Thanks, Christian Beck. My intention was not to ruffle feathers. :)

I understand what you meant was — to become a person lot of people know so when opportunities open up, you are the one they think of. Sadly, it also cuts the other way where, like you mentioned, “old boys clubs” form and the work rarely gets outside of those networks.

It keeps shifting from grey to dark area where on one hand, one can say that private entities are entitled to making decision that way. On the other hand, you never know when that manifests into completely biased hiring.

To go back to the scope of the article, yes I agree that one should create a recognisable brand and reputation that helps them get hired at the best of the places.