Reading this reminded me of a humorous Onion video titled "Report: 95% Of Grandfathers Got Job By Walking Right Up And Just Asking" [0].
Scrolling around the comments, I'm not seeing any stories newer than the 90's. Given the layers of HR rules, proprietary software shenanigans, and corporate management, I expect similar stories are rare today.
Depends on the size of a firm. If you rock up to a small firm and talk to the owner, you could well get a job, they don't have HR rules and corporate management.
Scrolling around the comments, I'm not seeing any stories newer than the 90's. Given the layers of HR rules, proprietary software shenanigans, and corporate management, I expect similar stories are rare today.
[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV_6RYVbNaw