Another Quartet of Hall of Fame Inductees
We’ve reached yet another week in “Top Echelon’s Epic 95 Days of Summer,” and that means more Hall of Fame induction announcements!
We have another four individual recruiters who have earned Top Echelon HOF status this week. And since we don’t like to hold people in suspense (for too long), the names of those four recruiters are listed below:
- Jim Strickland of BioSource Recruiters
- Bob Millman of AutoPro Technical Recruiting
- Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.
- Gary Schultz of Work 22, Inc.
We’re past the halfway point of our Hall of Fame journey, but don’t fear: there are plenty of exciting announcements and inductions left before TE Connect 2024 in Canton, Ohio next month.
Sure, summer may be flying by, but there’s still plenty of the season left. So grab a cold drink, kick back, and read all about this week’s Hall of Fame inductees!
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CO-BROKE: Agency recruiters and search consultants often lend each other advice about their profession and their business. Throughout the years, numerous recruiters have advised their peers about the benefits of joining Top Echelon’s split placement network.
The next inductee into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame, though, took that exact same advice from this wife. Now, more than 20 years later, Jim Strickland of Biosource Recruiters in Wilmington, North Carolina has made 230 TE split placements and is one of the top billers in the history of the Network.
“When I started recruiting over 24 years ago, I was struggling and then I found out about the TE Network and sharing jobs and creating split placements,” said Jim. “I talked with my wife, who came from a real estate background, and she summed it up best.
“She said learn to ‘co-broke or go-broke.’ So that has been my slogan for the past 24 years and it’s worked for me.”
Actually, to say that it worked would be an understatement. Jim is one of an elite group of recruiters who have made 200 or more TE split placements.
Jim, who specializes primarily in the Pharmaceutical industry, joined TE Network in 2003, just as the economy was pulling itself out of a recession. He, the Network, and the rest of the country then endured the Great Recession a few years later. Jim leveraged the resources of the Network during good times and bad to become one of the most prolific producers in Top Echelon’s history.
“I have been fortunate enough to have been involved with multiple businesses over my career and have always said my affiliation with Top Echelon was the best choice I ever made,” he said.
We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of Jim Strickland into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!
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BOBTIMISM: Quite a few of the recruiters who we’ve inducted into the 2024 class of the Top Echelon Hall of Fame started in the profession right around the time that TE got its start in the world as Nationwide Interchange Service (NIS).
And yes, you guessed it, we have yet another recruiter who meets that requirement!
That recruiter is Bob Millman of AutoPro Technical Recruiting in Oak Park, Michigan. Bob began in the recruiting profession in 1987, one year before NIS embarked upon its humble beginnings. However, Bob didn’t join Top Echelon Network until 1996, but once he did, he “jumped in with both feet” and started making split placements.
According to Bob, Top Echelon’s ability to evolve right along with the profession has been one of the keys to his success within the Network—and in general.
“Top Echelon has been an integral part of my somehow still being in business after all these decades,” he said. “It has been great to benefit from their constant evolution, both in customer service and technically, in order to increase the chances of success with Network membership.”
Also like many of the recruiters who have been inducted into the 2024 class of the TE Hall of Fame, Bob has encountered his share of adversity over the years. This adversity included a recession in 2001, the Great Recession, and the COVID-19 lockdowns.
In addition to his skills and talents as a recruiter, Bob’s success within TE and within the profession can be found in his optimistic attitude and sense of humor. Both of these characteristics come in handy while working a job as stressful as that of a search consultant.
However, despite being in the profession for nearly four decades, Bob shows no signs of slowing down: “Good luck and God bless to all of us, and let’s make some money together!”
We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of Bob Millman into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!
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GOLDEN VOYAGE: Top Echelon’s long, rich history is shared by a handful of recruiters who have been with the Network since the beginning—or almost the beginning.
After all, there’s only one TE Charter Member left: Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems, a 2024 inductee into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame.
Top Echelon was founded in 1988 as Nationwide Interchange Service (NIS) by Mike Kappel and Mark Weinland, the same year that recruiter Larry Radzely founded Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc. in Aberdeen, New Jersey.
While Larry did not join NIS—er, I mean Top Echelon—in its inaugural year of 1988, he did so three years later in 1991. Since then, Larry’s membership and Adel-Lawrence Associates have grown in tandem. Recently, Larry reached the 100-placement plateau within TE. Meanwhile, his agency received national accolades by being listed by Forbes magazine as one of the “Top 250 Professional Recruiting Firms” in the United States in 2017.
Larry and his agency specialize in the nationwide search of Engineering, Technical, and Healthcare personnel. He is a prime example of a recruiter who strategically supplements his recruiting desk with Network resources to make placements that he would not have made otherwise.
Larry is a split-minded search consultant who looks for opportunities to make splits when they make sense and doesn’t hesitate to trust his trading partners to help him get the job done. And that is just one reason that, like Steve Brody, Larry Radzely is a first-ballot HOF member.
“I am truly honored to be recognized by the Network,” said Larry. “If not for TE, I am not sure we would still be in business after 33 years. Thank you . . . and thank you to all my networking partners!”
We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of Larry Radzely into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!
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TRUE BELIEVER: As we’ve already chronicled, Michael Agen of New Solutions Group, LLC and Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources are among the Top Echelon members who have made it to 100 Network placements the fastest.
You can add Gary Schultz of Work 22, Inc. to that list.
That’s because Gary joined Top Echelon Network in June of 2019, and as of right now, he has made 110 TE placements. (Of course, he’s not as far down the road to 200 placements as Keith is, but there’s still time for Gary to catch up.)
Believe it or not, Gary initially viewed other recruiters operating in his niche as strictly competition. “Before I joined [Top Echelon], I didn’t understand the concept of the Network,” Gary said. “My personal belief was that working with another recruiter was deemed competition. Ergo, recruiters did not work together.”
As you can imagine, his stance has changed since becoming a TE Network member. One hundred and ten split placements—and the money that goes along with those placements—has a funny way of doing that.
Not only does Gary make money as a Top Echelon Network member, but he’s also saved money. How, you might ask? Because when Gary joined TE, he worked in a state—California—that has some of the strictest laws in the country concerning the difference between W-2 employees and 1099 independent contractors. As a result, it’s nearly impossible to employ somebody without having to make them a W-2 employee, which is the costlier option for a recruiting agency owner. According to Gary (who now lives in Florida), the Network largely eliminates the need for hiring other recruiters or employees.
“With Network membership, you can have access to all of these [job orders], but you don’t have to spend any money on hiring recruiters,” he said. “Especially in California, if I hire somebody, I can’t make them a 1099 independent contractor. But with the Network, I can work these jobs and don’t have to hire other recruiters. That right there is a good reason to join all by itself.”
So Gary went from being skeptical of the split placement business model to fully embracing it, leveraging the tremendous value that Top Echelon offers, and maximizing his membership in just about every way that a recruiter can.
We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of Gary Schultz 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 2024 inductees into Top Echelon’s Hall of Fame!