We recently conducted a poll of Top Echelon Network recruiters by posting a question in the Members’ Area.

That question was as follows:

In a fall-off, which best describes your refund or replacement policy?

Results:

The choice of answers that we provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters that selected each one:

• No refund and will NOT find replacement — 0.9%
• No refund but WILL try to find replacement — 64.8%
• Prorated refund and will NOT find replacement — 3.7%
• Prorated refund and WILL try to find replacement — 14.8%
• Full refund — 8.3%
• Other — 7.4%

Analysis:

As you can see by the results, the majority of poll participants (64.8%) will NOT provide a refund, but they WILL try to find a replacement.  No other answer was even close to being as popular as that one among Top Echelon Network recruiters.

In fact, “Prorated refund and WILL try to find a replacement” was a distant second at 14.8%.  Only 8.3% of poll participants provide a full refund when one of their candidates fall off.

While they represent smaller numbers, there are Network recruiters who will NOT try to find a replacement.  Those recruiters either do not refund the placement fee (0.9%), or they provide a prorated refund of the fee (3.7%).

Conclusion:

When it comes to recruiters’ refund or replacement policy, it appears the majority of them feel as though they should help to rectify a fall-off situation.  That’s because nearly 80% of them indicated in this poll that they WILL try to find a replacement in such a situation.

However, most of the recruiters who are willing to search for a replacement are NOT willing to refund the placement fee in its entirety.  What does that indicate about the recruiters’ attitude regarding fall-offs?

Well, based upon these poll results, it could indicate the following three things, among others:

1. The recruiters keep the fee because they believe they earned the fee by completing the search and presenting a candidate that was hired—even if that candidate didn’t last beyond a predetermined time frame.

2. The recruiters want to maintain a healthy level of goodwill with their clients, as evidenced by their willingness to search for a replacement once the fall-off occurred.

3. The recruiters might also feel some degree of responsibility for the situation, either for the fall-off itself or for making sure that the position is filled (and stays filled) and that their client receives the value they were expecting to receive.

Do you agree with this analysis of the poll results?  What is your refund or replacement policy as a recruiter?  Why have you chosen this policy?  Feel free to comment below!

At Top Echelon, we like to recognize recruiters for their production in the Network, especially those recruiters who “fly below the radar.”

These are the recruiters who don’t necessarily win awards year after year, but they’re loved by their Trading Partners and they exemplify everything that the Network is about and was founded upon over 27 years ago.

One of the ways we like to recognize these recruiters is in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, specifically in our “Recruiter of the Week” feature.  Once again, this feature is primarily reserved (although not exclusively) for those recruiters who are “flying below the radar” but are still enjoying a considerable amount of success.

This week, the recruiter we’re recognizing for their production and performance in Top Echelon’s Recruiting Network is Carol Martin, CPC of Martin Management, Inc.

Below are five reasons why Carol is the Recruiter of the Week in the Network:

#1—She’s consistent.

Carol made seven placements in the Network in 2014, and she’s already made four placements this year.  If every Top Echelon recruiter matched those production totals, we’d throw a ticker-tape parade.

#2—She’s all about Quality.

Quality is one of The Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network, and judging by the comments by her Trading Partners listed below, Carol infuses the entire placement process with Quality.  That includes the candidates she shares and the communication she has with other TE recruiters.

#3—This is her second stint in TE.

Carol was a Preferred Member recruiter once before.  She quit, but then she came back and hit the ground running.  We almost always welcome recruiters back into the Network, especially those who have a history of production and leave on good terms.

#4—She’s an excellent exporter.

Carol has had the candidate in all 34 of her placements in Top Echelon Network.  (She had both the candidate and the job order in one of her earlier placements, back in the days of Top Echelon’s old job posting service.)  Carol has honed her abilities as an exporter and continues to hone them—and the result is more placements!

#5—She’s a CPC.

Although being a Certified Personnel Consultant (CPC) is NOT a prerequisite for being the Recruiter of the Week in TE, we place a high premium on continuous training within the recruiting industry.  We encourage all Top Echelon Network recruiters to pursue this certification, as well as the Certified Temporary Specialist (CTS) and the Certified Employment Retention Specialist (CERS).

So congratulations to Carol Martin from everybody here at Top Echelon!  We’d like to thank her for her hard work and commitment as a Preferred Member recruiter in the Network.

— — —

Carol Martin, CPC

Pat McCombs, CPC

“This is my first split with Carol.  Her candidate was awesome!  He had four offers!  I hope Carol and I can do many more splits in the future.  Thanks, Carol!”

Submitted by Pat McCombs of KB Search Team, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Carol Martin, CPC of Martin Management, Inc.

Position Title—MAINTENANCE ENGINEERING MANAGER

Fee Percentage—23%

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

— — —

Therese Eckhoff

“I value the exceptional assistance from Carol on overcoming a competing offer and completing this placement.”

Submitted by Therese Eckhoff of TriVista Professional Placement Services, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Carol Martin, CPC of Martin Management, Inc.

Position Title—MANUFACTURING PROCESS ENGINEER – INJECTION MOLDING

Fee Percentage—Flat Fee recruiting percentage

(Editor’s note: This is the second Network split placement that Eckhoff and Martin have made together in Top Echelon.)

You never, ever know when attending a Top Echelon Network event like the National Convention or the Fall Conference will pay off for you as a Preferred Member recruiter.

Not only that, but also don’t know exactly how much it will pay off.

Take, for instance, the two Network Preferred Members in the recruiter case study below—Deb North of Deb North Consulting, LLC and Bob Small of Carroll Technology Services, Inc.

Both them spent in the neighborhood of between one and two thousand dollars apiece to attend the Network event in question.  However, once they were there, they met one another, they networked, and then they went back to their offices and continued sharing hot job orders and candidates.

Since then, they’ve made four placements totaling nearly $67,000 in fees (minus Top Echelon’s 6% brokerage fee, of course).

So . . . let’s say they made a total investment of $5,000 between the two of them to attend that particular TE event.  They have received at least a 1,000% return on that investment—and still counting.

After all, Deb and Bob are probably going to make even more placements together, all because they met one another at a TE conference.  If not for that meeting (and that conference), they would NOT have made these four placements and split that $67,000.

How many placements could YOU make by attending the upcoming 2015 National Convention?  How much money are you currently “leaving on the table”?  Don’t leave it there.  Somebody else will take it.

Don’t let somebody else take your money.  Attend the 2015 Top Echelon Network National Convention . . . join us . . . join us.

Register for the 2015 National Convention!

— — —

Deb North

Bob Small

“So glad I met Bob at one of the conferences.  We really hit it off and have a great thing going!  Thank you for all of your hard work on my openings, Bob!”

Submitted by Deb North of Deb North Consulting, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Bob Small of Carroll Technology Services, Inc.

Position Title—APPLICATIONS DEVELOPER

Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: This is the third Network split placement that North and Small have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

“This is the second job in the past two months that Bob has helped me fill at this client.  Thank God for Bob Small is all I have to say!”

Submitted by Deb North of Deb North Consulting, LLC regarding her Network split placement with with Bob Small of Carroll Technology Services, Inc.

Position Title—DEVELOPMENT/PROJECT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—Flat

(Editor’s note: This is the fourth Network split placement that North and Small have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

The 2015 National Convention is scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, and Wednesday, April 15, at the Embassy Suites Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia.

Make the decision to invest in your recruiting firm, and you could make more placements just like Deb North and Bob Small . . . and who doesn’t like to make more placements?

With each passing day, the marketplace turns into more of a candidate-driven marketplace.

How long that will last is anybody’s guess.  However, until that is no longer the case, finding quality candidates and convincing them to take advantage of your clients’ opportunities  is of paramount importance.

And if you can’t find the candidates you need?  Then perhaps your Trading Partners in Top Echelon Network have them!

Just about every week, we present instances in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog of Network recruiters who have made placements because of their ability and willingness to share top-notch candidates with each other . . . and we have more instances this week.

Four such instances are below.  Will we have more in the future?  Of course we will.

That’s because sharing top-notch candidates and making split placements are what Top Echelon Network recruiters DO—and they do it very well.

Congratulations to everybody making split placements this week!

If you have questions about how to maximize your Top Echelon Network Membership and make more placements, I urge you to contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CERS at 330.455.1433, x156.

— — —

Melinda O’Neil

Debbi Reiger

“It is a pleasure working with Debbi!  She provides top-notch candidates.  I hope to do many more splits with her!  Thanks, Debbi!”

Submitted by Melinda O’Neil of Enterprise Search Associates, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Debbi Reiger of Reiger Technical Search

Position Title—SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—22%

(Editor’s note: This is the second Network split placement that O’Neil and Reiger have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

Gary Elias

Veronica Snyder

“Thanks for sending us the great candidate, Gary!  All parties are very happy!”

Submitted by Veronica Snyder of Career Professionals, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Gary Elias of Elias Associates, Inc.

Position Title—EH&S COORDINATOR

Fee Percentage—20%

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

— — —

Donna Carroll, CPC

Mark London

“Mark London is a trusted Trading Partner who definitely adds value in the placement process.”

Submitted by Donna Carroll, CPC of Systems Personnel regarding her Network split placement with Mark London of Command Consultants, Inc.

Position Title—HEALTHCARE SOFTWARE/SERVICE SALES

Fee Percentage—22%

(Editor’s note: This is the sixth Network split placement that Carroll and London have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

Lauren Byrne

Juli Smith

“Our first split together!  Thanks, Lauren, and hoping for many more this year!”

Submitted by Juli Smith of The Smith Consulting Group, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Lauren Byrne of Lincoln & Creed, Inc.

Position Title—CIVIL ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

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