With some companys it does matter. One I was part of would not interview anyone without a recommendation. This sounds hard but it was a company which had quite a few ultra long haul operations. It also prided itself on it's CRM training. The chief CRM trainer was often heard to say that CRM started in the interview. And you don't want to fly to Japan with a w@nker, as a small niggle at the planning stage could develope into a ten story high problem with flashing neon lights 10 hours later over Siberia.
That company had a policy which proteted itself - and generally it worked.
The company I fly for now has a different policy. They don't want recommendations - they prefer to make up their own minds with no inerference from it's pilots trying to get their mates a job.
I don't know which system works best, but the latter does save me trips to the office!