general service jobs have fierce competition because they get attacked by the LAST people you want to be fight a job over for.
AT THE SAME GODDAMN TIME.
I'm talking teenagers, Chad's, Stacy's, people who have lost their jobs and need to feed their kids, credentialed students that have just graduated, credentialed students that are out of work, people who know how the game is played but their industry has been annihilated, etc. Because these jobs are "plentiful" require little skills, and are easy to get to in person. i mean, literally go in as a "customer" and boom you're in. how many industrial type jobs do you know that you can do that?
you need to focus and specialize. do something that is required by the general public. protip, if you're in the US most of our work is maintenance/clerical it's a double edged sword i know but you can mitigate it by doing general industry something like electrical work. that shit's transferable. a linkedin page is useful to start connecting but mostly to stalk people in your area and know who's working where, which companies exist, where people who went to your local college are at now. stalk unashamedly.
honestly the BEST way you're going to get a job is through someone you know. dumb luck is just that dumb luck. working your way up is extremely time intensive(if you can even get a starting position). there is the cheap community college route as well, if you do trades and the like you'll find people that are already in the industry that can help you out. not so much for AA/AS degrees though.