There are managers and directors in tech who realize that their job is to hire the best given their budget. This happens, in particular, when hiring technical

There are managers and directors in tech who realize that their job is to hire the best given their budget. This happens, in particular, when hiring technical middle management at "second tier but still amazing" employers. Outside of FAANG, but definitely household names. The unique characteristic is that their "ideal candidate" will almost certainly interview and is almost certainly unaffordable. At lower tier employers, it's safe to tell yourself "we hire the best" because the best almost never apply (and, when they do, they're doing so for a very good reason and probably understand your constraints). Also, for fungible roles, you always say "we hire the best" because you don't actually care about hiring the best but telling everyone that you did is good for morale because that means they're the best.