It is definitely getting tough in the world of AI and just fierce competition, especially with these dwindling opportunities for graduate or entry level roles.
I think the best chance these days is to have a targeted set of projects that is tuned for small businesses where you can easily reachout to them via Linkedin or similar social channels.
It has to be tailored projects using real data and services like AWS or GCP anything that can be built on top of real life usage in companies will help alot.
With this, you can get a chance to reach out to people in that company that doesn't have to be the hiring manager, just someone that can put a good word in to get you in.