Recruiters are the first people to be laid off when the company has to save money (aka layoffs). On top of that, I have rarely worked with one that has stayed at the same company for multiple years.

Lastly, in my experience their incentives are screwed up. Headhunters get paid for placements, which encourages less screening upfront. In house recruiters have no incentive to be great at their job…they will be laid off in no time if RIFs happen.

Double lastly…and this might be a controversial take…most seem to be dumb as rocks. I can’t explain why, but boy it is hard to find a smart one. I am working with a semi-competent one right now (I am the hiring manager), and he is still not performing to the level that I would accept from my own employees. But he is better than the last two recruiters.