[brianwawok]

> Recruiters are often paid x% of one year's base salary. In this case, your interests are aligned with the interest of the recruiter.

This is often true, but not exactly true. Freakanomics has a study on something similar, real estate agents. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jO_w6f8Ck

The difference between you making 130k and 150k may only be 2k difference for the recruiter, which in the interest of getting the job filled is very small. However to YOU, the difference is 20k which can be life altering.

[abannin]

I think the better counter argument is that many recruiters work on retainer, which lowers the marginal incentive for a hire.

[brianwawok]

Or of course internal recruiters, which want to minimize the cost to the company.