I appreciate the proactive suggestion, but I don't think introducing agents as additional gatekeepers would be a good solution.

Think of how awful getting work in acting has become thanks to agents. Would we want to give the keys to the kingdom to a middle-person? And who would step up to be the first set of agents? I bet it would be the same recruiters we all love to hate.

Much has been said about recruiting and hiring and all that. I'll only add that I think the direction things are headed in seems to be that developers are going to start needing a portfolio by which potential employers can judge them.