See Our Final 2024 Hall of Fame Inductees!

This is it! We’ve reached the end!

The end of what, you may ask? The innocence? High inflation? The world?

No, no, and not yet. Instead, we’ve reached the end of our 2024 Top Echelon Hall of Fame induction announcements.

During the past several weeks, we’ve inducted individual recruiters—both current members and past members—and entire agencies. This week, we finish with two recruiters and one agency.

All right, I’ll share the names of this week’s inductees upfront. Don’t let anybody tell you that I’m not a nice guy. Here they are:

• John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.
• Larry Gallin of Gallin Associates
• First Search, Inc.
  

Happy? You should be! This is a great time to celebrate. Our inaugural HOF class is in the books, TE Connect Fall 2024 is next week, and it’s officially “pumpkin spice” season.

What’s not to love?

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NO JOKE: You know the saying: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, that saying does not apply to recruiters, especially long-time members of Top Echelon’s recruiting network.

Not that we’re necessarily calling John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc. old when his agency joined Top Echelon Network in 2012. However, by that time, he had been a search consultant for 32 years. Usually, when a recruiter is used to doing things a certain way for that long, they’re hesitant to change their ways, especially if those ways have been successful.

But John did just that, and in the process, he accomplished a significant feat: making 101 split placements in Top Echelon over the course of the next 12 years. John, who specializes in Chemical Engineering, served in the U.S. Navy from 1971 to 1975, then worked at AT&T Bell Labs from 1977 to 1980 before becoming a recruiter.

According to John, his mantra in life is “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” an outlook on life and business that is a perfect fit for Top Echelon Network membership. John and his life live in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and his hobbies include reading non-fiction books, going to concerts, and joke telling. He is especially passionate about jokes.

“If you have a good joke,” said John, “tell it!”

According to Top Echelon President and CEO Mark Demaree, John’s tenure in the Network has certainly been no joke. Not many recruiters can crank out more than 100 split placements in 12 years’ time. It’s not a Top Echelon record, but it’s still quite admirable.

“John has enjoyed a stellar career in the recruiting profession, and his time in the Network has been equally impressive,” said Mark. “He’s an excellent example of the type of recruiter—and person—who can excel within Top Echelon.”

We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of John Peterson into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!

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THROUGH THE YEARS: The recruiters in Top Echelon Network have been among the most successful, longest turned search consultants and headhunters (do we call them that anymore?) within the profession. Some of them have recruited for 30, 40, and even 50 years.

Larry Gallin of Gallin Associates is one such recruiter. Gallin Associates was founded in 1976, and Larry made his first TE placement in September of 1997.

Since that first Network split placement 27 years ago, Larry has added another 120 TE placements to his resume, thus solidifying his place in the Top Echelon Hall of Fame!

Gallin Associates specializes in technology-focused recruiting. The agency conducts searches for Sales, Marketing, Engineering, IT, Manufacturing, and Management positions.

While Larry has worked both sides of the split placement process during his time in Top Echelon, he has excelled in recent years as an exporter. (An exporter is a recruiter who “exports” candidates or provides viable candidates to the job order recruiter in a potential split placement situation.)

According to Top Echelon President Mark Demaree, Larry has continued to produce at a high level since 1997, fully leveraging the tools and resources of Top Echelon to generate revenue and help his agency grow.

“Larry Gallin has been a stalwart member of Top Echelon Network down through the years,” said Mark. “His knowledge, experience, and talent have constituted a valuable contribution to Top Echelon and to his trading partners.”

We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of Larry Gallin into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!

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FAMILY AFFAIR: It’s been quite a journey for First Search, Inc.

One of the founders of First Search, Al Katz, has already been inducted into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame on an individual basis. Early in this career—and early within First Search’s Top Echelon Network membership—Al established himself not only in terms of split placements, but also contract placements.

In fact, First Search made a whopping 726 contract deals through Top Echelon Contracting (TEC), which was established in 1992. (TEC has since undergone a name change and is now known as Foxhire.)

Since then, Al has made 161 direct hire TE placements as a Network member. In addition, Al’s daughter Sarah has joined the First Search team, and she’s “hit the ground running” in Top Echelon Network since doing so.

Sarah started in the profession in 2019 and she made her first TE split in 2021. She’s added 27 more TE placements since then, including nine in this year alone. Sarah’s contributions have helped boost First Search’s all-time placement total within Top Echelon Network to 227 placements.

According to Sarah, First Search’s trading partners have been and continue to be central to the success of the agency within TE Network.

“All of the split partners we work with, we consider them as part of our team,” she said. “You have to work as a team in order to make splits. We might be asked to prescreen candidates or help along the interview process, and we have no issue helping in whatever way we need to. Our split partners are an extension of First Search.”

We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of First Search, Inc. into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!

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Be sure to check The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog—as well as Top Echelon’s official LinkedIn account—for future announcements regarding The Top Echelon Hall of Fame . . . including when the 2025 inductees will be revealed!