On the competence question I find my own experience frustrating. I can be very competent in certain areas, and barely functional in others.
I've also thought about taking on technical recruiting because it's done so poorly (at least in Sydney, the author is in Melbourne). I think one of the limitations is that it's an industry issue rather than specifically a recruiter issue. I remember patio11 had a summary of his StockFighter (StarFighter?) platform in an old podcast and the issue he ran against was that he'd present pre-vetted, high quality candidates, who would then be put on the normal HR-driven hiring track.
I've also thought about taking on technical recruiting because it's done so poorly (at least in Sydney, the author is in Melbourne). I think one of the limitations is that it's an industry issue rather than specifically a recruiter issue. I remember patio11 had a summary of his StockFighter (StarFighter?) platform in an old podcast and the issue he ran against was that he'd present pre-vetted, high quality candidates, who would then be put on the normal HR-driven hiring track.
Edit: Best summary I could find was from his co-founder here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37988758