The way I got my current job was by a friend of mine knowing a manager at the company. When I sent in my resume, the manager went to HR and told them “schedule THIS GUY for an interview”.
Glad it worked for you because there are bunches of HR departments that would have told the hiring manager that the only candidates get through the door is with the online application process. And they would have refused to schedule the interview because that didn't follow the process.