Yes, it's frustrating. At my previous long term job, I cut IT costs _dramatically_, increased reliability to levels management didn't think was possible (it was _REALLY_ bad before I arrived), and made IT much more responsive, proactive, and well liked by the employees. I left, and was replaced by a guy who on paper looked amazing, but in reality was a disaster. I was asked to come back 5 months later to consult to train him up a bit. he told me exactly how he got the job: he paid for LinkedIn connections (his recruiter told him over 500 is a magic number), paid for endorsements in LI, and flat out lied about his skills on the resume.

And here I am trying to work hard like a schmuck.