I try to leave the recruiter comments alone since I have an obvious incentive to rebut them but this one I will. While I do work for my clients, I give a level take to ophthalmologists looking for jobs. There have been times when a clearly better deal has been offered and I do not try to steer people from those. I tell people I do not work with everyone and as such they can compliment my efforts with their own. There are also areas where I don't have anything that I'm happy to relay who I have heard good things about in those markets. As an example, I have a decent amount of clients in southern California. There are a lot of new grads that want to go there and many relay they want a more lifestyle practice, I tell them to look into Kaiser. Kaiser will never use an outside recruiter, I am fully disincentivized from relaying that info yet I'm even relaying it here. I present PDFs with things to consider when conducting a job search, red flags to lookout for, some of which I've gleaned from this forum and the ophthalmologists who are active here. Finally, I do not work with every practice that asks me to and there are practices I've severed ties with due to feedback I've received.
My fees are also fixed with each practice, so I have no incentive to steer you to a "best fee". I also wouldn't say I'm rewarded if there's a failure, why would an ophthalmologist want to work with me again if I sent them to a job that didn't work out?
Anyone working with me is fully welcome to request my upfront opinion on the market, PE vs non-PE, market salaries, etc before we ever talk about practices, their preferences, or locations they're considering. I also have no problem giving feedback on other practices and what I've heard good things about even if I don't work with them. I know who my main competitors are and how I can be better than them. I get that you guys get all kinds of emails about far flung locations paying $1mil+ per year and recruiters are annoying - especially the ones who won't tell you the specific practice they're working for. I try to be more concise than my competitors, I try to reach out about jobs I think are worthwhile. I also know that I relay a more nuanced perspective on each of my client practices and the market at large than my competitors - hopefully my regular postings here have shown that.