The Pinnacle | 04-08-2026 Issue of The Pinnacle Archives

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Best Practices

Let’s Pull Together in TE So That We Can Thrive

by Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS on April 12, 2026

Now, more than ever, we need to pull together our resources in Top Echelon’s recruiting network.

There are definitely challenges in the job market at the moment. Hiring has slowed. Job orders are not flowing like honey like they did in 2022, during the height of the Great Resignation. And some candidates seem to be as obstinate as ever.

And then there’s the economy at large and world events, including inflation, interest rates, war in the Middle East, and take your pick when it comes to politics.

There’s so much uncertainty in the air, you can cut it with a knife. (Or in my case, a samurai sword.) And if there is one thing that the job market and the economy do NOT like, it’s uncertainty.

So what should you be doing? These things, among others:

Run searches for candidates and jobs in the TE Network software. This includes the Network Candidates sourcing tool, which contains over eight million recruited candidates.
Check your Alerts for matches.
Call your trading partners and make things happen. Be proactive!

However, I do want to say one thing regarding jobs that you may have on the Network:

When one of the job orders you have posted on TE Network gets filled, please remove that job order from the Network immediately.

If you’re lax in doing this, then you greatly increase the chances that you’re going to waste the time of another well-intentioned recruiter. And that recruiter just wants to help you fill your search assignment.

Now, more than ever, every job in the Network should be open and active. That’s because now, more than ever, time is of the essence. Don’t waste your own time and don’t waste the time of other TE Network recruiters.

THIS is the time to connect with other recruiters and build activity. In fact, this is the time to generate more activity with your trading partners than you’ve ever generated as a member of the Network.

At Top Echelon, we have not survived and thrived for 38 years by accident.

We have survived and thrived during both good times and bad times because the Network pulls together.

So share your jobs and candidates, call your trading partners, and make it happen!

If you’d like to discuss your split network membership, then I encourage you to contact me. You can do so by calling 330.595.17423 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

Split Placements

A Dozen Split Placements and a $37,500 Fee

by Matthew Deutsch on April 6, 2026

Who here likes good news?

Matthew Deutsch

Of course you like good news! And I have good news to share, specifically the 12 split placements that TE Network recruiters recently made.

However, the good news goes beyond that, because one of those splits commanded a recruiting fee of $37,500. Larry Basilone of Basilone Executive Search and Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting placed a Plant Manager to earn that fee at 25%.

But the good news goes beyond even that, because a recruiter also made their first split placement in TE Network recently. That recruiter is Cristina Petrilla of GoodHire Recruitment.

Cristina placed an Instrument Technician with trading partner Donna Coleman of Donna Coleman and Associates to earn a fee of $16,090 at 20%.

As a friendly neighborhood reminder, here is the information that we publish with our split placements:

Names of the trading partners involved (with their profile photos, when available)
Job title
Overall placement fee (before TE Network’s 6% brokerage fee, of course)
Fee percentage

Please note that the placements listed below reflect deals finalized in TE Network for the period from March 23 through April 5, 2026.

Remember, if you don’t want information related to your split placements published in The Pinnacle, please send an email to marketing@topechelon.com to that effect.

Once again, congratulations to everybody below for the split placements they made in TE Network!

This Week’s Split Placements

— — —

Job recruiter: Troy Randolph of Lea Randolph & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Kendra Arnold of A Plus Hire Right Search Group, LLC

Job title: HOSPICE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Overall placement fee: $21,750

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: James Grayem of Jamie Graham

Candidate recruiter: Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting

Job title: ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN – PLC SYSTEMS REPAIR

Overall placement fee: $11,612.64

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: James Grayem of Jamie Graham

Candidate recruiter: Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting

Job title: PRINCIPAL MANUFACTURING PROJECT ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $22,500

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: Larry Basilone of Basilone Executive Search

Candidate recruiter: Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting

Job title: PLANT MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $37,500

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Tom Craig of Keystone Distinction Group

Candidate recruiter: Nancy Gordon of Harlan Recruiting Group

Job title: PROCESS TECHNICIAN

Overall placement fee: $15,080

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Dan Trudeau of The Headhunters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Alpana Kapur of Saba Talent

Job title: PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER – COMPUTER VISION

Overall placement fee: $30,400

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Amy Chapman of Key People Staffing

Candidate recruiter: Sara Katz of First Search, Inc.

Job title: SENIOR TECHNOLOGIST – PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Overall placement fee: $22,000

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Donna Coleman of Donna Coleman and Associates

Candidate recruiter: Cristina Petrilla of GoodHire Recruitment

Job title: INSTRUMENT TECHNICIAN

Overall placement fee: $16,090.88

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

Job title: SENIOR BUSINESS APPLICATIONS ANALYST

Overall placement fee: $22,503

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Christina Boudreaux of Connectly Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: LEGAL ASSISTANT

Overall placement fee: $13,400

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: James Grayem of Jamie Grayem

Candidate recruiter: Gary Thompson of Gary Thompson

Job title: MANAGER – SOCIAL WORK AND BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

Overall placement fee: $17,875.73

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: Steve Torosian of Forest Recruiting Group aka Affiliated Recruiters Network

Candidate recruiter: Thomas Trese of Tom Trese Networking LLC

Job title: STRUCTURAL SHOP FOREMAN – STEEL FABRICATION

Overall placement fee: $20,800

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

If you’re a newer TE Network member and you’d like to enjoy more success in our recruiter network, then I encourage you to contact Top Echelon Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS.

You can do so by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

Largest Split Fee of the Month

$50K Fee Reigns Supreme as Largest Split of the Month

by Matthew Deutsch on April 5, 2026

Ah, March represents many a thing, not the least of which is the beginning of the spring season, which can fill a person with hope.

Matthew Deutsch

Do you know what else can fill a person with hope?

Large placement fees, that’s what. The larger the fee, the larger the hope.

And we have some large placement fees in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog. In fact, we have the largest split fees in TE Network for the month of March.

This includes, of course, the Largest Split Fee of the Month. Accounting for that fee were Russ Hovendick of Client Staffing Solutions, Inc. and Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

Russ and Steve placed a Plant Manager to earn a split recruiting fee of $50,000 at 25%. And yes, I believe $50K can buy a fair amount of hope . . .

As a friendly reminder, Top Echelon determines the monthly and quarterly winners of its TE 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.

So congratulations to everybody on the list below for scoring some BIG placement fees during the month!

Largest Split Placement Fees – March 2026

— — —

First Place:

Russ Hovendick of Client Staffing Solutions, Inc. and Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

Russ Hovendick

Steve Kohn

The position for this split placement was a Plant Manager and the fee percentage associated with this placement was 25%.

Russ was the job order recruiter and Steve was the candidate recruiter.

The fee for this split placement was $50,000.

— — —

Second Place:

Larry Basilone of Basilone Executive Search and Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting

Larry Basilone

Brad Dodge

The position for this split placement was a Plant Manager and the fee percentage associated with this placement was 25%.

Larry was the job order recruiter and Brad was the candidate recruiter.

The fee for this split placement was $37,500.

— — —

Third Place:

Gary Kaufman of ExcelliSearch, Inc. and Adam Pantelli of AJ Search

Gary Kaufman

Adam Pantelli

The position for this split placement was a Plant Director and the fee percentage associated with this placement was 18%.

Gary was the job order recruiter and Adam was the candidate recruiter.

The fee for this split placement was $36,900.

— — —

Fourth Place:

Dan Trudeau of PRA USA and Alpana Kapur of Saba Talent

Dan Trudeau

Alpana Kapur

The position for this split placement was a Principal Software Engineer – Computer Vision and the fee percentage associated with this placement was 20%.

Dan was the job order recruiter and Alpana was the candidate recruiter.

The fee for this split placement was $30,400.

— — —

Fifth Place:

Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources and Laurie Harney of PTF Consulting, LLC

Keith Cornelison

Laurie Harney

The position for this split placement was an AI Technical Architect – Senior AI Engineer and the fee percentage associated with this placement was 20%.

Keith was the job order recruiter and Laurie was the candidate recruiter.

The fee for this split placement was $27,872.

— — —

If YOU want to make more money through Top Echelon’s recruiting network, then contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS.

You can reach Drea by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

Recruiter of the Month

Close Race for Recruiter of the Month in March

by Matthew Deutsch on April 4, 2026

It was close, but Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting is once again the Recruiter of the Month in TE Network!

Matthew Deutsch

Brad barely beat another Top Producer and fellow Top Echelon Hall of Famer, Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources, for the top spot in March. Both recruiters made three split placements, but Brad ultimately claimed victory by virtue of his cash-in amount for his three splits ($38,525.90 vs. $34,207.07.)

As if that wasn’t enough, Top Echelon’s 2025 Rookie of the Year, Kendra Arnold of A Plus Hire Right Search Group, LLC made three splits with trading partner Troy Randolph of Lea Randolph & Associates, Inc. in March. The cash-in total for both of those recruiters during the month was $27,847.50.

So while Brad is still the winner for March, his grip on the top spot is tenuous . . . so stay tuned and see what happens this month!

Here is the information that we include with the Recruiter of the Month feature in TE Network:

The top five (5) recruiters for the month.
The cash-in total for each recruiter during the month. (We base the order of the recruiters on their amount of cash-in dollars, as opposed to the number of split placements they’ve made.)
The number of splits that the recruiters made during the month.
The number of splits each recruiter has made during their TE Network career.
Each recruiter’s cash-in total for their TE Network career.

With this format, it’s more likely that there will be ties among recruiters, especially with those TE Network members who have made split placements with each other.

Once again, congratulations to the recruiters listed below . . . and congratulations to every TE Network member who made a split placement (or multiple splits) during the month!