It's a game theoretical ratchet: - My friends will tell me who they know - People are responsible for their own hiring - If I recommend this guy and he's at

It's a game theoretical ratchet: - My friends will tell me who they know - People are responsible for their own hiring - If I recommend this guy and he's at least acceptable, my network grows - If the guy I recommend is not that good, all three will make excuses: my mate who hired him (will blame chemistry/randomness or me), the dude himself (will blame chemistry/randomness or me), and me (will blame chemistry/randomness). Since we're all adults, you can't blame someone else for your lack of due diligence, so it's a shame their styles were so different and the market turned against their brilliant plan. - Nobody ever gets blacklisted for bad recommendations - Everyone is complacent about who they will recommend - My network grows, and I don't need to grill everyone. So my network grows. Of course what this also means is if you don't happen to be in one of these networks of mediocre people, you are totally out of luck because those networks are big enough that someone will be found, just not you.