[salemh]

That would only make sense if he was significantly increasing his work force (25%, 50%, etc.) to "out save" the ~20% standard fee's on first year salaries for contingent staffing firms. Though I get your point on the "weight in gold," however, seems like he needs a strong internal recruiter to get his/her chops with the culture, team and technology.

Their are a few "boutique" shops around (mostly Silicon Valley) who are fairly technical and can actually understand the requirements of the client, but, they are still on a contingent (so many firms / many candidates) which still comes down a style of "spray and pray."

Most recruiting firms can't specialize (or refuse) in a niche due to the need to "branch out" to keep the money coming in, hence the all encompassing "IT staffing" agencies.

Not fun, I'd love to work in a boutique / specialized model myself as a former (and probably soon to be again) technical recruiter.