I’m at the main meeting of Linux Users of Victoria (my local LUG). A couple of recruiting agents from Interpro [1] are here and have been working the crowd, one of them is on each side of the room and it seems that their plan is to speak to every person at the meeting and ask about whether they are looking for work.
It is apparently difficult for them to find good Linux candidates and they hope to find people here (they are mainly looking for a senior programmer/team leader and an experienced sysadmin). One of my friends is looking for work but he’s got two interviews for arranged for this week so they will have to be quick if they want to get him. I guess this means that the economy must be going well, or at least it’s not too difficult for Linux people to find work (which is what matters the most to me).
Attending the meeting and talking to people is a good business idea for the recruiters and is generally good for members of the group. Before the meeting starts and during the intermission people just hang out and talk, asking them if they are looking for work generally won’t harm anyone and can really help some people. I wouldn’t want to see multiple agencies doing this at every meeting, but I think that having it happen occasionally is a good thing.