James
I found myself in a similar position about 18 months ago. Universally bad. It's a box ticking excercise and a numbers game to them at the end of the day.
Before then, I got jobs based on having working for indviduals in one way or another previously, or it was on personal recommendation.
The market dried up around 2008/2009 and for the first time in nearly 20 years I was out on my own, having to use recruitment "consultancies", which proved roughly equivalent dealing with estate agents and newspaper jounalists in my experience.
Truth is, just like recruitment consultants' own tactics, I found I had to spray my CV about (I had two CVs depending on the job - problem is these days is that people love to pigeon hole expertise, hence my comment about "box ticking").
Sometimes I found that my CV was not put forward despite it being a seemingly perfect match - when I sniffed about afterwards I discovered that the clients had never seen it, and were slightly miffed (as was I!) that they'd never had the opportunity for an interview.
So, in summary, and in my opinion, in the bottom feeding department, recruitment consultants, estate agents and newspaper journalists are roughly equivalent. Just be prepared to spray your CV wide and far, and if you have hybrid skills like I seem to have accumulated (anyone with more than about 10 years work experience _must_ have that don't they?), don't be afraid to have multiple CVs.
I found that reinventing myself for a new set of customers has eventually proved very worthwhile and stimulating, and pushed me to do new things I'd never think I was capable of; it was pretty difficult at first. I wish you the best of luck!
Howard
