Where the jobs actually are
Large aggregator boards carry the volume, but a great many local openings appear first on the employer's own careers page, on the state workforce board, or on a hospital or school district site that never gets aggregated. Build a list of twenty employers you would work for and check their career pages directly every week.
Why applications disappear
Most mid and large employers run an applicant tracking system that parses your resume, scores it against the posting and files it. A human may never see a low scoring application. Improve the odds by using the posting's language, applying within the first few days of a posting going live, and filling every field of the application form even when you have already attached a resume.
Setting up alerts
Save searches with your target titles and a radius that reflects the commute you will actually accept, then let the alerts do the finding. Check them daily and apply the same day when something matches. Speed matters more than polish on a competitive posting.
Your online presence
A complete professional profile with a clear headline, a real photo and a summary matching your resume gets you found by recruiters searching for candidates rather than reviewing applicants. Make it consistent with your resume: conflicting dates and titles are a common reason a candidate gets dropped.
Avoiding scams
Legitimate employers do not ask you to pay for training or equipment, do not send you a check to deposit and forward, do not conduct the entire hiring process over a messaging app, and do not need your bank details or social security number before an offer. If a job seems unusually easy and unusually well paid, it is a fraud, and reporting it protects the next person.
Free tools you need
A professional email address separate from your personal one, cloud storage for your documents so you can apply from any computer, a phone with a working voicemail greeting, and a printed copy of your resume for the interviews that follow.