Also, agency models are based around ongoing negotiations needed multiple times per year. (also also, agency models are closely tied to union models which freak

Also, agency models are based around ongoing negotiations needed multiple times per year. (also also, agency models are closely tied to union models which freaks out tech employers.) Employees aren't supposed to be job hopping every 3 months. Sure, job hopping happens, but you should eventually reach some steady state where you're not moving every 9 months. Retaining a personal agent to do nothing after you get stable and are employed for 4 years is a waste. The current drive-by-recruiter model exists because developers are valuable and companies don't know how to find them on their own. The entire developer+job problem is a classic information asymmetry issue. If all companies registered their open jobs publicly at a centralized site (then if the same site knew all available developers and their skills) then the site could match available developers to openings [modulo culture fit, relocations, aggressive salary negotiations, etc]. Maybe it could even stabilize salaries so we correct the pay rates. A lot of developers generate in excess of $5 million in value every year yet get paid 1/40th to 1/30th of their productive output. Basically we need a non-evil version of LinkedIn combined with Angel List combined with Indeed. Jobs would have to be better specified (no 10 years nodejs required!!!) and people would need to be better specified (not 'recommendations' or 'credentialing' — perhaps trust-but-verify). Then tricky issues come into play like: do you let companies who interview you post their subjective "skills scores" back to your profile? Maybe that is allowed, but then as profile owner you can reject bad reviews. Lots of options and lots of opportunity. Just takes focus and marketing and ambition to drive it home.