100% correct. Thank you for bringing that up, Tejas Bhatt.

I could have specified that more clearly, but one of the reasons I wrote this was to help people become “one of those people who knows people.” There are still “good ol’ boys” networks even in the fairly new industries like digital technology — it’s something I see regularly in Indianapolis and read about from other cities as well. For employers, they often do not reach out beyond who they know (and that’s an article all unto itself, and a topic I’ve seen covered thoroughly by some great advocates). While I write to the practitioners — the job seekers in this article — I absolutely acknowledge the depth of the problem you’re presenting and I’m by no means implying this is only on the practitioners to solve.

So to answer your question, I believe the status quo is non-diverse echo chambers, and that’s based on decades of systemic problems that are far beyond my expertise to write about fairly. My goal with this was to enable the job seekers with the tools to increase their visibility and make their way into these networks. And while that is only one piece of a very large puzzle, I do believe it will help lead to more diverse networks.