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I'm not sure if the "know so much" idea applies to me. I read a couple of books is all, and some articles. James Fallows, in some of his essays in e.g. The Atlantic Monthly 20 years ago, treated the subject of credentialism pretty seriously, and I kept his article (somewhere). The Peter Principle and Parkinson's Law talked about credentialism and hiring quite a bit, and the phenomenon of adding job quals just to cut down the crowd of interviews. Parkinson famously pointed out that anyone advertising a job that literally anyone could do, should run instead a starchily-worded ad requiring a person with knowledge of the Hungarian language, experience as a fire-eater/sword-swallower, preferably with experience as well with slack-wire acts. That's how you winnow 40,000 interviews down to just one. Mission accomplished.

the phenomenon of adding job quals just to cut down the crowd of interviews

Understandable, especially considering the fact that there are many who are dishonest with their resumes and job history (as if they won't be found out). Anyways...the world of academia has certainly changed (much for the worse) from where it began.