"He’s interviewed Ivy Leaguers and dropouts; and as a result, he has helped shape countless “A teams” and every other kind of team, then watched those teams suceed or fail."
Really? I've never seen a recruiter follow up with any candidate whatsoever, and I've interviewed hundreds of candidates from the employer side. So I have serious doubts about his ability to shape or understand how a candidate can affect an organization. The feedback loop just doesn't exist - companies don't provide outside entities (recruiters) feedback about their hired employees. The legal risk alone is too high.
Case in point: "[Y]ou don’t need the whole staff to be engineering geniuses. You need a couple really bright people who know what they’re doing, and then, just don’t turn down people who can do the job."
really, I only need a couple of people who know what they're doing? What exactly are the rest of the engineers doing? They don't know what they're doing, but can follow instructions from those who do? I'd rather just not hire those people to begin with. According to Jon Marcus then, I'm part of the problem. Except, he has a real financial incentive to place marginal people, since he gets 20-25% of the first year salary. What do you think that does to his opinion of hirability?