This has nothing to do with your skills, and everything to do with the way recruiters are paid. Recruiters are paid to find employees, and get a percentage of

This has nothing to do with your skills, and everything to do with the way recruiters are paid. Recruiters are paid to find employees, and get a percentage of their yearly salary when they make a placement. In contrast, agencies and contractors are completely different. It’s normally the job of the agency to find clients, they are not found by recruiters. If youre getting paid $100/hr, it’s likely your agency is charging $200/hr. That may seem unfair, but it’s likely they spent a ton of time and energy trying to find a client who values your work. That extra money supports those client development activities. In many ways contractors/agencies are competing against full time recruiters. I wouldn’t expect them to be your friend.