[vic_nyc]

I wish agents existed, at least for the contract market. Once a contract is finished, it could take a while until one finds the next gig, so having an agent would definitely help. A dream of mine was (before getting married and 'settling down') to be able to work contracts 6-9 months of the year, and to travel the rest. Temporary contract work would be ideal for that scenario.

I understand why the recruiting market is skewed in favor of recruiters and companies, yet I wish there was a bit more quality for engineers. In my 10+ years in IT, I have only met one reliable recruiter - someone I could call upon when I had a need, and who knew my background and skills. 99% would forget about me as soon as that particular position was filled.

[jobu]

The only good experiences I've had with recruiters has been with those employed directly by the company they're hiring for. There probably are good independent recruiters out there, but they're overwhelmed by the shysters.

[mallyvai]

Freelance and contract engineers do have options - Aline mentioned http://www.10xmanagement.com/ in her post. There's also http://toptal.com.

[mrfusion]

Can anyone vouch for those services? Are they worth it?

[usernamepc]

The best recruiters at staffing agencies function like talent agents and prefer to place contractors on gig after gig because they know what they are looking for and won't waste their time with irrelevant opportunities. The spammers you see are usually newbie recruiters from bad agencies.

Our website http://www.oncontracting.com aims to help contractors discover the best staffing agencies and recruiters based on the clients they have. The idea is if you are interested in contract jobs at Google or eBay, you should be able to discover and connect with only recruiters that can get you gigs there.

[fillskills]

It is very hard to find a good recruiter who is actually concerned about their engineers. Haven't found one yet