I only worked with local recruitment companies back i the day. I’ve met plenty of recruiters in their office an for lunch.

This was pre-remote work. Even now, I wouldn’t just random work with recruitment companies. I work with people. I would reach out to a recruiter on LinkedIn and start a conversation.

Honestly though, at this point in my career, I doubt that I would ever go through a third party recruiter again just because I do have a network.