I've done the recruiter thing quite a bit early on in my career, so I think I have a little to add here. A good recruiter spends a bunch of time getting to kno

I've done the recruiter thing quite a bit early on in my career, so I think I have a little to add here. A good recruiter spends a bunch of time getting to know people so I can spend that same time working on my skills. They're an expert not only at making friendships, but on finding and understanding what types of jobs these people have. Yes, they are motivated by get-any-deal-done. But I am motivated to take the highest price, and unlike the real-estate example, I can deal with 20 recruiters a week if I want to -- there are no exclusive locks. So it's in my best interests to spread the word about my skills in an easily digestible format to as many recruiters as possible, and to make the best impression on each recruiter as they call (so they'll remember me) After that it's just a numbers game. Let the recruiters fight it out over who has the best jobs, or who is able to deal with clients with really tough problems. Recruiters are tools, as much as they think they are rock stars, their job is just one of providing trust between a party with needs and a party who can provide for those needs. Personally I think the rates some of them charge should be unethical (a percentage off the top for each hour in a multiple-year relationship? Crazy) but their job is to ask for anything. Hey, it's a free country. You can ask for whatever you want, right? I think, from the getting-a-job standpoint, that its just a game. Recruiters call me up and offer me all kinds of low-end, low-ball jobs. They actively try to make me take the lowest rate possible so their split can be higher. They fake parts of resumes. So what? I'm nice to all of them, only deal with the best and honest, and let the rest of them go about whatever they think of as being good business. Even with the most honorable, we haggle over rates and such. That's the way its supposed to be. That's the fun of the marketplace (although it drives many engineers nuts, I understand) Now from the other side of the desk, I can see where recruiters could be a huge pain in the ass -- taking up all sorts of my time talking about positions that they are never going to fill anyway. But even then there are strategies you have to employ to be a good at your part of the game. I just think "you can't trust recruiters" is a bit trite. You can't trust a lot of people of various walks of life. But some you can. So only work with those. Learn the game and play it well. I've had amazing relationships with recruiters. Some are really good people. They have different incentives than me, but that doesn't mean I can't trust them. I just need to understand where they are coming from.