It should not IMO (and almost certainly will not) be made illegal. I’ve worked with or near maybe 1000 people in my almost 30 year career. Many of them I’d love to work with again or to refer to friends’ companies. Others, I have the opposite opinion.

It seems beyond unreasonable that I couldn’t make use of that information in choosing who I will work with professionally.

To me, it’s a clear-cut freedom of association (and/or a freedom of speech) right.

Referrals aren't a silicon valley thing or even a tech thing. The first bit of advice you get from anyone when it comes to a job search in any field is to leverage your network.

It's not about discrimination, it's because the single best way to know if someone can pull their weight and mesh with the team is if an existing, trusted member of the team can vouch for them. On the flip side, the single best way to know if a job is worth pursuing is to have it recommended by a trusted colleague.

Why would you not use those signals? And why in the world would any government make networking illegal? The economic impact on every sector would be insane!

Referrals mean very little at large tech companies. They basically just guarantee you an initial screen. I’m bombarded with enough recruiter BigTech spam for jobs, I’m sure getting an interview at another one wouldn’t be a problem.

I’m also much older and darker than your stereotypical “tech bro” and they actually put me in front of customers. Imagine that!

Not sure why you are being downvoted. I share your concern. I'm a minority and moved to the US some years ago. I don't think I share the same college connect or social connect that people have. This puts me at a disadvantage for these referral only hires.

Referrals are good source of attracting people, they can be used for additional data points.

I'd love to see what the break down of demographics of people hired using this practice.