We have a special announcement to make! (Two of them, actually.)

First, Early Bird Registration for the 2020 National Convention starts this Friday, January 10. And second, the National Convention officially has a new name. That name is Top Echelon Connect 2020.

One of the reasons it has a new name is that this will be a Top Echelon user conference. What does that mean? It means that any recruiting agency that is a customer of Top Echelon will be invited to attend. And yes, that means Big Biller agencies that are not Members of Top Echelon’s recruiting network.

(I know what you’re thinking: isn’t that three announcements?)

Below is some important logistical information regarding the upcoming convention:

• Dates: Thursday, April 30, and Friday, May 1
• Location: Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada
• Room Rate: $79 per night
• Main speaker: Greg Doersching of Bullseye Mentor

Greg Doersching is one of the most trusted and respected names in the recruiting industry. He will have a TON of valuable content designed to help you maximize both your recruiting desk and also your agency.

Greg may be the main speaker, but there will also be other speakers for Connect 2020 in Vegas. They include speakers from LinkedIn and Indeed. You can click here to see the preliminary agenda for the convention.

If you register for Connect 2020 on Friday, you’ll also pay only $495 per person. As you might expect, the price will rise for the Regular Registration and Late Registration periods.

As we’ve done for our last several recruiter networking events, we have a special website dedicated to Top Echelon Connect 2020. The URL for that website is conventions.topechelon.com.

Visit that URL on Friday to see the preliminary agenda and register for the 2020 Top Echelon National Convention . . . or, ahem, Top Echelon Connect 2020.

We want to help you make 2020 a great year for you and your agency. So register for the convention and join us in Las Vegas!

If you have any questions about registration (or about any other aspects of the convention), please contact me at 330.595.1742 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

In case you hadn’t noticed yet, the year 2019 is over. The year 2020 is here, but before we officially say good-bye to last year, why don’t we reflect upon it?

In fact, we recently helped Members of our recruiter network to reflect upon 2019 by posting a poll question in the Members’ Area. That poll question asked recruiters to assign a letter grade to the year, both personally and professionally.

Sure, we could have broken out the grade and asked recruiters to assess the year on a professional basis only. But what fun would that be?

And of course, if you did not participate in the Members’ Area poll, this would be a good time to reflect upon the past 12 months and perhaps even assign your own letter grade to the year. (As you can see below, the most popular answer was “B.” However, “C” was close behind.

Not only that, but this poll question was actually one of three that we posed to the Membership recently. The other two questions (and corresponding results) are also listed below.

— — —

Which overall grade would you give to 2019, both personally and professionally?

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters selecting each one:

• A — 16.0%
• B — 34.0%
• C — 32.0%
• D — 10.0%
• F — 6.0%
• Is there a grade lower than F? — 2.0%

— — —

Do you have a blog on your recruiting agency’s website?

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters selecting each one:

• Yes, we post blogs on a consistent basis. — 6.6%
• Yes, but we don’t post frequently enough. — 21.1%
• No, but I’m thinking about starting one. — 25.0%
• No, we don’t have a blog and we will never have one. — 42.1%
• No, my agency doesn’t have a website. — 5.3%

— — —

Do you send a newsletter to either clients or candidates?

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters selecting each one:

• Yes, I send a newsletter to both clients and candidates. — 16.5%
• Yes, I send a newsletter to clients only. — 2.9%
• Yes, I send a newsletter to candidates only. — 1.9%
• No, I do not send a newsletter, but I might start one. — 35.9%
• No, I do not send a newsletter and I never will. — 42.7%

— — —

Just a reminder: we post a poll question in the Top Echelon Network Members’ Area every week. Once you participate in the poll, you can see the results as other Members cast their votes.

We usually post a new Members’ Area poll question on Monday. We usually do that, but we don’t always do that.

If YOU want to make more split placements and increase your Network production, then contact Top Echelon Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS.

You can reach Drea by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.