Nepotism is NOT asking your former boss to let you know if she hears of anything you might be qualified for. Nepotism is NOT asking your former colleague- who you had a great and productive relationship with, if he would keep you in mind just in case his company is hiring.
Why do you always assume the worst about hiring practices? Nepotism is when the CEO hires his idiot nephew to run a manufacturing plant, when the nephew has no experience in manufacturing. And most companies do NOT allow that.
Apply to jobs. Network. Make sure that all the people you’ve worked with who admire you and think your work is outstanding and that your personal ethics and work ethic are fantastic understand that you are in full time job search mode. How is that nepotism???
It is something that millenials do NOT like to do. I don’t know why. They would rather spend 10 hours a day applying to jobs on ziprecruiter, whether or not they are qualified for those jobs. They do not want to invest half an hour a day reaching out to their former colleagues vs. 10 hours on an anonymous job board.