Reddit mentions of What Does Somebody Have to Do to Get a Job Around Here! 44 Insider Secrets and Tips that Will Get You Hired

Planner with 6+ years' experience, and a master's degree, chiming in.

Make sure you have some tangible skills, like GIS. Also be prepared to move anywhere in the country (or world). I.e., be as flexible as possible, because, as someone else said, planning is a bit of a niche market and there aren't a million jobs in any given locale. Get as much work experience as possible while you're still in school and can afford to work for free or close to free.

While you're at it, get a book (like this one) on how to write a resume and make it look good (and keep it to one page). Do something to stand out. The market is, in fact, flooded with job-seekers and you need to make it both easy to not throw your resume away, and easy for the hiring manager to want to give you a second look.

Another idea: if there happens to be some sort of natural disaster when you graduate and are looking, there are always going to be jobs with state and federal money assisting in the cleanup and rehabilitation. E.g., after Sandy, I saw lots of (temp) community planning jobs in NJ and NY helping with community revitalization.

One final thought. If you don't want to be flexible and know exactly where you want to work, you can, first, tailor your education towards that end. I knew a guy who did that and got his dream job right out of grad school. Second, you can move to that area and go to all the networking events and really target your applications (geographically). Accept something less than what you want initially just to have some stability and build a resume in your chosen location, and never stop looking for the next thing. Expect to change jobs a lot. Everyone else will.

you're not alone.

books that have helped me: http://www.amazon.com/Somebody-Around-Insider-Secrets-Hired/dp/0312373341

Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn't Want You to Know---and What to Do About Them by Cynthia Shapiro
Link: http://amzn.com/B003K15PC4

No one will ever tell you they have an issue with you. No one likes confrontation and they figure if you don't know the imaginary, unofficial rules of Corporate America, then you don't belong there anyway.

HR is not there for you. HR is there to keep the company from getting sued. Makes friends with someone and ask them to give you honest feedback about how you behave/come across and any insider tips on the culture at the office. It's the only way to survive.

I've never been at a job more than a couple years. Edit: mostly because I don't do politics and butt kissing and get so bored I stop doing my job.

I always give this book recommendation, but honestly it helped me sooooo much. I got my most recent job with the advice from this book (one that I thought I had absolutely no chance of getting) and it has some great tips in there. The hard copy is a bit pricey, but if you have a kindle or somewhere to read kindle books, that one's not so bad.

Best of luck!

I have found that This Book explains a lot about the hiring process and the traps you may fall into to knock yourself out of the running.