> I’ve hired people based on these emails ... but today it’s almost all pitches.

Interesting that the years-ago outreach that turned into a job offer is fondly remembered, but today's outreach from someone in the same position is pejoratively described as a pitch.

I understand the sentiment and the environmental necessity for this defensiveness, but it does feel like a ladder is being pulled up. God help anyone currently trying to make connections "from below". Seems impossible.