance.

Its biggest value is better information, clearer motivation, office context and sometimes a referral from someone who is comfortable supporting you.

For PhDs, conversations can also help translate unfamiliar academic experience into language recruiters understand.

Network enough to learn and build genuine relationships, then spend the rest of your time strengthening the parts of the process you still have to pass. For more detail, see the PhD networking guide.

For what it's worth, Cold outreach response rates were low for me too. One good conversation was still worth a lot of messages.

For what it's worth, A short follow-up is fine. Repeated follow-ups started to feel awkward for me.