When a company wants to hire a specific person and they have already found that specific person, to comply with employment law, they have to write up a job description so other people can apply for that job. By making that job description so specific that only one person in the known universe satisfies it, they comply with employment law and get to hire the person they want.
I know this because I have gone through this process several times.
Tell me, where is this the law? I know that government positions (VA, universities, etc.) often have to do this, but where is a private company required to allow competitive application to these positions? As I understand it, it's simply corporate policy. But I'd be interested to know where it's actually illegal to hire someone based solely on referral/networking.
I know this because I have gone through this process several times.