When I was looking recently I got tons of calls from recruiters (I have a few marketable skills like SCCM/VMWare/etc). I feel like the job prospects I got from them were generally not great. Maybe one email out of 15 was worth my time getting back to them.
My advice: don't be afraid to dump recruiters who aren't doing you any good. There are some who work very hard to try to find the right match for both you and the companies they serve, but in my experience
the majority just spray and pray you all over the place. A few random thoughts:
- I had more than one recruiter tell me he/she was good friends with the hiring manager of the company they were sending me too. This appears to be a meaningless phrase they use to convince the job seeker that they're not the spray-and-pray type.
- Some recruiters ask for references way too early. I had one contact me about a pretty interesting job that I'd be able to interview for in a few weeks, then ask for references. She called my references, but then I never heard back from her. And yes I know my references would only say good things so that's not the problem.
I was miffed though that she wasted my contacts' time without anything more solid on the table.
- Tell-tale sign of the spray-and-pray recruiter is offering something you're clearly not interested in, then offering it again later. I had one guy contact me about a job with an MLM company, where I'd be expected to work every night until 9 PM. I said no thanks but he ended up asking me about it two more times. >__<
- You may feel obligated if they get you an interview and explain a bunch of stuff, but remember it's just business. The second you tell them you got a job somewhere else they'll blink out of existence never to be seen again.
Specifically talking about contract work, make sure you do and then re-do the math to make sure you understand how much you'll actually be making. I had a couple prospects that were contract positions and the salary number was "OMG" level high until I realized how much everything else will cost. Figure out insurance, taxes, and a couple weeks vacation and see what the number is after paying for all that.