I talk with Preferred Member recruiters on a daily basis, and as a result, I’m generally able to determine the “pulse of the Network,” so to speak—what recruiters are experiencing, what obstacles they face, how their niche is doing, etc.

In speaking with recruiters lately, I’ve learned that activity levels are up in a number of different industries.  One of the industries in which activity has increased the most is in Manufacturing.

That’s not surprising for a couple of different reasons:

1. Manufacturing has always been the “bread and butter” of Top Echelon Network.  In other words, we typically make more placements in this industry each year than in any other industry.
2. Manufacturing overall in this country has been generating a tremendous amount of momentum in recent months.  Click here to read an article from USA Today titled “Factory Hiring Up, Output is Soaring.”  It details how U.S. manufacturers are currently producing more, growing more, and hiring more.

Which brings me back to my phone calls . . . I’ve spoken with Preferred Member recruiters in the Manufacturing industry lately, and they’ve indicated that they need help filling their job orders!  In fact, what they really need are more Trading Partners.

That’s why I’d like to ask you to refer recruiters to us that you think would be a good fit for Top Echelon Network.  Yes, we want your referrals!

The good news is that we’re willing to pay for those referrals.  As part of the Top Echelon Referral Program, we’ll pay you $100 for each recruiting firm that you refer to us that becomes a customer as a result of your referral (and stays a customer for a period of not less than three months).

Learn more about the Top Echelon Referral Program.

This referral program doesn’t just pertain to Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters, either.  It also applies to the Big Biller recruiting software and Hiring Hook recruitment website design.  However, for the purposes of this blog post, we need more Manufacturing recruiters in Top Echelon Network—more recruiters with more candidates who can help our existing Members fill more of their job orders.

If you’d like to refer somebody, you can send your referral to info@TopEchelon.com.  Let’s get more experienced, high-quality recruiters in the Network and help everybody make more placements!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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Okay, so the recruiters involved in this week’s split placements aren’t what you would call “new” faces, at least in terms of Top Echelon Network Preferred Membership.  Take, for example, Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group, the Top-Producing Recruiter in the Network in 2011.

Still, there are other Preferred Members included, job placement recruiters who produce split placements on a consistent, steady basis and who receive a substantial return on their Network investment as a result.  (Remember, all it takes is one split placement to receive between a 300% and 500% return on your yearly Membership dues.)

These recruiters continue to find value in Top Echelon Network, and they find it during good times, during down times, and during the times in between.  The timing is actually quite right for bringing this up, since Top Echelon Network is going to celebrate 24 years in business next week!

The recruiters that we’ve included not just in this post, but also in all the posts in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, have been with us through thick and thin and deserve to reap the benefits of their hard work, commitment, and loyalty.  We’re pleased to recognize them for such and happy to thank them for their efforts.

Okay, party’s over . . . now get out there and make some more split placements!

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Lisa Wilczynski of Engineering and Technical Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: NURSE PRACTITIONER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Carol Calvano of Prof’l Recruiting Consultants

Candidate recruiter: Ronald J. Kemelhar of Personalized Placement

Job title: NATIONAL SALES MANAGER—CLEANING CHEMICALS

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Bob Derzon of Derzon Health Search

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Job title: CERTIFIED DIETARY MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: SENIOR COST ACCOUNTANT

Fee Percentage—20%

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

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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.

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.

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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Each year, we recognize the Top Producers in Top Echelon Network, and we do so in a number of different categories.  For instance, we recently recognized the Top Ten Producers in the Network for 2011.  This week, we’re going to announce the Regional Award winners.

For the purposes of this award, we break the country up into nine different regions, and the Regional Awards are based upon the Frequent Placer Program (FPP) points that Preferred Member recruiters earn during the course of the calendar year.

Members can earn FPP points in a variety of ways, starting with making split placements.  They can also earn them for telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and meeting other Preferred Member recruiters in person.

Below are the winners of five of the nine regions within Top Echelon Network for 2011.  The top five recruiters in each region are listed, along with the number of FPP points they earned.  The top recruiter in each region will receive an award at the 2012 National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., next month.

Pacific

142,868—Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems

105,715—Hani Mussa of KnowPeople, Inc.

83,956—David Wood of The David Wood Company

74,865—Kristen Jiles of eSearch Pro, Inc.

59,448—Gail Williams of Williams Recruiting, Inc.

West North Central

91,429—Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

87,905—Jim Crumpley of Jim Crumpley & Associates

84,692—Bob Wylan of R.A. Wylan & Company, Inc.

67,831—Alan Carty of Automationtechies.com

64,392—Thomas Windsor of Corporate Resources, Inc.

East North Central

193,887—Russell Schutt, CSP of Progressive Executive, Inc.

154,248—David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

141,078—Angela Marasco of A. Marasco Recruiting, LLC

136,577—Carol Brinkman of Corporate Resources, LLC

132,127—Jim Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick & Associates

New England

70,921—Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

61,788—Donna Carroll of Systems Personnel

38,928—Rob Spaulding of Spaulding Associates

37,269—Betsy Harper of Sales and Marketing Search, Inc.

23,950—Joe Miglizzi, CPC of Perspective

Middle Atlantic

195,865—Denise Milano Sprung of JA Pharma, Inc.

114,915—Wendy Johnson of Professionals Incorporated

91,558—Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.

85,027—Shari Skurnik of Omega Management Group

65,419—Joseph F. Papa, CPC/CTS of American Medical Personnel Services, Inc.

Be sure to check next week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for the rest of our Regional Award winners for 2011!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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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.)

One of the most popular industries for contract staffing is Information Technology.  It is also one of the trickiest to navigate in terms of overtime requirements.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that most employees have to be paid at a rate of 1.5 times their regular pay rate for any hours worked over 40 during a work week.  However, the FLSA allows for certain job classifications to be exempt from these overtime regulations.  In most cases, in order to be exempt, employees who fall into those classifications must be paid on a salary rather than hourly basis.

Not so for those in “Computer-Related Occupations.”  The FLSA does allow qualified workers to be exempt from overtime even if they are paid on an hourly basis, as long as their hourly rate is at least $27.63.  To confuse matters further, the required minimum rate is different for those employed in California, and it can change annually.  The required minimum rate in California increased from $37.94 to $38.89 on January 1.

Changes may also be on the horizon for the federal law.  According to Business Management Daily, the Computer Professionals Update Act (CPU) has been introduced in the Senate with the goal of updating the FLSA in light of professions that have emerged as the Internet has grown.  Previously, the FLSA specified that those employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or another similarly skilled position were eligible for the Computer-Related Occupations exemption.

The Act would more broadly define computer professionals as “any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker.”  They will still have to be paid at a rate of $27.63 per hour or greater ($38.89 or more in California) to be considered exempt from overtime.

If you place IT contractors, you may want to be familiar with these developments and keep a close eye on the progress of the CPU.

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.
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Nobody likes turndowns—they’re a major league bummer.  However, they’re an inevitable part of a recruiter’s existence.  If you work as a recruiter for any length of time and enjoy any measure of success, you’re going to experience the “joy of the turndown.”

But you just can’t let turndowns get you down.  Instead, turn them around, like two of the Preferred Member recruiters featured in this installment of “‘Comments’ and Compliments.”  Persistence certainly paid off for this pair, as they recently made their second split placement within the past 12 months.

Armed with this new level of confidence, it’s a good bet that these recruiters will continue to make split placements together—no matter how many turndowns they encounter.  Because even though they ran into them before, they overcame them and reaped the financial benefits of doing so.

If YOU have reaped financial benefits with another recruiter in a split placement situation and you’d like to recognize them for their efforts, send your information to marketing@topechelon.com.  Your comments might be featured in an upcoming issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

— — —

“This [placement] comes after two other ‘turndowns’ over the last three months.  Jay Laney hung in there with me, and we were finally successful.  Jay and I have established a great working relationship, and I look forward to our next project!  This is our second placement together this year!”

Submitted by Rowe Henderson of Rowe Henderson & Associates regarding his split placement with Jay Laney of The Williams Company

Position Title—DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: this is the second split placement that Henderson and Laney have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

“A TEN partner who thought the candidate was still good without the required degree, and he was!  Granted, it took a little discussion with the client, but it has all worked out.”

Submitted by Patrick Walsh of the PSW Group regarding his split placement with Justin Bidwell of Bidwell & Associates, LLC

Position Title—PURCHASING SUPPLY CHAIN BUYER
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: this is the second split placement that Walsh and Bidwell 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.

Top Echelon Network is all about helping recruiters make split placements.  However, Top Echelon also offers many tools and services that help recruiters make full-fee placements, as well.  One of them is Job Javelin, a job posting service for recruiters resulting from Top Echelon’s arrangement with Career Marketplace, LLC.

As part of that arrangement, recruiters who are already Top Echelon customers receive a substantial discount on the jobs they post through Job Javelin.  In fact, the cost is only $17 per job.

Find out more about the Job Javelin pricing structure.

It’s been nearly two years since the release of Job Javelin, and more and more recruiters are making placements with this job posting service.  We’re highlighting one of those recruiters (and their placement) in this Pinnacle blog post (see below).

Job Javelin is a quick and easy tool for Top Echelon Network Preferred Members to use.
target=”_blank”>Click here to read a blog post with directions about how to post your jobs using Job Javelin.

Click here to learn more about Job Javelin and the sites to which your jobs are posted.

Please note that you DO NOT have to be a user of the Big Biller recruiting software in order to take full advantage of the value that Job Javelin offers.  If you have any additional questions, please contact us at (330) 455-1433.

And if you’ve made a placement through the Job Javelin job order posting service, we want to hear about it!  Send your information to marketing@topechelon.com.

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“The candidate sent their resume to Job Javelin in September or October of 2011, and they fit a subsequent (different) search in November or December.”

Submitted by Joe Cotter of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc. regarding the full-fee placement he made through the Job Javelin job order posting service for recruiters

Position Title—LEAD PROJECT ENGINEER
Fee Percentage—25%
Amount Cotter Paid for the Job Posting—$17
Brokerage Fee Owed to Top Echelon Network—$0

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Remember, if you’ve made a placement through the Job Javelin job order posting service for recruiters, send your information to marketing@topechelon.com.