What We Know vs. Who We Know

I think that both what you know and who you know are important but in the end I think who you know is the more important. I think that sometimes it is hard to quantify what we know in the small amount of time allowed in an interview process. Prospective employees can say what skills they know and what they are capable of and even if they back those points up with some sort of evidence, this self-presentation will always be taken with a grain of salt by the interviewer. Now, if that same interviewer hears by word of mouth what the interviewee is capable it's a different scenario. It's credible and objective and it carries much more weight than what we say about ourselves. After a little promotion for his most recent book, The Power of Who, Executive Recruiter and author Bob Beaudine said in an interview on Fox Business that "80% percent of jobs are placed by a friend." If this is in fact the case, and I think it is, the higher up the business world our network of friends extends the better our careers will be.