Like Mike said, it never hurts to talk. I usually have a quick email interchange or phone call. Usually I’ll have a few people to recommend. I’m always happy to recommend people for several reasons, chief among them, it is just good karma. Help a friend out with a recommendation, you never know how that may or may not come back to you, but it doesn’t hurt. Help out a recruiter with a few names on a job you don’t want, when they do have that job you want who do you think they will push?