Yeah.

It’s not ideal but it’s something. When you put up a job posting you get swarmed with too many resumes to properly review, and resumes don’t really tell the full story about a person.

Yes and no. Who you know definitely opens a lot of doors. But your ability to progress career-wise will be limited if your ability to actually accomplish useful tasks is shit.

Also, all too often this saying is taken with a defeatist mindset, like all job offers flow purely from nepotism. The reality is that formal job application processes suck big fat donkey dick at sussing out good and bad hires - but hiring someone who is recommended by an existing good employee has a much better chance at a good outcome. It is completely reasonable and rational to hire primarily via social networks. As a potential employee, then, your best avenue for landing the job you want is clear: you have to talk to people!

I know that this won't go over well with the neckbeards of lemmy, who want to work from home as a plumber, never make eye contact with their coworkers, and only talk to people via their gaming headsets - but it is an obvious and straightforward fact. Want a job, or a job better than the one you have? Be friendly with your coworkers. Joke around and grab beers after work. Have hobbies outside the house and constantly strive to make new friends and social connections. Strike up conversations with random people in bars, parks, or hell, in line at the gas station! Take an in-office job so you can build real relationships with your coworkers and bosses, rather than just being a faceless name on a slack channel. It's true - it isn't what you know, it's who knows what you know! So go know more people!