>I think with most companies who respect the opinion of their current employees in almost any technical field, they will usually ask for personal recommendations before posting a job. That has been my experience anyway.
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And fwiw (and risking making this thread political), it's this issue that leads to a need for affirmative action. If most (or even many) jobs get filled through personal connections, and people from disadvantaged backgrounds don't have those connections, they're once again at a disadvantage. I think this is why so many of the "up from poverty" stories we hear include an individual or group taking an interest in a particular person. The mentor's connections substitute for the missing family/old school connections.

Tamar