Reply #25: In my experience

[FreeJoe]

It is much safer to higher applicants that are recommended by existing employees and to take job offers that come from places where you know people on the inside. I live and work in a fire-at-will state and it is still difficult to fire an employee for poor performance and any large company I've been at. I assume that I'll be keeping anyone I hire for a long time, so I do as much as possible to reduce risk in hiring.

That attitude is common amongst virtually every manager I know. That is why I strongly recommend working as an intern during your summers in college so that you can build those working world contacts and can demonstrate your value to an organization.