Good luck to those searching, it's a horrible bore.
From my time unemployed, one of the advantages I see of using an agency was they would at least give you notification if you didn't get the job. Most companies are hard pressed to pick up the phone / email. At least your contact would be a pushy little sod on your behalf.
Well you were very lucky. That was my number 1 problem with agencies, I never seemed to get feedback.
I'd phone them 2 months later and (because I suppose salespeople hate saying "no" or that they have failed) they'd say something like: "We are still working on it." ...FFS what does that mean???
The main problem with the IT job market is not to reach potential employers, the Internet has made it really easy, but rather that the number of available jobs itself is very limited, with a lot of good candidates applying to each, so one must really have a very good profile/CV and be able to convincingly sell it.
If I were to pay for something while job hunting, rather than paying a dubious agency that will blindly "redistribute" my CV, I'd look for a good outplacement / coaching company with a consultant knowledgeable in my specific industry.
IMHO, this would be much more helpful as it would help you to rationally assess your profile, know your strengths and weaknesses, and from there develop a plan.
I have a coaching consultant paid as part of my redundacy package. Done a myers briggs tests, worked out my personality type, my perfect job, my perfect mate, my CV, a strawman application etc. Thing is I still struggling to find a job that matches the profile
Must say I having made over 300 applications getting very good at writing application letters, perhaps I should start a business as an advisor myself. Scary I put my career experience into Xing the other day and it reported that I spent three years unemployed over the past 20 something... too much contracting I fear ...
A beware, Swiss HR bots really, really, really don't like gaps in the CV. You could have been having fun or something.
I have recently spoken to an Swiss HR person very recently about this, given my sad situation. It is not as big stigma as it used to be. They still don't like it, but they slowly got used to sabbatic years or just bad economic situation. Specially, if it was in 2009... But, be prepared to give a very convincing answer when they ask you what you have been doing. Volunteer work gives a very good impression, improving yourself also. Above all, try to look like you have been very busy with your own affairs . Just my two cents....
Hmm that's maybe where I would approach things differently, instead of focusing on what would be good for you and waiting for it, rather look at the current marketplace, what are the issues the industry is currently facing, how can you help solving them, how do you add value to the organization hiring you. You have to be very good at answering this kind of questions, with a very convincing reasoning of why they really want you on board.
One of the other issues I've seen is that a lot of job opportunities you see aren't really firm, there's a lot coming from a few companies that spam the job boards, either because they think they might need the profile at some point (answering a RFP and already making sure they could hire the right people should they win the business), or just to populate their databases and then try to sell the profiles to employers. This is just so annoying and frustrating when looking for a real job.
Good luck with your search !