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