I agree generally, but I think the reason executives lean on seniority is because they have no confidence in their own team to make a good technical hire, or spending a lot time/money/effort on the hiring process isn't a priority. They assume if someone has had a job for a few years, that they can't be that bad. Nobody ever got fired for hiring a former FAANG employee.

They started adding tests after this approach failed, and they're making the same mistake in a different way. Having the motivation to grind leetcode is not the same as having the motivation to finish a software project. You'll end up with a lot of people who really want the money, and will suffer any number of hoops, but in the end they really hate the work.