[evadne]

If I really would like to work on something, I will start a company and hire people.

Talent agents exist because there is no good way to vet a large amount of people within months; there is no common standard. Or that they are required to poach heavy duty supercharged engineers who are already swamped by other recruiters. In both cases they may get paid 10% of their candidate’s first year’s salary as commission for a successful hire, so they may optimize for fast instead of good.

The services outlined here are standard. Unfortunately some recruiters punch below their weight…

There is an oversupply of people who can code, but seemingly still an under supply of great ones in my opinion. Therefore, an agent needs to profit on the paranoid and the desperate because they also work month to month.

I will possibly not pay more than a few hundred bucks for such a service as a candidate for a “permanent” job as I am not desperate enough yet (because I like to negotiate my own contracts without intermediaries), but hiring managers seem to like to chase folks with checkbook in hand. ;)