The key with recruiters is to find one that is like you. Read their messages and if they say something that &quot;hits on something&quot; for you, then go with that one. Trust your gut!<p>The benefit of a recruiter is that you won&#x27;t have to do the whole &quot;meet for coffee&quot; thing, where the company does an initial check to make sure you don&#x27;t have any crazy red flags. With a recruiter, you &quot;meet for coffee&quot; once, he vets you (or tells you you have a big red flag), and then does your leg work.<p>A recruiter is also your negotiator. The money they make is dependant on your salary, so it&#x27;s in their best interest to get you the highest salary possible. I suck at negotiating, so I really appreciate this aspect of recruiters.<p>And if you picked the right recruiter and they are open with you, they can really help cut through the bullshit that are most job postings. They&#x27;ll say things like &quot;This posting says X, but I talked to the CTO and he really just needs someone to take a functional spec and build an interface out of it&quot;.<p>Without a recruiter, you&#x27;ll need your wits about you, lest you end up being deceived by a flowery job posting. And you&#x27;ll need to have confidence and a firm understanding of your abilities so you can negotiate a good salary. You&#x27;ll have to pour through job sites and you&#x27;ll submit the same application form over and over and over... It&#x27;s tiring.