I was talking to a friend about my son getting a job through friends, business contacts, etc., and she said, "Oh, you mean 'nepotism.' No, I didn't because 'nepotism' means getting jobs through family members.

Is there a word for getting jobs through contacts, rather than, for example, reading the ads or going to the Internet? The closest we could come to was "networking," but that really isn't it.

Well, there's also simony the buying or selling of ecclesiastical offices and cronyism favoritism to old friends without regard to their qualifications. I guess it's some kind of favoritism, but I can't think of a word for it except SOP.

The old boy network?

There is an interesting Chinese word "guan(g) xi" which means "connected."

It has overtones rather like a Mafia "made man..."

Hey, maybe 'Mafia' would work!