Part of my problem is that head hunters are so interested in getting their cut that they don't listen to me. I don't need meaningful. Heaven knows, I've done lots of meaningless things for one company or another. All I ask for is a decent work environment and for Perl to be one of the main requirements of the job.

By the way, I think the average cut for a head hunter agency in this area is 20-30% of first years salary.

Try www.headhunter.net, a lot of companies is posting jobs there without headhunters.
average cut for a head hunter agency in this area is 20-30% of first years salary.

So what? It's not from your pocket - company pays it, and they make sure headhunter delivers for it. If you can find jobs without them, do it.

I worked couple months as a recruiter in placement agency. I will recommend this experience to each graduate - do it for 3 months for free as an intern! It will teach you the other side of business: That you have 10 job descriptions you are working with, and hundreds or thousands potential candidates. Sometimes you have the same positions what are posted on net. But you know more about the company than what is posted: because company is your client, you know something about inside politics in company, what they plan to do next, what thay really need (but HR did not want to print it in ad). You work with same manager hiring programmers for months, you know him by voice in phone. If you send him many wrong candidates without screening, you lose his business. You know how interview with previous candidate went, and why s/he was rejected, or why salary negotiation fizzled.

You'll be able to read hundreds of resumes, learn how simple they should be, and how to make recruiter's job simpler (so make your resume be more likely to be picked).

Really, I recommend any young programmer to try to play the other side.

pmas

To make errors is human. But to make million errors per second, you need a computer.

I know what you mean about the head hunters. Last time I switched jobs I got asked about 12 times to go for interviews at companies looking for C++ programmers! I'd also get agencies phoning up and asking me what skills I had and that was the first section of my CV - right under my name for crying out loud.

And you never get offered an interview for the tantalising job that got you to apply through the agency in the first place....

Am I the only person with good experiences with a head hunter? 9 months ago, I moved from the USA to Europe. On a Sunday, I posted my resume on a website. Monday morning 9.30 I got called by a recruiting office. Chatted for a while to find out what I wanted, and then it was decided I was best helped by one of their other recruiters, who called me back half an hour later. Talked several times that day, and by the end of the day, he had set me up with 2 interviews on Wednesday. On Friday morning, I had a third interview, and by noon on Friday I had 3 offers.

Half a year later, the company I then worked for was heading for bankruptcy, so I resigned. Called the same recruiter, late on a Friday afternoon. By 7 PM he had arranged 2 interviews for me, one on Monday, one on Tuesday. While I was interviewing on Monday, an interview for a third company was set up, also on the Monday, and I went back to the first company for a second interview that same Monday. By Wednesday, all three companies had made me offers and the option to interview with a fourth company.

Of course, that doesn't help you with your search in Manhattan. I don't know any recruiters/head hunters there (but I wouldn't have a problem finding work there, networking beats most head hunting). I do have one advice though. Don't try to get something as a "Perl Programmer". That's very limiting. Try to present yourself as being broader that just being able to program in Perl.

-- Abigail