Hiring based on github is ridiculous.
However, for college grads, or those without a CS degree and transitioning from a bootcamp, a github account really sets you apart and is becoming a must.
I don't really need to see a GitHub account. Actually, I don't want to see it at all, because I don't have time. Let's just talk about what you've built, what got you excited and what types of things you like to really get heads down in. I'm going to slip in some tech questions during the conversation but if you're a solid programmer you probably won't even notice it. If you're not, you're going to give me a deer-in-headlights look or worse, try to bullshit me. I'm not going to call you on it, but I'm not going to hire you, either.
That being said, we use private bitbuckets for all things internal. It's not as if people couldn't work with git. People are simply not interested in open source / github.
That said, english is a second language here, so that may explain why people are not interested in working on open source projects that are mostly made in english.