I think you'd use referrals to decide if someone should pass the first stage, as HR and resume review are a broad filter. Once you're at the interview panel, yo

I think you'd use referrals to decide if someone should pass the first stage, as HR and resume review are a broad filter. Once you're at the interview panel, you vote based on how the interviews went. If you tell the interviewers that "this is so-and-so's friend" then you could get nepotism instead of an informed hire. I think it's possible that there were many referrals, but that information wasn't shared outside an initial screening because it was no longer helpful.