Marketing Me! Would you pay for a new job?

During the 2002 "dot com" crash, I found myself looking for a new job while my then current company began to flounder. Thinking the boom was still on, I was in for a rude awakening.

First, there were very few open positions in the IT field in any capacity.
Second, positions which were open, were quickly filled by internal candidates (hence the reason we network and market ourselves!).

However, there were some openings in a few companies which I quickly applied for. Naturally, my applications ended up not with the employer, but with a recruiter retained by the company.

And then the recruiter song and dance began.

It occurred to me at that time, would it not have been easier to just have made an offer to the recruiter?

"You get me a job offer within my requirements and I will give you this percentage of my first year's commission or I will write you a check for the full amount my first day of work".

We know why this would not work in my particular scenario, but would it work in general? Would you do it?