[jrjarrett]

So how does someone who is a recruitee get connected with a DECENT recruiter?

All I seem to get are the body shop type places contacting me (aka Robert Half, TEKSystems). I've told them that I would be interested if and only if it would mean a step up, go on to explain my current levels of pay,vacation, sick, bonus, etc, and say if the opportunity isn't better than that, then we have nothing to talk about.

Of course they start trying to hard sell me, and it turns out these places have zero benefits.

I'd entertain discussion with someone looking for my skills that would be willing to pay for them.

[fecak]

I wrote an article a while back on how to find a decent recruiter (http://jobtipsforgeeks.com/2013/08/09/pretty/). You really can't control who contacts you, so to find a good one you'll likely have to do some outreach.

In my eyes the main thing is experience. Young recruiters who haven't made any money yet get tied up in trying to recruit everyone and they don't discriminate. They waste everybody's time - the candidate, the client, and their own. Wave 5K or 10K in front of someone a year out of school and they go bonkers - wave that same amount in front of someone who has been in business for a while, and they know how valuable their time really is.

The recruiters that are trying to squeeze round pegs into square holes haven't figured out the time management side of things yet. If they figure it out at some point, they could have a long career. If they don't figure it out in a couple years, they have to leave the industry (or bounce around between companies until they are unemployable).

Career longevity could mean that the recruiter is the best at sales and skilled at convincing candidates to take any job. But doing that isn't sustainable over years and years - your reputation will eventually catch up to you.

Find someone who has been in the business for a while with a steady work history and experience in your industry. They will be thrilled to hear from you.

[itsdrewmiller]

If you know any hiring managers, they will probably be happy to connect you with the recruiters they work with that they think are the most effective. It's possible that very effective from an employer standpoint isn't the same as very effective for an employee, but I bet it is - things like "actually responding to emails with emails instead of calling your cell phone" are probably appreciated on either side of the bargaining table.