New Recruiters and my Database

So I made one of my resumes on Monster public.  Perhaps not surprisingly, this has brought on a new set of recruiters.  I got an e-mail today with a possible job and I got a phone call yesterday.  You know, I'm really surprised at the number of recruiting agencies here.  I seem to encounter more and more of them as I go.

So yesterday's phone call was interesting.  Before I get into that, I should describe my job search process.  I have an Access database tracking my job search activities.  Every time I apply to a job or even check a company's website to see if they have any interesting positions, I create a record in my database for that.  As there are a lot of companies here, my database has hundreds of records. 

Yesterday, the recruiter asks, "Have you applied at [large medical company that rejected me]?" and I respond that they rejected me.  And then he asks about another medical company and I say that I've applied there too.  And then another company, this time smaller and I say that when I last checked, they didn't have any open positions for my skills.  Of course, he says, "Well, I know the hiring manager there and maybe I can help you."  This went on for a while.  Every company he named I had either already checked out or applied to.  Why do I even need these people?  I have heard of damn near every company in the twin cities that might employ someone like me.  But let's see if he actually has some pull.  I'm guessing he'll be like the other recruiters I've met; I have yet to hear from any of them in the past month with any positions.