re: Anybody ever use a staffing company?

Like many things, it really depends on what you skillset is and what you are looking for. Different agencies specialize in different things and within every agency you have different levels of quality of recruiters. Same goes for temp/staffing agencies.

Some large companies utilize staffing agencies for a significant portion of their hires so they don't have to add permanent headcount and then they can choose to convert temp employees if they wish.