[ZainRiz]

What you're saying is definitely true for the more mature companies (say, 1000+ employees).

I curious if the author has experience with this working for startups and their ilk, which may not have become large enough to have a proper recruiting division.

The challenge networking potentially solves is getting a recruiter to pay attention to your resume, but from that point on your resume has to be impressive looking enough to get you to the interview room. And unfortunately I know (and helped) a lot of engineers who've done impressive work but didn't know how to put that on paper effectively.

That part takes a whole other skill

[jon-wood]

I’ve hired at multiple smaller startups, and the rule has always been that if someone gets referred by an existing member of staff then the referrer isn’t involved in the interview process beyond being a high confidence reference check.

[throwawaythekey]

My experience at a startup is if you get referred you get hired. We are ~50 people and about half are friends/contacts of previous employees.

[ozim]

100% that.

Networking gets you to be exposed to opportunities at those companies, maybe some tips to prepare for something specific for that company. But it is not going to take away hard work that needs to be done.