It's probably related to the size of the company. Most of the companies I've worked for in the past have been between 50-200 employees across the entire org. The dev teams were usually around a 10-20 people and the director of R&D often encouraged us (the devs) to recommend new hires. They still had to pass through HR but it was more of a formality and the director had the proverbial majority vote.

Smaller teams are also more tight-knit so recommending a new potential dev wasn't a matter of process - it was literally head down a few doors and have a chat with the director.

I'm sure it's significantly different for huge enterprises where even the teams within the R&D department are heavily siloed.

If you are regarded very highly, if you suggest to your manager there's another person out there like you they will work the system to get that person lined up for an interview ASAP. If you aren't very highly regarded, your suggestions will be put into the HR system and never looked at.

If your manager is inexperienced or not very good then there's nothing you can do about that.

> How does this work, though? Every company I've worked for has an HR system, and resumes flow through it, and there's a set process. If I have worked with a candidate in the past and highly recommend them, all I can do is submit their resume into the great void and check a box "Recommend

I haven't worked for any massive companies with thousands of employees where there might be a lot of bureaucracy, but the few I've worked for ranged from ~100-700 and it was pretty easy to get interviews for referrals. One of my employers encouraged referrals and offered bonuses if it led to a hire.

That's how it works in my company too. The recruitment teams barely work with the engineering teams themselves. You may know a very good fit for the team, possibly even a previous member/intern of that team, and you won't be sure you can put the person into the recruitment loop. And then they'll need to pass the interviews...