Start as soon as you can. Use a cover letter to explain when you will be available and be completly honest about your quals. (You don't want a lie to follow you around for the rest of your career.) Update your resume every time you add a rating, log more time, change address, etc. These updates will perhaps keep your app off the bottom of the stack. Recommendations from someone (with a good reputation) at your target company is a big plus-networking in the corporate world. Be persistent. And...if mailing something to FEDEX don't use UPS and vice versa.