A very few actually DO take an interest in the candidate and the client, and finding a good match. Those are the ones who WANT to understand the industry... the ones who do enough research to realize that it doesn't take an MCSE to do desktop support.... or a CCIE to be a network admin with 2 or 3 Cisco devices.... or that programming and networking jobs are NOT targeted at the same audience.

Those that DO figure out what it's all about... generally succeed. But that's the same in ANY career field.

Sorry to re-open this otherwise dead post but...

The majority of agencies out there have very little people skills. If i had the time or the energy i'm quite sure that i could open up a recruitment agency (and probably be very successful) with a just a few practices:

1) Get some basic knowledge of the field that you're supposed to specialise in

eg: I had an agency phone me up in regards to a junior cisco role and ask me what i'd done previously. I started talking about EIGRP configurations and halfway through i asked them if they were still with me. They said that they'd HEARD of EIGRP!!

Also another asked me to explain OSPF and hen i finished i asked what they thought - they didn't have a clue. Just grabbed some buzzwords and off they went.

2) Customer service

If an agency calls and says that they have the perfect job for you i always ask them to call me back. If they can't be bothered to call back, then i can't be bothered to give 20% of my wages away to them as commission. I know that there are possibly hundreds of candidates but i want to feel special... needed.
If i'm interested in a job and they say they'll call me back and the after 2-3 days i constantly call them but they don't return my calls, i make a note of it. Maybe then they'll call back and say that the job hasbeen filled (or pulled, or whatever the excuse) but that they've got an alternative role all that's in my head is

"Aah, you can remember my number when it's convenient for you, but not when it would be nice to show some courtesy - i'll show you!"

so i let them get hyped up (as they do) and pretend to be interested - i may even go as far as the interview (or telephone interview) and then pull out just when they can smell the money passing through their greasy palms!! I know this isn't very professional but it just gets on my nerves.

3) Try not to be overbearing

Sometimes i think that they forget that the candidate is just as important as the client

eg: No candidates = no clients = no commision

and again i come back - the good recruitment agents are good and their experience comes across on the phone, where as the bad ones just sound slimey!

i think that's enough - i'm not sure if anyone will even read this as it's an old post, bu at least i had my say.

By the way i sourced my current job personally...... no agencies!!