The Impact of Internet Presence on Hiring

As a hiring manager, does somebody's internet presence kind of put any weight on how good or bad their personal site is? I've seen it so many times where people who have basically a text-only website are extremely well-respected and they can get any job they want. It's almost like if you have this reputation online as a design thought leader or whatever you want to call it, your personal site and portfolio might not matter as much. That's been a very personal thing for me because one, I was jealous of those people early on.