Jimmy... Headhunters are a rare breed and very superstitious.
They'd just as much as anything submit everybody, qualified for a job or not, to a job opening and have the person interviewed and hired. But, they develop a certain level of experience to know certain things happen under certain job market conditions. If the market were really hot for jobs (they were plentyful), hiring managers at Kevin's clients would be begging for any sort of qualified candidate. But, as Kevin explained, a hiring manager, correct or not in doing so, only seems to want to see workers a bit more current. I ran into it when I was looking in 2001-2003 too. Like Don Catino who told me he wouldn't submit me to a job I was 100% qualified for, because I had only been out of work 20 months, while John Doe was out of work for 22 months. Like I cared!!!