Recent research revealed that, by and large, our clients do not read our marketing materials. Given that I spend a lot of time writing and editing the aforementioned materials, I was somewhat disheartened.
The good news was that people overwhelming tend to hear about us from someone else. Given that the drum I most frequently beat says that you get jobs primarily through people to people connections, I felt strangely validated.
If no one reads what you write, but through their actions prove it to be on the money, that's good, right?
In spite of the heavy emphasis on accessing jobs through the internet, the research still shows, as you suggested, that the best jobs come through networks. This has been true over the years and continues with my upper level clients to this day.
My execs tend to view the web research for lower levels only--and rely on long developed networks for their opportunities.
I'm unaware of any research that rejects this position. Indeed, the research by Ronald Burt at Chicago--and many others continues to emphasize the networking as prime.
The latest research shows that well-networked people (networked internal to the corporation--and outside) tend to have more opportunities, get promoted faster, and make more money than those without networks. The few Millennials I've worked with are representative of these conclusions.