Traditionally in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, we publish the names of the top 10 recruiters in Top Echelon Network for any given year. This time, we’re going to publish the top 17 names. Why? Well, there are a couple of reasons:

1. We now recognize the top 15 recruiters in a calendar year at the National Convention every spring. (Sorry, Adam Krueger and David Austin.)
2. Last year was 2017, so why not add two more recruiters just for fun? You say that’s a good idea? I couldn’t agree more.

Our annual list of the top recruiters is determined by members’ cash-in total in our split network on a rolling 12-month basis. The order of the list reflects the recruiters’ cash-in total for the 2017 calendar year, which ended at midnight on December 31, 2017.

Don’t stop at the top . . . the top 10, that is

Below are the top 17 recruiters in Top Echelon Network for 2017, from #17 to #1 (including the recruiter’s name, their agency name, and their total cash-in):

#17—Adam Krueger of Sun Recruiting, Inc.: $84,248

#16—David Austin of Austin Technology Resources: $85,039

#15—Justin Bidwell of Bidwell & Associates, LLC: $89,803

#14—Mary Morris of Big Haystack: $89,888

#13—Carolyn Barcus of Barcus Associates: $89,888

#12—Lawrence T. Ploscowe of EXEK Recruiters, Ltd.: $93,730

#11—Kristy Staggs of Byrnes & Rupkey, Inc.: $97,352

#10—Amylyn Kyler of Kyler Professional Search: $103,044

#9—Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates, LLC: $106,249

#8—Nick Stoia, CPC of ASAP Search & Recruiters: $108,683

#7—David M. Sgro, CPC of True North Consultants, Inc.: $120,696

#6—Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting: $123,894

#5—Melissa Truax of Premier Health Careers, Inc./Premier Paths: $127,180

#4—Shree Kumar of Max Populi, LLC: $156,437

#3—Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.: $189,213

#2—Steve Kohn of Affinity Search: $338,914

#1—Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group: $1,233,370

Special mention at the spring convention

As mentioned above, the top 15 recruiters in the Network will be recognized at the upcoming 2018 National Convention. At the convention, they will receive an award in front of their peers at the annual awards luncheon.

This year’s National Convention is scheduled for Tuesday, April 24, and Wednesday, April 25. The site will be will be the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Early Bird Registration is currently underway for the convention. That means you can register at the Early Bird rate of $346 per person. That’s $40 cheaper than last year! (You can sign up for the convention in the Members’ Area with a credit card.)

In the meantime, join us in congratulating the recruiters listed above for their performance and production during the 2017 calendar year. Here’s to hoping that 2018 is even better!

Well, we started the year with a miscalculation. (And when I say “we,” I really mean “I.”) Last week in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, we published the names of recruiters who made their first split placement in Top Echelon Network in 2017.

The bad news is that we made a miscalculation. The good news is that more recruiters made their first TE split last year than originally thought!

In fact, quite a few Network members made their first split. To atone for this oversight, I’ve included the complete list below. There’s some overlap from last week, but as many of you well know, you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Or something like that.

First time for everything

To recap, we count a placement once we receive our brokerage fee for it. A verbal offer accepted does not count as a completed placement. That’s because money talks and . . . well, you know the rest. So the list below represents an updated list of recruiters who made their first Network split in 2017 and we received the brokerage fee for that placement.

So if you made your first Network split in November or December, but we haven’t received the brokerage fee, then it’s not a completed placement. Not yet, anyway.

In the meantime, please congratulate these recruiters for making their first Network split in 2017!

• Mary Morris of Big Haystack
• Linda Nicholls of IMC Solutions, Inc.
• Edward Winstanley of Edward Daniels Group
• Art Burke of Blair Search
• Susan Freytag of Baker Freytag Recruiting
• Terry Rohde of DES, LLC
• Michael Neufeld of Hunter Davis Group, LLC
• Hank Winters of HPS Talent, Inc.
• Andy Byers of Hire Horizons
• Lisa VanWyk of Step Up Recruiting
• Sue Johnson of 360 Talent Group
• Analissa Jacobsen of Synerlou Recruiting, LLC
• Paul Vogrinc of Vogrinc & Short
• David Smith of The Career Source, LLC
• Marisela Briones of R.A. Briones & Company
• Press Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick Associates Executive Search, LLC
• Bill Hagerty of Johnson Resource Group, LLC
• Jeff Duell of Johnson Resource Group, LLC
• Michael Agen of New Solutions Group, LLC
• Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources
• Bill Laming of Laming and Associates
• Gary Schultz of Work 22, Inc.
• Blake Kindle of Mackie Search, LLC
• Pat McGue of Mackie Search, LLC
• Shree Kumar of Max Populi, LLC
• Maria Scavelli of Premier Health Careers, Inc./Premier Paths
• Hugh Moran of MPC Partners, LLC
• Ryan Fitzpatrick of Integritas Search
• Geoff Eckert of Enhanced Staffing
• Joe Cresci of Food Management Search
• Teddi Remer of DTR Executive Solutions
• Rick Christensen of Open Water Recruiting
• Debra Wilkens of The Monroe Agency
• Shelli Saunders of GoRecruitMe
• Darcy Morgan of GoRecruitMe
• Kim Rice of GoRecruitMe
• Rhonda Allison of GoRecruitMe
• Dan Casey of Staffing IT
• Mike Monson of Top Talent, LLC
• Trevor Renner of Renner Medical Staffing
• Shari Kearney of JobXSite
• Ralph Labuda of Premier Search Associates, Inc.
• Patrick Duffy of Premier Search Associates, Inc.
• Maureen Delgado of DelTech Staffing Inc.
• Aliceson Straley of Avalon Executive Search, LLC
• Meredith Kappel of Cambridge Consulting
• Matt Pettit of Channel Personnel Services, Inc.
• Tasha Burks of T. Burks & Associates
• Laurie Burden of The Recruiting Pro
• Ron Lyndon of Trylak Technologies
• Alex Harris of Marvel Consultants, Inc.
• Michele Francis of Scan the Horizon, Inc.
• Marcus Webster of Webster & Webster Associates
• James Park of Harlan Recruiting Group
• James Lieberman of Hollinger Jobs
• Kelli Merlino of Kabana Consulting, LLC
• Richard Moss of 3D Tek Information Systems, Inc.
• Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting
• Jim Rubendall of The Finders Group
• Greg Andera of North Star Recruiting
• Gregg Whitt of Professional Personnel Associates, Inc.

Once again, if you feel that you your first placement has been mistakenly omitted from this list, keep in mind the guidelines listed above. Also send an email to marketing@topechelon.com. We’ll look into the situation, and if you indeed made your first Network split in 2017, we shall rectify the oversight. Although hopefully, we’re well past that now.

In the meantime, get to work making splits in 2018!

Negotiating a contractor’s pay rate can be one of the most difficult parts of placing a contract candidate. Where do you start, especially if you’ve had little experience placing the particular position in question?

Luckily, there are a couple of tools on the Internet that can give you a starting point for negotiating contractor pay rates. Those tools include the following:

• Bureau of Labor Statisics (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics—This site provides national hourly and salary wage estimates for about 800 occupations based on semi-annual mail surveys. It also allows you to narrow down the data by industry or geographic location.
• www.salary.com—This site’s free “Salary Wizard” allows you to search its database. You can do so by job title and location, providing a range of salaries, as well as the median salary for the criteria selected.

As a benchmark to begin negotiations, divide the annual salary for a comparable direct position by 2,080 hours (approximately one year) to get the hourly rate. Click HERE for a free Salary-to-Hourly Conversion Table.

Factors affecting pay rates

Once you have calculated that hourly pay rate, adjust the number based on the unique details of the contract placement. Below are a few factors that could affect contractor pay rates:

• Short-term contracts sometimes require higher pay rates because it’s difficult to find candidates to accept those positions.
• Long-term contracts are more like direct hire positions. The longer the contract, the closer the pay rate will be to a comparable direct hire salary.
• If the candidate has been unemployed, particularly for a long time, that could bring the pay rate down.
• Skills that are particularly valuable or rare demand a higher pay rate.
• If the position requires travel or relocation, that could drive the pay rate up.

Are YOU in need of contract staffing solutions or contract placement services in the New Year?

Then download our Quick-Start Guide to Contract Staffing. Or request a demo with one of our contract staffing specialists.

You can can also call us at (888) 627-3678. Start making contract placements and start making more money!