Like you, I disagree with some of the points in her blog post, but I can't agree with your statement "As for what team you'll be working on, you as a candidate

Like you, I disagree with some of the points in her blog post, but I can't agree with your statement "As for what team you'll be working on, you as a candidate have a lot of power in that regard." I had one referral decline an offer because he wouldn't know what project he would be working on until he was hired, and therefore, didn't know if it would be more enjoyable than his current job. I also knew PhDs who were hired and expressed disappointment that the project they were working on didn't make use of the specialized material they studied towards their degree. And I wouldn't think that the majority of new engineers assigned to ads projects expressed advertisement as a preference with their recruiters. But most new hires, well, get over it. Yes, there are some cases where people are recruited with specific expertise to fulfill specific roles, e.g. John Barton of Firebug or Sebastian Thrun for the self-driving car. But this is the exception and not the rule.