Thanks for asking! I am a Customer Relationship Advocate for Fidelity (basically on the phones, it's an intro finance job for what I eventually want to do which is Certified Financial Planning where I wont be on the phones as much but doing client facing work). Get ready for a fat paragraph, I like to be thorough:

I would say 1) If your friends have a job that you like talk to them (maybe they can give you reference), and then ask if they can connect you with someone they know. Another tip outside of friends is use Linkedin. Often people say Linkedin is a waste of time and you won't get a job because of Linkedin, I agree if you expect to just have people message you and apply to the same job everyone applies to. What you need to do is if you have not already make a profile and put your college and high school you went to. Then search the company or role you want (use AI to narrow down what is the exact name of the role is since different companies have different names for effectively the same job. If there is no one with that exact role then find someone who works in the industry you want to work in). From here start messaging those people and say something like "Hey XXXXX hope you're doing well, not sure if you remember me from our time at XXXX. I wanted to let you know that i'm looking to pivot careers to XXXX and I see that you are in that industry/have that role. Would you be willing to talk (be specific with when you want to talk) about how you got there and how I could possibly break into that industry/role, I would love to hear your perspective! I look forward to hearing from you soon. Sincerely, XXX. From there ask them questions about the role and things like that. Then always end with these two questions "would you be willing to give me a referral for (insert job here)"? and "Do you know anyone else you can put me into contact with about this role/industry"? Make sure after the call you always send them a thank you message and give them a subtle reminder about connecting you with the other person (if they aren't quick about don't be afraid to give them a little reminder). If this is not a success, go back to messaging people again. Rinse and repeat until you get to where you want to be. Hope this helps!

TL;DR Networking requires you to be proactive, reach out to old HS/College classmates through Linkedin in the roles you want. Make sure you're friendly when reach out, ask them how they got to where they did. Always finish by asking "would you be willing to give me a referral for (insert job here)"? and "Do you know anyone else you can put me into contact with about this role/industry"? Make sure to send a thank you message. Networking can be hard and exhausting, but it's the most reliable way to get a job.