This week’s Top Echelon Recruiter of the Week is a veteran of the recruiting industry. He’s a veteran of Top Echelon Network. And he recently announced his retirement.

That recruiter is Mark London of Command Consultants, Inc.!

Mark London: 28 years and $650K

Mark started in the recruiting profession in 1981. He and his recruiting agency joined the Network on August 22, 1990. Working heavily in the sales and sales management areas, Mark made 76 placements in Top Echelon’s recruiting network. Those placements generated over $650K in billings for Mark.

Mark recently announced his retirement in the Discussion Forum of the Members’ Area. Below is the message that he posted to Network Members:

— — —

After 32 years in the search business, the past 28 with TE, I think it’s time to hang up the phone, so to speak.

Mark London

I’m planning on spending more time teaching sailing and training our new nine-week old Border Collie, Shayna, since the devastating loss of our seven-year old “lab-experiment” Bubba on [March 9].

Bubba was a one-of-a-kind dog. He he excelled in K9 Nose Work, loved dock diving at the lake, hikes, and cheering up the old folks at the assisted living facility when on walks. Bubba made it into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot!

I’d like to think I will be able to “retire” from the desk, but who knows what the future will bring. What’s that old axiom? “Man plans and God laughs.”

I’ve enjoyed working with many of my TE trading partners and have even developed lasting friendships with some. Who ever thought this city boy would wind up riding horses with Carolyn Barcus in Oklahoma?!

It was indeed a fun ride . . .

All the best.

Mark

— — —

We at Top Echelon can’t thank Mark enough for his commitment and loyalty to the Network. Top Echelon Network recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and Mark has been with us for 28 of those years. He’s been with us through the good times, the bad times, and all the times in between.

So we wish Mark the best of luck in retirement. He was truly a model Top Echelon Network member and a “cream of the crop” recruiter. He will be missed!

The top split placement fee for February highlights a great split recruiting partner relationship in the making!

That relationship is between Erika Staszewski of Regency Search Group and Ryan Fitzpatrick of Integritas Search. As you can see below, they split a $40,000 placement fee fee last month. Not only was that the biggest fee in TE for the month, but it also underscores the success they’ve enjoyed working with each other.

Erika and Ryan work in Manufacturing, one of the top industries for placements in Top Echelon Network. So far, the duo has made four placements. Three of those involved placing Technical Specialists. The big one, though, was the placement of a Director of Research and Development.

Ryan made two Network split placements in 2017, and he’s made another two so far this year. Erika, on the other hand, made four in 2016, four in 2017, and two more this year.

Ryan and Erika are perfect examples of how you don’t have to make a ton of placements in TE to receive a huge return on your Network investment. Remember, these are placements they more than likely would not have made otherwise.

If you’d like to achieve more success in the Network contact  Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS. You can do so by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

In the meantime, congratulations to both Erika and Ryan for their success and this big placement fee!

— — —

Top Split Placement Fee for February:

Erika Staszewski of Regency Search Group and Ryan Fitzpatrick of Integritas Search

The position for this split placement was a Director of Research and Development. Erika was the job order recruiter and Ryan was the candidate recruiter.

The action that stimulated this split placement was listed as “Offline communication with a member.”

The fee for this split placement was $40,000.

— — —

Top Echelon determines the monthly and quarterly winners of its Network split fee recruiting awards in four distinct categories:

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

We only announce the winners of these awards in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog. We do so usually (but not always) in the issue following the conclusion of each month and/or quarter.

Believe it or not, our 30th Anniversary Convention is next month. In fact, it’s less than a month away: Tuesday, April 24, and Wednesday, April 25.

You might already be familiar with some of the information regarding the convention:

• The site is the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville.
• Our room rate for the Gaylord Opryland is $199 per night.
• The main speakers are Barb Bruno, CPC/CTS of Good as Gold Training and Greg Doersching of Bullseye Recruiting.

But what you might know is that Regular Registration for the convention ends is ending soon!

Convention registration ends on March 30

However, time is running out to sign up before the end of Regular Registration for the convention. That’s because Regular Registration ends at close of business on Friday, March 30. (That’s close of business for us—Top Echelon—on the East Coast.)

The cost of Regular Registration is $475 per person. Once the registration period ends, the cost will rise to $525 per person. So there’s no reason to wait—register today!

Keep in mind that we try to keep the cost of attending events like the National Convention down as much as we can. When it comes to these events, our first priority is NOT to make money from the event itself.

Instead, our first priority is to get recruiters together so they can network, share hot job orders and candidates, and build relationships. That way, they can go back to their offices and make split placements together.

Our first priority with these events is the health and well-being of your recruiting firm. Without you, there is no Network. That’s why we absolutely want you to succeed.

As of the writing of this blog post, there are over 100 Network recruiters who have already signed up for the convention. They’ve made the commitment, and they’re ready to invest time, energy, and effort into both their Network membership and the future of their business.

So sign up now. We’ll see you in Nashville!

— — —

To sign up for the convention with a credit card, login to the Members’ Area. Then locate the convention registration links on the left-hand side of the page. Click on the appropriate links and follow the instructions to submit the correct information.

If you have any questions about the National Convention, please contact meat 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

Not only does Top Echelon want to help recruiters make more placements, but we also want to accomplish the following:

• Help them make more placements in different ways
• Help them make more placements more quickly
• And of course, help them make more placements more easily

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Of course it does! That’s why we have a FREE video for you, a video about how to make contract placements. That’s because making contract placements does not have to be difficult. It does not have to be complicated. It does not have to give you a headache just thinking about it.

This FREE 30-minute video is titled “9 Simple Steps to Contract Placements.”

Make contract placements NOW!

You can add contract staffing services to your business model and start making contract placements NOW, not months from now. But don’t take it from me. Debbie Fledderjohann, President of Top Echelon Contracting, shows you how to do it in this special training video. Debbie has over 20 years of experience in the world of contract staffing.

During this video, she addresses not only why companies use contractors and why candidates choose to work on contract, but she also explains the following steps:

1. Generating client interest
2. Establishing bill rates
3. The quote process
4. Searching for candidates
5. Candidate communication
6. Client company communication
7. The interview process
8. Sealing the deal (client and candidate)
9. Submitting the deal to Top Echelon

Every recruiter wants to make more placements. We want to help every recruiter make more placements . . . and that includes contract placements. Don’t miss the opportunity to be a one-stop shop for your clients and take business away from your competitors. (They probably don’t like you that much, anyway.)

Watch “9 Simple Steps to Contract Placements”!

— — —

Remember: Top Echelon also offers FREE training sessions as part of our “Recruiter Coaching Series” of webinars. These webinars are offered on the second Tuesday of every month.

In addition, Top Echelon offers an extensive library of recruiter training videos. We invite you to browse through these videos, which are presented by some of the leading trainers in the recruiting profession.

If there’s one thing that recruiters are familiar with, it’s numbers. Specifically, numbers associated with billings. And recruiters always like to see how they stack up—both against other recruiters and against themselves.

In a perfect world, recruiters would bill more every year on a continuous basis, all the way until they retired. (Sounds nice, doesn’t it?) But alas, we do not live in a perfect world. Heck we don’t even live in a semi-perfect world.

However, we do live in a world where Top Echelon Network Members’ Area poll questions exist. To help illustrate this fact of life, below is the latest such poll question:

How did your overall billings for 2017 compare with 2016?

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

• Significantly better — 35.8%
• Better — 23.6%
• The same — 9.4%
• Worse — 22.6%
• Significantly worse — 8.5%

Fat stack of recruiter cash

First the good news . . . because we love good news! Over a third of poll participants (35.8%) indicated that 2017 was “significantly better” than 2016. Another 23.6% indicated that last year was simply “better” than the previous year.

So let’s put those two percentages together, and you have 59.4% of recruiters who enjoyed a better year in 2017. That’s nearly six out of 10. The conclusion? The market is good for hiring and it’s also good for recruiters.

There is the other side of the coin, of course. But let’s start with those recruiters who felt 2017 was “the same” as 2016. That faction represented 9.4% of the vote.

Then there’s the bad news. That would constitute the 22.6% of poll participants who chose “worse” as their answer. Thankfully, only 8.5% felt as though 2017 was “significantly worse.”

Once again, through the simple act of addition, only 31.1% of recruiters experienced a worse year in 2017 than in 2016. All things considered (including the nature of the profession), that’s not too shabby.

Looking to maximize your membership and make a fat stack of cash Top Echelon’s recruiting network?

Then contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS. You can do so by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.