It's in your best interest to only use Developer-Approved Recruiters.
Brilliant idea, a Good Housekeeping Seal of recruiters. Who exactly approves the Developers doing the approving?
Linkedin remains the best resource (social proof) to quickly ascertain if you're dealing with a legitimate recruiter or a complete bozo. Look for individuals with a long track record and solid industry background.
It's perfectly acceptable upfront to inquire specific details about their relationship with the client, history, contractual status, and process. If they can't answer those basic questions to your satisfaction, move on.
A good recruiter is interested in engineering a good match between his clients needs/priorities and the personal/professional goals of individual candidates. Not an easy job when dealing with humans.
It's an open source list, feel free to repost to Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, etc. Getting some traction on Austin Digital Jobs.
A) Does the job really exist? Or is this a leadgen tactic? Recruiters want a steady flow of developers walking through the door all day. Hustlers catch prospects with honeypot listings. That's the reality. Once the interview is over, now you're on their list and they can claim to represent a huge pool of talent.
B) Do they really have a good relationship with the company? You're asking me to waste time driving across town for an interview, and pester my references, without showing me your track record?
C) What percentage do they take? Are they pitching me too high? Are they bad at negotiating? Do they have too much overhead?
D) Would I be better off working with another recruiter?
E) What are they not telling me?
etc. etc.
Developer-Approved Recruiters List