I've interviewed with many tech companies and the impact of personalized referrals has been completely anecdotal to me. I got my current job from a cold applica

I've interviewed with many tech companies and the impact of personalized referrals has been completely anecdotal to me. I got my current job from a cold application. With some companies it can take months before being noticed once you've applied online, but there's been a few cases where I could apply in just one click and get contacted by a recruiter the same day! Admittedly, I assume my experience might have been different if I applied for jobs at early stage startups.