Finding a job in the game industry

Something that has been quite a hassle while trying to find a job in the game industry while still finishing my studies.
The ideal for any student about to finish uni is to make a smooth transition from being a student to integrating to the industry as soon as possible to start generating income and experience.
I currently have a job, yet I'm wishing to move to a studio or a bigger team where I can improve my skills and have a creative working environment.
This process has been (for personal reasons) even more difficult, but I have tried.
There are countless ways to find out about positions available; websites, agencies, social media, individual companies' websites and events.
The one that's becomes the easiest are websites dedicated to posting countless jobs, usually these are controlled by agencies, therefore there's rarely occasions where you contact the company directly. After going to individual websites of some companies, 80% of them state that they don't want applicants from agencies, which then becomes a bit of a contradiction and the resources become even fewer. Twitter is a very good way to stay in touch with companies and they usually post opportunities there, but then again you have to be alert to whenever they post anything.

Some good websites that I use frequently are:
Indeed
GamesIndustry

GamesDevMap (this is good to track individual companies)

I narrowed down a good list of 45 companies I was interested and had vacancies to which I could fill the roll; 30 where in the UK, 10 in other parts of Europe and 5 between America and Canada. Being a foraigner, i have the pressure of having to prove myself to the company that I'm better than any other candidate. This is the hardest part; is not that I don't believe in my skills, but I know that there are a lot of people who can do similar work or way better. I am certainly not the most appealing candidate, that's for sure.
Despite all this, I ended up applying for all of them. It was an extensive process as most of them require a slight modification or adjustment of my CV and all of them a different Cover letter. Juggling between this, final deadlines and work has definately not been an easy task, and despite the multiple rejections and non-responsive reaction, I managed to get at least a couple of companies that came back to me with positive reaction about my work, therefore at least I know I'm on the right track.