1. Grunt work for some, but Q/A game testing is one common way in....but 2. If you have proven skills, you need visual interesting and quick to understand/see as fun demos. Doesn't need to be a full game, just a level.... 3. Preferably designed and targeted to the game types/jobs you're applying for. Eg. Creating a Tamagotchi-like demo for a CoD position isn't going to cut it...unless the Tamagotchi is rocking night vision and an AR. If you're going after level design, have demos that they can talk to you about with great level design. If you're going after coding with AI driven characters, better have code and demo reflecting that. If you're going after gameplay balancing, review of several games, how well they are balanced, issues and your suggestions for balancing better. (E.g. Why haven't alternatives to Starcraft been "better"?) 4. Know a few favorite games, even 1 favorite game well. If there's nothing else to talk about, talking games, why this game, why you like it, what you imaging doing on a team making it, etc will be small talk to get to know you and your motivations better. If you're a walking game library, sure, they've got positions for that, too - archival and 3rd party comparisons. Companies need to know if their game copied any in past existence, amd if it's better than what other similar ones. 5. Polish a 15 to 30 second pitch. "Hi, I'm ... And interested in game ... Because.... And have experience in.... I can put to use right away." 6. Some may say unnecessary, but with today's ai resume scanners that read resumes by the thousands before giving only the top candidates to the HR girl to read, you need a machine-friendly resume. https://www.fiverr.com/harvardcv/create-edit-and-design-your-cv-cover-letter-and-linkedin-profile 7. Bring resume, laptop with demos, usb drives with demos, printouts of visuals/graphics/code to showcase, and attend hiring events, gaming expos etc. Eg Siggraph has a job fair. Go. Eg E3 has tons and tons of game companies. They might not be specifically hiring, but you can bet important staff and managers will be there. Pitch. Eg GDC..must go!!!! Finally, published beats talk any day, and money making, published games are great to showcase.

Oh, and the above is assuming you want to work on the AAA titles like CoD at the biggest game companies on the planet like Nintendo, Activision, EA, etc. Small Indie developer companies are everywhere and often have easier hiring.