For context, I keep a spreadsheet everytime I look for a job, so any stats below are accurate.

1. My resume never goes into a black hole. I always know the status of my resume.

2. I always know the salary they are willing to pay before I start the process.

3. Recruiters generally get me to the top of the pile because I have a a track record of doing well in interviews with them.

4. I know more about the interviewing process because they debrief candidates after their interviews so they can warn me what to look out for.

5. I know what technologies are a must have and what technologies are a nice to have.

Recently, I've seen both sides of the coin from the same recruiter. I got my current job from going through him. Now I work with him to hire developers.

So the stats from my last job search in 2016 using recruiters. All of this was in a two week span.

jobs applied for: 16

recruiting agencies: 8

phone screens: 11

Hiring suspended/Req Closed: 4

offers: 2

in person interviews: 3

rejections: 1 (I took myself out of the running for all the others)

I would have never had that success rate randomly applying for jobs on a job board.

I had 6 phone screens in one day all with different companies.