The start of a new year has brought with it a flurry of activity in Top Echelon Network! Not only are placements up, but there are more recruiting agencies wanting to join the Network.

In fact, there have been so many that we’ll be publishing their names in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for the next few weeks. (There are worse problems than having to dedicate a newsletter article every week to new Network members.)

There are seven new Network member firms listed below. They all joined TE in January, and they work in a variety of different industries, including the following:

• Information Technology
• Healthcare
• Banking
• General for military veterans
• Engineering
• Manufacturing

These agencies all wanted to join Top Echelon Network because they believe in the value of split placements. They want to make splits, and we want them to make splits.

That’s why I encourage you to reach out to these recruiting agencies and their owners. Introduce yourself, welcome them to our split placement network, and ask about the biggest need on their desk. You could be making money with these recruiters before you know it!

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CRJ SEARCH
Date joined: January 18
Location: Springboro, Ohio
Industries:  General
Agency members: Mark Marshall

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RENNER MEDICAL STAFFING
Date joined: January 18
Location: Akron, Ohio
Industries: Healthcare
Agency members: Trevor Renner

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PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL ASSOCIATES, INC.
Date joined: January 19
Location: Clemson, South Carolina
Industries:  Technical / Engineering, Manufacturing, Professional, and Management fields.
Agency members: Gregg Whitt

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CONCEPTS STAFFING SOLUTIONS
Date joined: January 23
Location: San Francisco, California
Industries: Banking
Agency members: Bruce Zelony

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EDWARD DANIELS GROUP
Date joined: January 23
Location: New York, New York
Industries: Information Technology
Agency members: Edward Winstanley and Grace Winstanley

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MS. ELITE MILITARY STAFFING & CONSULTING
Date joined: January 23
Location: Hinesville, Georgia
Industries:  General for military veterans
Agency members: Tonya Kelley, Benzie Richardson, and Tenna Scott

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SYMMETRY SEARCH GROUP, LLC
Date joined: January 23
Location: Paramus, New Jersey
Industries:  Accounting & Financial
Agency members: Carla Salerno

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It doesn’t matter if you’re a newer Network recruiter or an established members. If you want help making more split placements, then contact me! You can do so by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

A few weeks ago, we introduced our “Did You Know?” series in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog. This series is designed to help show Network recruiters how to maximize the power of the Big Biller recruiting software.

And we’re back with more power tips!

In fact, we have three more such tips, which are listed below. Accompanying each nugget of information will be a link to a Help Center article and/or video that explains the feature in more detail. (Remember, the Help Center is available 24/7 to answer your questions and provide assistance

The next three tips in this series are below. Power up, people!

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Did You Know . . . How to Log Your Placements in Big Biller?

In recruiting, placements are the bottom line . . . and you can’t measure what you don’t track! This is where Big Biller can help you to log your placements.

In order to track the placements you make within a certain time frame, they must first be documented properly. And you can log your placements in two different ways with Big Biller, providing you with tracking flexibility.

Click HERE for a Help Center article about how you can log placements within Big Biller!

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Did You Know . . . That You Can Automatically Parse Skills?

With the Big Biller software, we want to make adding data as easy and as simple as possible. That’s why we’ve made it possible for you to parse skills automatically!

The first step is setting up your Agency Skills Database. Once that’s complete, each user can set those skills up to auto-populate new records when parsing resumes.

Click HERE for a Help Center article about how you can automatically parse skills into Big Biller!

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Did You Know . . . You Can Change Search Result/Hotlist Views?

Big Biller strives to give you the ultimate in flexibility and customization! That’s why you can try out different view list options when working through search results and/or hotlist records.

Each view is user-specific, so you can pick the one that works best for YOU. The system will always remember your selection the next time you enter a list.

Click HERE for a Help Center article explaining how you can change search result/hotlist views in Big Biller!

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Check future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for another installment of “Did You Know?”

And if you’re ready to see what the Big Biller recruiter software can do for your agency, then click here to sign up for a live demo!

A pair of Top Echelon Network veterans is responsible for making the biggest split placement in the Network for the month of January!

Pat McCombs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC and Ann Boland of The Boland Group have both made a ton of placements in the Network. In fact, Pat recently made headlines with her 100th Network placement, putting her in elite company.

In addition, Pat is celebrating her 35th year in the recruiting industry in 2017. She’s at the top of her game and she shows no signs of slowing down, having made nine Network splits last year.

Ann, on the other hand, has made 48 placements in Top Echelon Network, putting her two away from the 50-split milestone. She’s been in the recruiting industry for close to 20 years, having started in the profession in 1999.

But, wait . . . there’s more! (Of course there is.)

The placement below was also featured in the recent Pinnacle article titled, “2 More Great Top Echelon Split Placement Stories!” It is, as the title of the article indicates, a great split placement story. It was also the third split that McCombs and Boland have made together in Top Echelon Network.

So congratulations to Pat McCombs and Ann Boland for making the biggest split in the Network for the month of January. May there be many more to come!

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Largest Split Fee of the Month:

Pat McCombs of KB Search Team, LLC and Ann Boland of The Boland Group

The position for this split placement was a Vice President of Sales – Europe. McCombs was the job order recruiter, and Boland was the candidate recruiter.

The action that stimulated this split placement was listed as, “Regular communication with a Top Echelon Network member.”

The fee for this split placement was $38,025.

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Top Echelon determines the monthly and quarterly winners of its Network recruiting awards in four distinct categories, which are listed below:

1.) Recruiter of the Month
2.) Largest Split Fee of the Month
3.) Recruiter of the Quarter
4.) Largest Split Fee of the Quarter

The winners of these awards are only announced in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, usually (but not always) in the issue following the conclusion of each month and/or quarter.

We have previously discussed in this blog ways contract staffing can increase your recruiter revenue, but there is one additional way that is often overlooked. And that way is tied to the way in which you earn a fee.

Contract staffing can provide you with recurring recruiter revenue.  Direct placements are great because you can get a large recruiting fee in one lump sum.  However, you generally only earn that fee once per candidate.  With contracting, you can earn your placement fee many times over by placing that candidate multiple times.

For example, one recruiter we work with placed the same programmer analyst in six separate contract assignments over 10 years.  When the contractor neared the end of an assignment, the recruiter contacted the candidate to find out what new skills and experience he had picked up.

Armed with that information, the recruiter then looked for that candidate’s next contract assignment.  Over the course of a decade, the recruiter earned a total of $140,515 on that one candidate.  If he had placed that individual in a direct position, he would have only made $20,000 to $25,000.

Think of candidates as your firm’s inventory.   Obviously, you want to get as much value out of your inventory as possible.  A stable of highly skilled, star candidates could be a virtual gold mine if you “rent out” your inventory (contract staffing) rather than “selling” it (direct hire), when possible.

Recruiters often pass up the opportunity to capitalize on this asset because they assume it is easier to place candidates directly.  In reality, placing a candidate on contract assignment after contract assignment can be EASIER than placing many new candidates directly.

With contract candidates, you don’t need to conduct an extensive pre-screening every time you re-assign them.  You just need to touch base with them like the recruiter in the above example did to make sure you are aware of all their latest skills and experience.  Since you already have an established relationship with the contractor, the majority of your “due diligence” will already be completed.

To further simplify the process, be sure to outsource the employment of your contractors to a contract staffing back-office like Top Echelon Contracting.  They will handle all of the financial, administrative, and legal details of your contract placements, including contracts with clients, payroll processing and funding, withholding state and federal taxes, benefits administration, invoicing and collections, etc.

Outsourcing these tasks makes the process of placing contractors nearly the same as direct hire placements.  You get the job order, find the candidate, and negotiate rates just as you would in a direct placement.  The back-office handles the rest.

Finding candidates willing to be recurring contractors may also be easier than you think.

A growing number of candidates prefer contract assignments.  They love the variety contracting offers.  Along the way, they pick up additional skills that help them build an impressive resume.  They also enjoy the opportunity to travel and experience living in different locations.  If you are using a contract staffing back- office provider, those contractors may also be offered quality benefits (medical, dental, vision, life, 401k) without a gap in coverage if they are working back-to-back assignments.

Sure, direct hire placements are great, and you do not need to completely abandon them.  But if one of your star candidates prefers to work on contract, don’t pass up the opportunity to place them multiple times.  Many of your clients could benefit from a skilled, experienced worker to complete short-term projects or help them meet critical deadlines.

By making the most of your “inventory,” you can greatly increase your recruiter income.

Are the 145,298 reasons in the blog post title above referencing . . . a dollar amount, perhaps? But of course!

They represent the amount of placement fees two Network recruiters would not have made otherwise. And yes, those two recruiters met at a Top Echelon event.

The recruiters in question? Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters and Dave Sgro, CPC of True North Consultants, Inc.! Although we’ve chronicled their story before in the pages of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, we thought it appropriate to mention them again.

Maria and Dave met one another for the first time at the Top Echelon Network Fall Conferences in 2009. They decided to partner with one another. What did that look like?

Well, Maria and her business partner Joanna Spaun specialize in placing Manufacturing professionals. Dave, on the other hand, specializes in placing Information Technology professionals. So starting in 2010, MJ Recruiters started filling their job orders with IT candidates supplied by True North Consultants. Genius!

Without using Dave’s candidates, Maria and Jo would not have been able to fill their clients’ IT job orders. In fact, they probably would not have worked them in the first place.

So . . . since the fall of 2009, MJ Recruiters and True North Consultants have made 18 split placements together. Those placements have yielded $145,298 in placement fees—apiece!

We’re talking about $145,298 that these two recruiters would not have made if they had NOT met each other at the Top Echelon Network Fall Conference in 2009.

We bring this up, of course, because the 2017 Top Echelon Network National Convention will be held in April. Perhaps you’ve never attended one of our events before. Maybe you’re a newer member and you haven’t had the chance to attend one yet. (If the latter is the case, you might be eligible to receive $100 off the registration price!)

There could be money waiting for you at the National Convention. Just like there was money waiting for Maria and Jo and Dave at the 2009 Fall Conference.

So that is why there’s 145,298 reasons to attend the convention. In fact, there could be even more reasons than that, depending upon how many trading partner relationships you build and split placements you make.

After all, MJ Recruiters and True North Consultants are closing three more deals this month! They are iron-clad proof that investing in your Network membership and your split partners pays off time and time and time again. The recruiters in these firms are true TE rockstars.

Early Bird Registration for the convention ends on Friday, February 17! Don’t wait and don’t hesitate! Sign up in the Members’ Area with a credit card and make plans to join us in Orlando.