Maria Hemminger Reaches 200 Placements in TE!

The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Perhaps you’ve heard this saying before. Maybe you’ve even uttered it from time to time. Regardless, it certainly applies to Top Echelon Network recruiter Maria Hemminger and everybody who works at MJ Recruiters, LLC.

What has changed in the job market, the economy, and the world in general since 2005, the year that MJ Recruiters joined the Network? There is probably not enough room or time to make a list of such things.

What has stayed the same? Well, in terms of Maria and her colleagues at MJ Recruiters, that would be their approach to Network membership, their dedication to their profession, and their hard work and commitment to getting results.

Oh, yes . . . one more thing. Their consistently high levels of success.

Maria, who will mark her 25th year in the recruiting profession in September, recently passed the 200-placement milestone in Top Echelon Network. Overall, MJ Recruiters has accounted for 224 placements. Joanna Spaun, who is Maria’s partner in the business and has been with her since the agency’s inception, has made 21 placements during her time in TE.

As always, Maria is quick to share the credit for her individual success and accolades in the Network.

“I’m the Top Echelon representative for the agency, but it’s a group effort,” she said. “Our staff is unique. We all work on the same projects, but the jobs are posted under me in the Network.”

It’s a system that has worked well. Maria’s 200+ Network placements have generated slightly more than $1.5 million, another milestone worth noting and celebrating. (As an agency, MJ Recruiters is just north of $1.7 million.)

“I believe you have to pick up the phone and talk to people, and I feel strongly about attending conferences and meeting people face-to-face,” said Maria. “MJ Recruiters has only missed one Top Echelon conference or convention since we joined in 2005.”

However, that’s not to say that Maria isn’t open to new ways of working. In fact, she’s an advocate of trying different things, including with her Network membership. She put this philosophy into practice recently and the result was a split placement.

“I used the ‘Who Works What’ tool in TE because I needed to find out who worked Sanitation regionally for a job we had in Pennsylvania,” said Maria. “After running the search, I sent an email to every single one of the 40 recruiters in the search results. One of those recruiters was Pamela Weiss [of MRI Lancaster].”

Lo and behold, Pamela had one candidate who matched the search assignment specs. She sent that one candidate to Maria and a placement was made. (Incidentally, it was Pamela’s very first split placement as a Network member.)

“I’ve used ‘Who Works What’ before, but I don’t always email other members,” said Maria. “And that was the first time that I emailed every single recruiter in the search results. I believe it’s our job and our responsibility to be creative when we’re doing business with our split partners, and this was a prime example of that.”

Maria has also served as an example to other Network members during Top Echelon conferences and conventions, including the most recent one in Las Vegas. She has been a member of TE panel discussions at multiple events. She strives to dispense valuable advice at these events, just as others did for her when MJ Recruiters first joined Top Echelon Network.

“We joined the Network in August of 2005 and then Joanna and I went to the TE conference in the fall of that year,” said Maria. “We met Bill Quackenbush at the conference, who was a veteran recruiter at the time. He told us that if you want to make splits in the Network, then you need to communicate and interact with people who make splits.

“In Vegas [at the National Convention], I referred to that on the panel. The best thing to do if you want to perform at a high level in the Network is to attend conferences and talk to recruiters. Work their jobs and try to get them to work your jobs.”

According to Maria, it’s also important to understand how people work and how they like to work. After all, everybody has different preferences.

“If you look at our Recruiter-to-Recruiter comments, we put every little detail in there,” said Maria. “We talk about how we like to work and how we like to receive candidates. We also ask questions about how other members like to work, including receiving candidates and pre-screening. You have to set clear expectations because everyone works differently.”

However, when it comes to enjoying long-term success in Top Echelon Network, this statement by Maria perfectly illustrates why the more things change, the more they stay the same:

“You’re going to get out of it what you put into it.”