I sort of agree with you, but there's also a form of over expectation from recruiters and HR services. In order to pass the screening tests, sometimes applicant must have demonstrated skills to save the world, and have proven track records of having done so. 3 times. I read this linkedin blog entry a few days ago where it was said that in order to be considered worthy of an interview, the applicant must show how much of a difference he brought in his previous job. This is completely silly. Not everyone can claim to have raised the company income by 235% by successfully reorganising from scratch the workflow of the engineering team. I am only slightly exagerating. Maybe that's just me taking things too literally. Or maybe I suck at what I do, but everywhere I worked, success was more the result of good teamwork than of the efforts of one single person. Yet simply stating that one is a good team player is not enough.
Yeah, everyone can say: I am a good team player. And every HR can say: Our company provides the best working environment. Hypocrisy on either sides leads nowhere, but it seems like it's still the expected standard.
I think that a linkedin profile can be enough. And if the profile isn't publicly accessible, there might be a good reason: privacy. So why not simply ask? At least it would show that the application is being processed. Or perhaps there's an option somewhere on Linkedin which let a user directly grant access to his profile to people handling job offers when they apply, and you just rant about those not seeing that option.