Is this The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog’s “Special Achievement Edition”?  It certainly seems that way!

First, we had Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search reaching the $1 million cash-in mark in Top Echelon Network.

Now we have Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group making his 300th placement in the Network!

There is plenty of significance attached to this accomplishment, starting with the fact that only two recruiters in the history of the Network have made 300 or more placements.  Those two are Cameron and Bruce Ramstad of Ramstad Recruiting.

Ramstad, who is not currently a Preferred Member, made a total of 308 Network placements.  Cameron, as of the writing of this blog post, has made 303 Network placements.

Which brings us to the next part of the significance attached to this accomplishment, which is this:

In the very near future, Trey Cameron will become the all-time placement leader in the history of Top Echelon Network.

In fact, considering the rate at which Cameron has been making placements in the Network during the past few years, he will probably become the leader sometime during the next 30 days.  Cameron’s other career Network accomplishments include the following:

• Over $2 million cash-in
• Recruiter of the Year Award in the Network for four years running

Through the first quarter of 2015, Trey seems well on his way to winning the Recruiter of the Year Award for the fifth year in a row.  In the meantime, though, below is a list of the 26 recruiters who comprise “The Top Echelon Network 100 Placement Club.”  Some are no longer in the Network.  The names of those recruiters are in italics.

Trey Cameron

1. Bruce Ramstad of Ramstad Recruiting—308
2. Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group—303
3. Gary Silver of The Shay Group—236
4. Jim Bostic of The Bostic Group, Inc.—224
5. Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.—207
6. Dan Simmons, CPC of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc.—183
7. Jerry Walter of Walter & Associates, Inc.—181
8. Jim Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick & Associates—179
9. Dan Regan of Maxwell Marcus Corporate Recruiters—171
10. Lou Michaels of Lou Michaels Associates, Inc.—169
11. Kate Bell of Bell & Associates—157
12. Al Katz of First Search—152
13. Elvin Erickson of Erickson & Associates, Inc.—143
14. Allen Davis of SoftwareJobs.com, Inc.—140
15. Heidi Kay of Kay Concepts, Inc.—139 (four of those placements were with another Preferred Member firm)
16. Richard Lechtenberg of Dick Berg & Associates—131
17. Colleen Switala of Database Search, Inc.—126
18. Donna Carroll, CPC of Systems Personnel—133
19. Terry Rhodes of NewCareers—132
20. Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search—119
21. Bill Williams—114
22. David Kersey of Kersey & Associates, Inc.—109
23. Johnny Winn of The Anchor Group—106
24. Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems—105
25. Antoinette Andrews of Quantum Advantage, Inc.—104
26. Joyce Gray of Rhodes International, Inc.—101

Of course, everybody at Top Echelon would like to recognize Trey Cameron for his impressive accomplishments and also thank him for his dedication and commitment as a Preferred Member of the Network.  Congratulations!

Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search recently became the 19th recruiter in the history of the Network to reach the $1 million cash-in mark!

Kohn hit the mark by virtue of his split placement with Jeff Ploeger of Ploeger Recruiting Services.  Kohn and Ploeger placed a Legal Counsel/Legal Assistant with a 25% fee.

Affinity Executive Search joined Top Echelon Network as a Preferred Member agency in 1994.  Since then, Kohn has made 119 placements in the Network.

Two other recruiters in his office, Rebecca Kohn and Hannah Kohn, have made 19 Network placements and one Network placement, respectively.

Below is a list of the current Top Echelon Network recruiters who have reached the $1 million cash-in mark, as well as those who are closest to reaching it.

(Note: Totals reflect Network placements only.  Five Network recruiters have reached $1 million with contract placements made through Top Echelon Contracting.  These recruiters include current Members Chuck Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc.; Rosemarie Christopher of Med Exec International; and Keith Adams of PediaStaff.)

Steve Kohn

$2,282,946—Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group
$1,868,631—Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.
$1,576,045—Jim Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick & Associates
$1,307,749—Dan Simmons, CPC of Continental Search and Outplacement, Inc.
$1,276,927—Gary Silver of The Shay Group
$1,093,337—Lou Michaels of Lou Michaels Associates, Inc.
$1,042,461—Terry Rhodes of NewCareers
$1,005,883—Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search
$936,017—Colleen Switala of Database Search, Inc.
$883,101—Jerry Walter of Walter & Associates, Inc.
$847,914—Donna Carroll of Systems Personnel
$839,842—Lawrence T. Ploscowe of EXEK Recruiters, Ltd.

Everybody at Top Echelon would like to congratulate Steve Kohn on his achievement and for his commitment and dedication to the Network!

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

That question was as follows:

What are your clients’ hiring plans for 2015?

Results:

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

• They have no plans to hire. — 3.3%
• Hire fewer employees than last year — 8.7%
• Hire the same number as last year — 47.8%
• Hire more employees than last year — 40.2%

Analysis:

Judging by the results of this poll, 2015 will be a good year for hiring. It might even be a great year for some recruiters.

After all, 40.2% of poll respondents indicated that their clients plan to “hire more employees than last year.”  Another 47.8% indicated that clients plan to “hire the same number as last year.”

At the other end of the spectrum, only 8.7% of recruiters chose “Hire fewer employees than last year” as their answer.  In addition, just 3.3% of poll participants believe that their clients have “no plans to hire” at any time this year.

Conclusion:

Demand for hiring is still high, and it appears as though it’s getting even higher.  This year might very well represent the high-water mark in the country’s economic recovery since the end of The Great Recession, at least far as hiring and jobs are concerned.

Not only that, but it doesn’t matter what shape the economy is in, top talent and superstar candidates are always in demand.  In some industries, there is currently such a severe lack of suitable candidates that companies are more than willing to pay a recruiting fee in order to find and successfully hire them.

Consequently, the majority of recruiters are not having a difficult time securing job orders.  What they ARE having trouble finding are the right candidates to fill those job orders.

However, for recruiters who are Preferred Members of Top Echelon Network, they can rely upon their Core Group of Trading Partners for a steady diet of quality candidates.

In the meantime, as long as this economic recovery continues, companies will still have both the desire and the resources to hire . . . and that’s good news for recruiters in just about every niche.

What are your thoughts about companies’ willingness to hire?  Is it a “candidates’ market” right now?  Feel free to comment below!