I know most of you know this, but after having dealt with both recruiters and real companies I can safely say that recruiters are of no practical value.

I've wasted countless months of my life interacting with recruiters and getting nothing out of them. To me it seems they're only after fluffing their client base.
The only time I got a job was through the real companies themselves.

Now I have learned the lesson: stay away from recruiters.

Middle mans are hard.

Even if I use a shared platform to find a job, I would always try to find the technical lead contact and get to talk to him (instead of HR) if possible.

It's far easier to find out what's what when you skip the middle man who doesn't have a clue what you're talking about.

@IntrusionCM That makes sense, even if most companies have a three-step process of: HR-tech lead-CEO.

I have used one to hire for a team and he was good, but he was very much (and rather proud of) ‘knowing what he didn’t know’ - the ones who try to talk like they know engineering inside out beg the question ‘why aren’t you an engineer?’, I don’t think many people dreamed of becoming a recruiter when they grew up so the only real answer is ‘not bright enough’.

Imagine that the are people who do something so meaningless for a living.

Better late than never 🙂

If it isn't a charity and you aren't paying for it, you are the product.
This is also true for recruiters.

Most often, recruiters are paid by employers.
But as a potential employee, you can also hire them to find a matching company for you. They still only get paid after you get hired.

The best way still is to get your new job by word of mouth.
The meatspace social network still is the best way to find a mate - whether for doing business business or doing other business...