Side note about recruiters: Years ago I ended up going to a couple of embarrassing interviews for jobs I was clearly not qualified for, having been talked into it by a recruiter.

Naively, I put this down to inexperience on their part, until I learned that most of them are paid a fee just for providing candidates for interview, regardless of success. Up until that point I'd always assumed they were only paid when a candidate is hired.

Maybe I'm the only one who is that naive, but learning that one simple fact made me a lot more suspicious of their motives.