As for HR, their incompetence seems more due to the fact that: 1) There seems to be a turnaround rate in HR departments, which if harvested could power a small city 2) The head of HR is usually not given the power to enact proper recruitment efforts (see #1) 3) The level of disorganization is at best amateurish. This is not a personal statement against any HR employees, which seem like great people who are stuck in sinking ship.
During the same time, I was working with a couple of headhunters to find a place for me, some good, some bad. One got me an interview pretty easily, for a job I didn't really fit too well with, but that was cultural really. But that guy was really helpful, and really on task. I had another one though that was super unhelpful because he wanted to talk on the phone before hooking me up with any given job posting, and would only be willing to talk to me during work hours... when I was at work.
You WILL have hit and miss experiences with recruiting, but there's good ones out there.
The great thing about these recruiting companies, is that since the employer pays them for referring you, they do a lot of the job search work for you, and it costs you nothing as a job seeker. This is a life saver if you're currently employed while searching.