It could be argued that there are two types of people: people who things happen to . . . and people who make things happen.

The purpose of this blog post is not to get into a deeply philosophical discussion.  In fact, I’m not even going to discuss the first group that much.  Instead, I plan to focus on the second group, namely because it seems as though these types of people are rather representative of the Top Producers in Top Echelon Network.

They make things happen.  They search the Split Databases.  They reach out to other Preferred Member recruiters.  And they attend Top Echelon Network events such as the upcoming 2012 National Convention.  Speaking of which, the convention is scheduled for Thursday, March 22, through Saturday, March 24, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn.

To further illustrate my point, click here to see the recruiters who have already registered for the National Convention.

Notice anything?  I’d be willing to bet that many of the names you see listed are also among the Top Producers in the Network.  Actually, I know they are.  I did the comparison myself.  And a couple of the recruiters who look as though they’re having limited success within the Network are making a boatload of money using the services provided by Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.

So why are these people attending the convention?  You’d think that if anybody could stay home, it would be these people, right?  They’re already making money using Top Echelon’s tools and services—what more do they have to learn?

Actually, the question that should be asked is this: what do they know about the Network that you might not?

The answer to that question, of course, is a rather open-ended one.  However, it appears as though one thing these recruiters do know is how to do is make things happen.  They’re “taking the bull by the horns,” so to speak, and putting into motion a series of events that they believe will lead to more production, more revenue, and more profits for their firm.

And why shouldn’t they believe that?  After all, it’s worked for them before on countless occasions.

That’s why we’re inviting you to join us in Nashville in two months for the convention.  Meet new recruiters, talk about important recruiting topics, share ideas and information, and most of all, MAKE something happen!

At Top Echelon, we like to mix things up.  The reason we like to mix things up is because that makes things happen—and making things happen usually leads to more business.  That’s exactly what we want for you as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network.

Click here to view a promotional PDF detailing everything you’ll enjoy at the National Convention.

Early Bird Registration for the convention is over at the end of the business day on Friday, February 10.  Between now and then, you can sign up at the low price of just $399 per person.

Join us in Nashville.  Make it happen.  You won’t regret it.

View the preliminary agenda.
See who’s already signed up.
Register for the convention.

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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Here at Top Echelon Network, we love to highlight Preferred Member recruiters who have made their first split placement in the Network, and that’s exactly what we’re doing in this week’s edition of “‘Comments’ and Compliments.”

However, there’s a bit of a twist, because the two firms involved in the split placement are no stranger to one another.  Recruiters from each of the firms have made split placements together in the past.  It’s just that a new recruiter has entered the fray, which is good . . . since more recruiters mean more split placements.

That’s not the only split placement we’re highlighting, either.  Our other split involves a difficult job order that a Preferred Member recruiter filled with the help of one of their Trading Partners.  Those are the type of success stories that we love to hear!

We’d love to hear YOUR story, too!  If you’d like to compliment one of your Trading Partners for a recent split placement, send your comments to marketing@TopEchelon.com, and they’ll appear in a future issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

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“Yeah for Megan—her first split in the Network!  And another split for MJ Recruiters and Bridgeway.”

Submitted by Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC regarding her split placement with Megan Hamburg of Bridgeway Professionals, Inc.

Position Title—PROGRAM MANAGER
Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Hemminger and Hamburg have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

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“Mike provided an awesome candidate for a confidential search that had been extremely difficult to fill!  Thanks so much, Mike!”

Submitted by Pat McCombs of KB Search Team, LLC regarding her split placement with Mike Niedbalski of Integritas Search

Position Title—CFO
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: This is the first split placement that McCombs and Niedbalski have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

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Remember, if you have compliments for a Trading Partner regarding a split placement, please email them to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

Sure, “Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter” is traditionally the number-one way in which recruiters make split placements in Top Echelon Network.  So communication is important . . . but so is searching the Split Databases within the Network—the Split Job Order Database and the Split Candidate Database.

As this week’s completed split placements show, searching the Split Databases can lead to good things, namely split placements!  Make searching the Split Databases part of your daily routine, in addition to communicating with your Trading Partners on a regular basis, and you’ll greatly enhance your chances for making more split placements and generating more revenue for you and your firm.

If you have any questions about your Top Echelon Network Membership, contact Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at Drea@TopEchelon.com.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Cindy Sommer of SearchStars, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: PART-TIME PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

Fee Percentage—18%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

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Job order recruiter: David Kersey of Kersey & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Gene McQueen of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: SAFETY COORDINATOR

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

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Job order recruiter: Kristy Fitch of Automationtechies.com

Candidate recruiter: Alan Daum of Alan N. Daum Associates, Inc.

Job title: PROCESS CONTROLS ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

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Job order recruiter: Suzanne Griffith, CPC of J S Griffith & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Don Lewis of The Doepker Group

Job title: WELDING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: The job order or candidate was found by searching Top Echelon Network’s split databases.

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Job order recruiter: Brandi Moegelin, CSP of Premier Employment Solutions

Candidate recruiter: Tim Hughes of Hughes & Associates

Job title: EHS SUPERVISOR

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: The job order or candidate was found by searching Top Echelon Network’s split databases.

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Job order recruiter: Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Chuck Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc.

Job title: FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—22.5%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

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Job order recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook recruitment website design.

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Remember, you can opt out of having your split placement highlighted.  Just send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com indicating your desire to be left out.  Once you do so, you won’t be included in future installments of this feature.

If you’d like to see the amount of the fees associated with each of the split placements listed above, login to the Members’ Area and click on the profiles of the recruiters involved.  The fee totals will be included along with those split placements.

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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(Editor’s Note: This is the next in a series of guest blog posts about contract staffing, courtesy of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Similar posts will appear in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.)

It’s a new year, and the usual predictions abound about what will be hot in 2012.  Based on what we’ve been reading and hearing, here are the recruiting trends we think recruiters should keep an eye on:

1. Social Media Recruiting Wars—The race is on to see which social network, if any, will unseat LinkedIn as the recruiter’s social network of choice.  When it was released last year, a lot of people had their money on Google+ due to it’s ability to separate contacts into “Circles,” allowing users to be selective about which contacts saw which updates.  But there is now talk that good old Facebook could emerge as a useful recruiting tool, especially with professional networking apps like BranchOut and BeKnown that help users find jobs through their Facebook friends.  As BranchOut GM of Enterprise told Fistful of Talent, 18.4 million Americans say they found their current job through Facebook, so it definitely seems like the potential is there.

2. Mobile Recruiting—MSNBC recently reported that 25 percent of people use their smartphones rather than their computers for most of their Web surfing, so you can bet a lot of job hunting is taking place on mobile devices.  This will most certainly only increase in 2012, so you might want to look at how your Web site looks from various smartphones and how mobile-friendly your application process is.  One possible way to make job ads more user-friendly is by using QR codes, which are those small, square, maze-like images that you might see in magazines or on billboards.  When someone scans one of these codes with their smartphone in one of your job ads, it could take them to additional information online.  For more ideas on how to use these codes, check out the www.ere.net article “QR Codes: The Next Big Thing in Recruiting Technology?”

3. Continued crackdown on independent contractors—This is not a new trend, but we expect it to be a big one, nevertheless.  Near the end of 2011, the IRS offered a forgiveness program for employers who voluntarily reclassified 1099 independent contractors as W-2 employees while at the same time vowing to be even more diligent about investigating worker misclassification.  Meanwhile, Congress reintroduced The Employee Misclassification Prevention Act.  It’s clear that this is an issue that’s not going away.  So if you have clients who are doing it wrong, you may want to urge them to make proper worker classification one of their New Year’s resolutions and offer to help them by converting their independent contractors to W-2 employees employed by a contract staffing back-office, such as Top Echelon Contracting.

4. Continued growth of contract staffing—The growth contract staffing experienced last year is no surprise.  Companies typically hire more contractors following a recession to test the hiring waters before they start hiring direct again.  But what we’re hearing is that there is more of a permanent shift where companies are maintaining a core of direct employees and supplementing it with a larger, more flexible outer ring of contractors.  We explored this trend in more detail in our Fourth Quarter 2011 Contracting Corner newsletter and expect to see this trend continue in 2012 and beyond.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
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