These seem like circumstances that support personal introductions, employee-sourced referrals, in-person job fairs — and even nepotism. (Your cousin might not be the best candidate for your friend’s company, but if you honestly do not want your friend to fail, you will only refer your cousin if your cousin is actually passably okay for the job. Plus, your cousin is not a spambot, and probably not a North Korean infiltrator either.)
I don’t think anyone is arguing that personal introductions don’t work, just that only hiring through them isn’t ideal (since it’s bad for applicants who are otherwise good but don’t have contacts, and bad for companies because they filter out good candidates).
These seem like circumstances that support personal introductions, employee-sourced referrals, in-person job fairs — and even nepotism. (Your cousin might not be the best candidate for your friend’s company, but if you honestly do not want your friend to fail, you will only refer your cousin if your cousin is actually passably okay for the job. Plus, your cousin is not a spambot, and probably not a North Korean infiltrator either.)
I don’t think anyone is arguing that personal introductions don’t work, just that only hiring through them isn’t ideal (since it’s bad for applicants who are otherwise good but don’t have contacts, and bad for companies because they filter out good candidates).