You could not start your Preferred Membership career in Top Echelon Network with more of a “bang” than Maggie Wolgamot of Ridgeback Management Services, LLC. (Well . . . you could. But it would be difficult.)

That’s because not only did Maggie make her first split placement in the Network recently, but it also brought with it a recruiting fee of $83,625! Maggie made the split with Mark Rowbottom of Rowbottom Partners. She and Mark placed a Director of Data Center Engineering at 30%.

In addition, two Network Members made three splits apiece recently: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group and Gary Thompson of Gary Thompson. And in addition to this addition, three pair of Network recruiters made two placements with each other.

Thompson made a pair of splits with Vickie Richard of Richard & Associates HR, while Stuck duplicated the feat with Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources and Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC scored a pair of placements with Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

As a friendly neighborhood reminder, here is the information that we publish with our weekly placements:

• Names of the split recruiting partners involved (with their profile photos, when available)
• Job title
• Overall placement fee (before TE’s 6% brokerage fee, of course)
• Fee percentage

Please note that the placements listed below reflect deals finalized in Top Echelon Network for the period from January 30 through February 5, 2023.

Remember, if you don’t want information related to your Network placements published in The Pinnacle, please send an email to marketing@topechelon.com to that effect.

Congratulations to everybody below for the split placements they made in Top Echelon Network!

This Week’s Top Echelon Split Placements

— — —

Job recruiter: Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Linda Cooper of ADM Talent Recruiting, LLC

Job title: QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $26,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Jon Johnson of JSR Associates, LLC

Job title: PRODUCTION MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $32,500

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

Job title: ASSISTANT CONTROLLER

Overall placement fee: $23,750

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

Job title: ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE SUPERVISOR

Overall placement fee: $21,250

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Michelle Somenek of CK National Recruiting, LLC

Candidate recruiter: John Ricciardi of Afton Consulting Group

Job title: BATTERY APPLICATION ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $10,177

Fee percentage: 23%

— — —

Job recruiter: Ben Brown of TSS Sourcing Solutions

Candidate recruiter: John Ricciardi of Afton Consulting Group

Job title: VP COMMERCIAL LOAN OPERATIONS/MANAGEMENT

Overall placement fee: $31,250

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Gary Thompson of Gary Thompson

Candidate recruiter: Vickie Richard of Richard & Associates HR

Job title: ASSISTANT STORE MANAGER – BILINGUAL

Overall placement fee: $9,750

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: Gary Thompson of Gary Thompson

Candidate recruiter: Vickie Richard of Richard & Associates HR

Job title: ASSISTANT STORE MANAGER – BILINGUAL

Overall placement fee: $9,750

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: Mark Udulutch of Markent Personnel

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $15,120

Fee percentage: 21%

— — —

Job recruiter: Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: PHARMACIST

Overall placement fee: $23,213

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: PHARMACIST

Overall placement fee: $25,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Mike Duke, CPC of Career Development Partners

Candidate recruiter: Gary Thompson of Gary Thompson

Job title: DIRECTOR OF MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS

Overall placement fee: $40,625

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Mark Rowbottom of Rowbottom Partners

Candidate recruiter: Maggie Wolgamot of Ridgeback Management Services, LLC

Job title: DIRECTOR OF DATA CENTER ENGINEERING

Overall placement fee: $83,625

Fee percentage: 30%

— — —

If you’re a newer Network member and you’d like to enjoy more success in our recruiter network, then I encourage you to contact Top Echelon Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS.

You can do so by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

Back when we were promoting Top Echelon Connect Fall 2022 (oh, those many months ago), we featured a split placement between Network Preferred Members Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group and David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

That’s because the duo made their first split together as a direct result of attending Top Echelon Connect 2022 in Las Vegas. They placed a Senior Network Administrator and split a fee of $30K. They’ve since made another split, sharing a $13K fee for placing an IT Service Desk Associate.

Both Michael and David are staunch believers in the value of attending Top Echelon recruiter networking events like the upcoming Connect 2023 convention in New Orleans. And both are among the most successful Preferred Members in the history of Top Echelon Network.

Michael, Top Echelon’s two-time defending Recruiter of the Year, has made 474 split placements in the Network, billing more than $3 million in the process. David, on the other hand, has made 136 TE splits totaling close to $1.2 million. (Keep in mind, of course, that all of these billings represent money that Michael and David would not have made if not for their Top Echelon Network Preferred Membership.)

Long-time Members of TE, Michael and David learned early in their Membership tenure that attending Network events could be instrumental in enjoying more split placement success.

“I was blown away by my first [event] back in 2005 and try to make them every year,” said Michael. “I always leave the conference with new trading partners who I go back to my desk and reach out to. Many times, we make splits right after the conference.”

“Attending the conferences is critical to my success in the Network,” added David. “I have directly attributed placements to each and every conference I’ve attended, which is pretty much all but one since I joined the Network.”

However, David and Michael met long before Connect 2022. As consistent attendees of Top Echelon events, their paths had crossed previously. In fact, they smoked cigars together at the 2007 Top Echelon Network National Convention in Charlotte. (David is a cigar aficionado.)

“Mike Stuck and I have known each other for a lot of years,” said David, “having met through the Network early on. We drifted apart a little bit over the last couple of years due to lack of personal interaction during the [COVID-19] pandemic. We saw each other in Vegas at Connect 2022 and instantly regained our synergy, and sure enough, we did a placement within a couple of months of that conference.”

In fact, David and Michael are more than just split recruiting partners. They’re also friends. According to Michael, this is another benefit of attending Top Echelon events, in addition to the opportunity to make more split placements.

“The beauty of the conferences is that you can build friendships from attending, too,” he said. “It’s hard to get to know someone over an email or phone call, but at the conferences you really get to let loose and have fun. Even at the roundtable [networking activities], you get to see a side of a recruiter you didn’t know before.”

Top Echelon hit the “pause button” on in-person networking events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. David, for one, is glad that the events have resumed and is eager to see his trading partners and other Network recruiters face-to-face.

“My split placements were down during the pandemic because of the lack of conferences,” he said. “The face-to-face interaction is vital to building trust, and most of my TE partners are not only business partners, but also good friends.”

There has been talk of a recession in the job market and the broader economy for the past six months. In fact, you almost can’t go through a single day without seeing the mention of a possible recession in the national news headlines. Regardless of such speculation, David continues to be laser-focused on the value that both his Top Echelon Network Preferred Membership and his attendance at TE events can bring him and his recruiting firm.

“There is a lot of recession talk these days and talk of a tough 2023,” he said. “I don’t normally pay too much attention to that kind of talk, but one thing I will say is if that should happen, it’s not the time to hunker down and hide. It’s all the more reason for me to get out and attend conferences and collaborate with my partners. When there is a contraction in the economy, it’s time to expand and increase our activity, and this includes taking positive action and attending conferences.”

With that in mind, Early Bird Registration for Top Echelon Connect 2023 ends this week. In fact, the last day that you can sign up at the Early Bird rate of $495 per person is Saturday, February 11. After that day, Regular Registration begins, which means the price will increase to $550 per person.

If you’re looking to leverage the value of your Top Echelon Network Preferred Membership and make more placements and more money in 2023, then you should definitely consider attending Connect 2023 in New Orleans.

But don’t take it from us . . . take it from a recruiter who has billed nearly $2.5 million through the Network during the past two calendar years.

“It’s the synergy of the conferences that works,” said Michael. “You go back with a feeling that you can make more splits, and it prompts you to work the Network even harder to have success with those you just met face-to-face.”

We hope to see you in New Orleans next month!

Please note that there will soon be a change to both the Privacy Policy and the Service Level Agreement associated with being a customer of Top Echelon Software and/or Top Echelon Network. This change will take effect on Wednesday, February 15.

We at Top Echelon have not updated our Service Level Agreement in more than 10 years, and during that time, we’ve created new products and services, eliminated products and services, and acquired other companies to strengthen the solutions and value that we offer. Consequently, we’re making these updates to keep our agreements and policies current and user-friendly.

With that in mind, the Privacy Policy was updated to keep it compliant with ever-evolving industry regulations designed to afford our customers with a greater degree of data protection. Click HERE to view the new Top Echelon Privacy Policy.

In addition to changing the name to Terms and Conditions to reflect changes in industry terminology, there are four main updates to Top Echelon’s Service Level Agreement:

1. The annual payment option was updated to reflect industry standards and remove cancellations and refunds prior to the end of the commitment period of the annual subscription.
2. The renewal of the annual payment option now automatically renews.
3. References to old services no longer offered were removed. This refers mainly the Top Echelon’s website development services.
4. Language for the Top Echelon Network Preferred Membership was added to the Terms and Conditions instead of having a separate addendum.

Click HERE to see the new Terms and Conditions for Top Echelon Software and Top Echelon Network.

Once again, on February 15, you will be prompted to click through the agreement upon logging into the software in order to access your Top Echelon account.

As always, we thank you for your patience and especially for your loyalty as a Top Echelon customer.

Two stages down, three to go . . . in my series of wrap-up blog posts regarding The 5 Stages of a Networker, that is.

During the past few weeks, I’ve analyzed both the Stage 1 Networker and Stage 2 Networker. As you might imagine, this week I’ll be looking at the Stage 3 Networker, who is bigger, faster, and stronger!

I know: I’m wildly unpredictable. Anyway, the goal with this blog post is the same as the goal of the previous posts in this series. You should take the time to assess yourself as a networker and then identify your current stage of development.

Obviously, the higher the stage, the more successful you’ll be as a TE recruiter. In other words, you’ll make more split placements in our split fee recruiting network—which, of course, is the name of the game.

Stage 3 Networkers are still evolving. They’re bigger, faster, and stronger. However, they still have more growing to do.

Stage 3 Networker

The Stage 3 Networker is now “sending out roots” to attempt to establish themselves in our recruiting network.

Mindset:

They know that networking should be a steady percentage of their business. They know split recruiting business can make a good year great and a bad year survivable.

Trust:

They’re willing to share most of their candidates and job orders, but they will still hold back some of their exceptional items for themselves. They have no problem sharing the name of a client with their peers. They are not overly concerned about someone “ripping them off.”

Effort:

A Stage 3 Networker has good intentions and will try to submit candidates and job orders, but something usually seems to get in the way, preventing their deals from closing.

Maneuverability:

They find that running searches in the Network software is a breeze now. If they’re a user of Top Echelon’s recruiting software, they’re starting to become familiar with the program. They’re starting to see how the software can help them make their office more efficient in several ways.

Expectations:

Their expectations are a little more realistic now. They’re beginning to understand that many of their job orders and candidates submitted to the Network will not result in a split placement, but they also recognize that some will. So they persevere!

Submissions:

They know that they must continuously contribute candidates and job orders to the Network, as if it’s a pipeline. If they stop contributing, they recognize that their action will begin to dry up. However, due to real world factors in their day-to-day operations, they’re not able to faithfully get their candidates and job orders into the Network as frequently as they would like.

Quality:

They take pride in the quality of the candidates and job orders they share. They are not wasting time passing non-quality items. In addition, they share most of their relatively good candidates and job orders, but they will still hold back their exceptional items for themselves.

Trading partners:

They’ve had contact with a great many firms and recognize that every firm does things differently. They’re willing to “roll with the punches.”

Network billings:

Typically, they earn $15,000 to $30,000 in a 12-month period, depending upon the economy. They know that their split placement business is important to their bottom line in both a good economy and a bad economy.

Network satisfaction:

They’re beginning to view Top Echelon Network as a business partner rather than some service to which they merely subscribe. They’re pleased with the Network, but they recognize that it could be even better. Even when they hit a “dry spell” and haven’t made any Network placements in a while, they will not drop their membership in order to cut expenses. They recognize that their trading partners have the potential to generate revenue for them.

If you that believe that you’re a Stage 3 Networker and you want to evolve as quickly as possible and become even stronger, please contact me at 330.595.1742 or at drea@topechelon.com.

We we can discuss how you can take the next step in your development in Top Echelon Network.

Now that we’ve addressed the bigger, faster, and stronger third stage of networking as a recruiter in TE, we’ll turn to Stage 4 in the near future.