Hi Jason,
Great advice.
To all other candidates: I recently went through a one-year job search and FINALLY landed the position I coveted for so long. You cannot give up no matter how many rejections you face. I applied to well over 100 places and only landed one interview (luckily that's all I needed).
"I treated the entire activity as the hardest thing I would ever do in my life..." - so true. I should have done this sooner!