"The best hires I’ve made or seen other companies make are usually friends or friends of friends." perhaps this is confirmation bias -- that by hiring friends

"The best hires I’ve made or seen other companies make are usually friends or friends of friends." perhaps this is confirmation bias -- that by hiring friends your actual relationship becomes the interview and therefore by the time you actually hire, you have pretty much minimized your risk of a bad hire. The other problem is that that this is not a secret. And therefore everyone "networks" and nowadays more and more people see their relationships as a form of currency. When you meet someone new and "interesting" there's a subtle hope for some sort of payoff into the future. Then again, anything I say isn't from experience, just my inner internet troll offering unsolicited criticism. Thanks for sharing your ideas.