You may need to go through a temp thing to get a foot in the door.
I did that a few times before I went self-employed and ended up being hired full time as a full employee.
It bites, Yes. As the pay is always below what you'd get being hired outright.
Around here? You only get in through temp agencies.
You may also want to look at doing consulting or free-lance work.
It's worked for me in many cases in the past where I would not do the temp thing.
I've been self-employed since 1994 now and it's probably the hardest and best thing I've ever done.