From Skepticism to TE Success for Jana Rugg

Sometimes, the best business opportunities are the ones you almost pass up.

Just ask Jana Rugg of Ridgemont Resources, Inc., who initially had some serious reservations about joining Top Echelon Network. She wasn’t sure there were enough opportunities in her recruiting niche, she had concerns about the cost, and she wondered whether participating would require more time and effort than it was worth.

Fast forward five months, and Jana has made four split placements in Top Echelon Network, generating $96,710 in billings. (Editor’s note: That’s before Top Echelon’s 6% brokerage fee and the recruiters involved in the placement split the remaining 94%.)

Of course, Jana didn’t join the Network simply because she woke up one morning and decided to try something new. She had a problem that needed solving. Specifically, she had more job orders than she could realistically handle on her own.

And as it turns out, that problem helped open the door to an opportunity she hadn’t fully appreciated before.

Jana’s experience demonstrates how even recruiters working in specialized niches can benefit from expanding their reach, collaborating with other recruiting professionals, and taking advantage of resources that allow them to serve their clients more effectively.

According to Jana, below are four big takeaways from her experience in TE Network so far.

#1—Sometimes, You Have to Look Beyond Your Initial Assumptions

Before joining Top Echelon Network, Jana had investigated membership on several occasions. However, each time she looked into it, she came away with the same conclusion: There simply weren’t enough opportunities in her specialty to justify joining.

As a recruiter specializing in pharmacy and healthcare, Jana wasn’t seeing many pharmacist candidates or searches in the Network. And that made her question whether membership would provide any meaningful value.

“I looked into it a few times and there were never a lot of pharmacist candidates or searches on there, so I would decide not to join,” Jana said.

But the lack of activity in her niche wasn’t her only concern. She also had some misconceptions about the financial commitment involved.

“For some reason, I thought the monthly fee to join and the percentages TEN keeps were much higher than they are,” she said. “Once I dug in a little more and opened my mind to it, I realized it was not a huge financial risk to give it a try.”

That realization was important, but Jana still had another reservation.

She was worried about wasting time.

After all, building relationships with other recruiters takes effort. There are conversations to have, expectations to establish, and job orders to discuss. And if those activities don’t eventually lead to placements, they can become an expensive distraction from the business of recruiting.

“I also thought that it could potentially be a big waste of time,” Jana said. “I was concerned I’d have to invest a lot of time to meet and greet and discuss orders with a bunch of other recruiters, with the result being no real efforts or results due to my niche.”

Her skepticism wasn’t entirely theoretical, either. She had previously attempted to collaborate with recruiters outside of the Network, with limited success beyond a handful of one-time split placements.

So Jana had legitimate reasons to be cautious.

However, there’s an important distinction between being cautious and being unwilling to reconsider your assumptions. And when Jana took a closer look at what Top Echelon Network could offer, she began to see things differently.

Sometimes, the opportunity isn’t immediately obvious because you’re looking at it through the lens of what hasn’t worked before.

For Jana, keeping an open mind ultimately made all the difference.

#2—The Right Recruiting Partners Can Help You Handle More Job Orders

As every agency recruiter knows, having too many job orders is a good problem to have.

Until it isn’t.

When Jana reconsidered joining Top Echelon Network, she was operating as a solo recruiter and experiencing an influx of search assignments. Business was coming in, but there were only so many hours in the day.

And Jana had reached the point where she needed additional recruiting resources.

“What brought me to reconsidering TEN was having an influx of job orders and being a solo recruiter at that time, not being able to personally manage so many search projects and do a great job of it,” she said.

Just how many job orders was she juggling?

More than 25 active searches.

“I needed help quickly because I had over 25 active searches on my desk and a strong desire to fill them and please all the clients!” Jana said.

That’s a substantial workload for any recruiter, much less somebody managing an entire recruiting desk alone.

And while having that many opportunities is certainly preferable to having none, it also creates challenges. Clients expect results. Candidates need attention. Searches require consistent activity. And the longer a position remains open, the more difficult it can become to maintain momentum.

Jana recognized that she needed a way to expand her recruiting capacity without sacrificing the level of service her clients expected.

That’s when she decided to give the Network a chance.

“I decided to throw a few positions out there which were a bit outside of my niche, some HR positions for example, as well as a couple of hard to fill pharmacist roles,” she said.

That decision turned out to be a productive one.

Instead of trying to handle every search herself, Jana could tap into the recruiting expertise, candidate sourcing capabilities, and professional relationships available through other Network members.

And those recruiters didn’t necessarily need to specialize in pharmacy to make a contribution.

“Even though there are not a lot of recruiters specializing in my space in the network, there are recruiters willing to get out there and dig for candidates,” Jana said.

That willingness to do the work has already produced tangible results.

Four split placements in five months, to be exact.

The lesson is that you don’t necessarily need a large internal recruiting team to pursue more opportunities. Sometimes, you simply need access to the right external recruiting partners.

For Jana, Top Echelon Network provided that access at precisely the time she needed it.

#3—Split Placements Can Expand Your Reach Beyond Your Recruiting Niche

One of the biggest benefits Jana has discovered through Top Echelon Network is that membership allows Ridgemont Resources to do more than simply fill additional pharmacy positions.

It also helps the firm pursue opportunities outside its traditional recruiting specialty.

That’s an important distinction.

Recruiters who specialize in a particular industry often develop deep relationships with their clients. They understand their clients’ businesses, hiring challenges, and organizational needs.

However, those clients don’t always need to hire people within the recruiter’s primary specialty.

A healthcare organization might need pharmacists, but it might also need human resources professionals, technology specialists, or employees in other functional areas.

Without additional recruiting resources, those opportunities might be difficult to pursue.

With Top Echelon Network, Jana now has another option.

“Both candidates and clients have a wider reach; I’ve been letting clients know about this new tool/resource and they are all impressed and excited to know that we can now help them more effectively with positions outside of our pharmacy specialty,” she said.

That’s a significant advantage for an agency looking to strengthen its existing client relationships.

Rather than limiting conversations to pharmacy recruiting needs, Jana can offer clients access to a broader range of recruiting expertise through her Network trading partners.

“While we might not be HR or Tech recruiters, we now have a team of partners who can help us when our healthcare and pharmacy clients need non-pharmacists,” Jana said. “And we can take advantage of a wider reach for our harder to fill pharmacy roles.”

In other words, the benefits work in both directions.

The Network can help Jana find candidates for difficult pharmacy searches, and it can also help Ridgemont Resources pursue positions that fall outside the firm’s traditional area of expertise.

That means more opportunities to serve existing clients, more potential placements, and more ways to generate revenue.

And the financial results are already speaking for themselves.

When asked about the benefits of Network membership to her agency, Jana didn’t hesitate.

“So far….$96,710 in billings that may not have happened otherwise!” she said.

That’s nearly $100,000 in billings from four split placements in just five months.

Of course, Jana’s business has continued to evolve since she joined. She’s recently added recruiters to her team, giving Ridgemont Resources more internal recruiting support than she had when she first became a member.

But that doesn’t mean she sees less value in the Network.

Quite the opposite.

“I have recently brought some amazing recruiters on board, so I have more internal support now than I did when I joined, but I still see an ongoing need to use the network on our more difficult positions,” she said.

That’s another important takeaway.

Top Echelon Network doesn’t have to be a temporary solution to a recruiting capacity problem. It can become an ongoing resource for expanding an agency’s capabilities and serving clients more effectively.

Whether a firm consists of one recruiter or an entire team, access to additional recruiting partners can create opportunities that might not otherwise exist.

And Jana intends to continue taking advantage of those opportunities.

#4—Successful Split Placements Start with Trust, Communication, and Action

Of course, access to other recruiters is only part of the equation.

To make split placements consistently, recruiters also need to develop productive working relationships with their trading partners.

And those relationships require more than simply sharing a job order and hoping somebody fills it.

They require honesty, communication, responsiveness, and a willingness to work together toward a common goal.

Jana understands the importance of those qualities.

When asked what makes her a good Top Echelon Network trading partner, her answer was straightforward.

“I am honest and respectful, and I make a strong effort to be a good communicator,” she said. “I will always do what is right and fair.”

Those might sound like simple principles, but they’re essential to successful split placement relationships.

After all, recruiters are trusting one another with valuable business opportunities. They’re sharing information about clients, candidates, and searches. They’re depending on their trading partners to communicate effectively and follow through on their commitments.

Without trust, those relationships can quickly become difficult.

With trust, however, a single split placement can become the foundation for a long-term recruiting partnership.

And that’s exactly what Jana hopes to accomplish.

“I’m excited to build repeat relationships with the recruiters I’ve split with so far, and hope to split with many more,” she said.

She’s also discovered that the Network’s system helps make the process more manageable than she originally anticipated.

“The system enables it to work smoothly and efficiently,” Jana said.

That’s particularly noteworthy considering one of her biggest concerns before joining was the possibility of spending too much time coordinating with other recruiters without seeing meaningful results.

Instead, she’s found a system that allows her to collaborate with recruiting partners and generate additional placements.

And while four split placements in five months is an excellent start, Jana clearly sees the potential for more.

Her advice to recruiters who might be considering membership reflects just how much her perspective has changed.

“Give it a try!” she said. “It is NOT the big up-front investment you might be thinking it is and you just might end up filling some of your most frustrating orders!”

That’s advice worth considering, especially for recruiters who have hesitated to join because they believe their niche is too specialized, the financial commitment is too great, or working with other recruiters will require too much time.

Jana had those same concerns.

And now she has four split placements and nearly $100,000 in billings to show for giving the Network a chance.

From 25+ Job Orders to Nearly $100,000 in Split Placement Billings

When Jana Rugg first considered joining Top Echelon Network, she wasn’t convinced it was the right fit for her business.

She didn’t see many opportunities in her pharmacy recruiting niche. She thought the costs might be too high. And she worried that working with other recruiters would require a substantial investment of time without producing enough results.

So she passed on membership.

More than once.

But when an influx of job orders left her managing more than 25 active searches as a solo recruiter, Jana decided it was time to reconsider.

She needed help. She wanted to serve her clients effectively. And she was willing to try something different.

Five months later, that decision has resulted in four split placements and $96,710 in billings.

But the benefits extend beyond those initial placements.

Jana has discovered that Top Echelon Network can help Ridgemont Resources pursue opportunities outside its traditional pharmacy specialty, expand its candidate reach, and provide additional recruiting support for difficult searches.

She’s also looking forward to developing repeat relationships with her existing trading partners and building new partnerships with other Network members.

And even though she’s added recruiters to her own team, she still sees the Network as an important resource for the future.

Perhaps the biggest lesson from Jana’s experience is that you don’t have to abandon your recruiting specialty to benefit from a split placement network.

You don’t need to have dozens of recruiters working in your exact niche. You don’t need to share every job order. And you don’t need to make a massive financial commitment to find out whether the opportunity is worthwhile.

Sometimes, you just need to keep an open mind, share a few challenging searches, and give other recruiters an opportunity to help.

That’s exactly what Jana Rugg did.

And with four split placements and nearly $100,000 in billings in just five months, it’s safe to say she’s glad she gave Top Echelon Network a try.

Not bad for something she almost passed up!