Not really talking about the current job situation, but do you ever notice how there are no postings for really obscure positions that definitely exist but are never posted anywhere? I feel like David Graeber would have a lot to say
Not really talking about the current job situation, but do you ever notice how there are no postings for really obscure positions that definitely exist but are never posted anywhere? I feel like David Graeber would have a lot to say
They're being shared on a need to know basis between managers and the employees they like. It's a big club and you ain't in it.
I can't help but think that this is just a tantrum for all the anti-discrimination laws.
You're not going to let white people abuse some type of racial nepotism system? Fine, well I will make ALL my hires nepotism hires since technically that's not discrimination. Oh, what a coincidence I don't happen to have any brown friends. Oh well, guess they'll have to starve.
I think it's just easier. Looking properly for the most meritous person for the job is a whole process when they know a guy that can do the job well enough and that takes minutes and they get to be the big man in their friend group
it results in racism and classism being perpetuated but it's clearly largely laziness
Yeah, I'd second this. Anecdotally, I work in a small/medium business and I've heard "does somebody know anybody who can _____" many, many times over the years. In the viewpoint of management, it's much easier, cheaper, and less risky to hire someone on referral than go through the entire application song and dance.
I've done a lot of interviewing as a relatively low level engineer and its an expensive process in general for a company. Per each candidate you're looking at a few hours per engineer, times how many people are on the interview. It ends up costing the company a few thousand just to talk to a candidate over the course of the processes.
If you're a company looking for 5 good employees, you're going to spend a lot of money interviewing all the people that don't make the cut, grabbing someone internally or by reference is far cheaper. It's sorta a gamble when moving on with an interviewee. You basically need to make a low information gamble based on a cheaper short screening, to see if its worth the time for a full interview.
I don't really support no-interview hires unless they previously worked in that position, left, and came back though.