Comment by bpm140

Not relying on your network sounds like terrible advice.

Employee: “Hello, hiring manager. I know an incredible candidate for that job we posted last week.”

Hiring manager: “Thanks, employee, but we have hundreds of resumes from strangers, so we don’t need to talk to your contact.”

I’m not saying that never happens? But I am saying that it happens rarely enough that you shouldn’t use it to guide your networking strategy.