Why people without publication can have a good placement?
TIAA-CREF has published an excellent article regarding The Changing Faculty Workforce Models by Adrianna Kezar of the University of Southern California. and can be found at the following URL: www.tiaa-crefinstitute.org
In a nutshell, the document details changes in academia resulting from several external influences that have impacted the traditional faculty model and essentially reducing the tenured faculty to just about 30% of the total faculty employed at US institutions of higher education. On top of that publishing as the key academic initiative for tenure, evaluation has changed as well. As one other pointed out books are one such alternative as are presentations, teaching, service work, and many others too numerous to mention here.
The result for those wanting to make academia a career, the days of tenured professors, earned through publication to certain journals are on the way out. I have seen this myself in over 20 years working as a professor with a Ph.D. In the face of increased accountability, governments are starting to gauge the number of graduates who find employment making them more accountable for the money they receive, this trend will continue to change the traditional academic institution and its faculty.