Personality or who you know comes before merit. It shouldn’t but it does.
In the USA, they’ve had periods of merit-only systems but they rarely last more than a few decades.
The last merit-based system (pure testing) was Civil Service. My mother was there during the change. She got into a government position purely on merit in the late 70s. Took a test. Got in. Had some more advancements doing tests. [she’s good at test taking].
Then one day, she tells her boss she’s going to take a test for a position. He says, “Oh, you really don’t need to do that.” She’s indignant, says, “Oh so you want me to stay in this position?” He replies, “Oh no, nothing like that at all but really, there’s no need for you to take the test for that position.”
Anyway, she takes the test as she always had before. This was the mid-1980s. She got #1, a co-worker, another women got #2 and a man got #3.
They drop the position. Six months later, the position reappears under another title and there’s another test. She again tells her boss she’s taking it. “Oh, there’s no need for that…” he says and things like it.
She takes it. AGAIN she’s #1 and this man is #2.
They drop the test. Three months later, it shows up a third time with slightly modified requirements.
This time, she didn’t take it. The merit system was only for show at that point. The man got the position, as it was intended in the first place.
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