Those are some impressive numbers. While it seems clear that you can get interviews applying through websites and recruiters, I'm amazed by how effective networking is. Any suggestions on how I should manage that? I add people on LinkedIn, but that's about it. Don't really socialize or make friends with people at work.
The answer is to socialize and make friends at work.
People who try to “Network” artificially won’t see great success.
People who are genuinely take an interest in what others are doing, and are intentional about meeting once or twice a year for coffee to catch up, are the ones who can call in a favor in the way described in the blog post.
And attend events, make an effort to work with people at partner companies/clients/customers/etc. That's how I've always landed new positions. I've never actually applied for a position since grad school years ago.
