You are apparently quite naive about how the world works.

It's not always who you know, but it often is just that.

Organizations like schools, government, unions tend to be very
much of a networked environment prone to cronyism and favoritism.

It is also true that this exists in Private Industry. However, in business we must make a profit. This tends to mean that the best qualified person is hired. There is a network at work in the background in every industry. People know other people, who know other people. They do talk about potential job candidates, but it's mostly off the record because of potential lawsuits.

Steve