For the longest time in Top Echelon Network, the mack-daddy of industries was Industry and Manufacturing (discipline code 25).  Why is that?  Because Preferred Member recruiters in the Network made the most placements in that industry, and they did so quarter after quarter after quarter.

However, the statistics for the first quarter of 2012 within Top Echelon Network paint a different picture.

That’s because the industry of IT/Information Systems/Data Processing (discipline code 20) has caught up with Industry and Manufacturing.  As you can see in the chart below, both industries have accounted for 27.7% of the placements made in the Network during the past 12 months.

A tie?  That’s unique all by itself.  But an industry poised to knock Manufacturing off the top spot?  That’s close to being a paradigm shift within Top Echelon Network.

The fact of the matter is that IT talent is as much in demand as it’s ever been.  In fact, many recruiters are discovering that IT talent is in short supply.  Is Manufacturing demand in short supply, too?  Absolutely, but the demand in IT appears to be reaching near-critical levels.

If you work in these industries and disciplines, what’s been your experience?  Is demand high?  Is it difficult to find candidates who are qualified enough?  Do employers keep asking for another candidate and another candidate and another . . .

Even more importantly, what do you need from other recruiters in Top Echelon Network?  What can they give you to help fill your job orders?

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, be sure to contact us.

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MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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Okay, now we get down to the nitty-gritty.  When it comes to the Top Echelon Network statistics for the first quarter of 2012, that is.

In this blog post, we’re including some of the numbers that recruiters always seem to be interested in, namely the following:

• The average fee for placements made in the Network ($18,894)

• The average fee percentage for placements made in the Network (22%)

• The average salary for positions that are filled within the Network ($83,278)

As you can see, the specific numbers for the first quarter in these categories is located both above and in the chart below.  The chart is broken down into specific industries and disciplines, and it includes the placements that have been made in those industries and disciplines during the first quarter.

The average fee percentage has remained basically the same over the past several quarters, while both the average fee and the average salary have climbed steadily upward—not by leaps and bounds, mind you, but upward, nonetheless.

Have you encountered clients who still want to drive down your fee percentage?  Or are they accepting 25% and 30% fees more easily than they were a few years ago?  And how closely is their acceptance tied to the urgency of the job order and the type of position they’re seeking to fill?

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, be sure to contact us.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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It’s April! That means more rain, warmer weather, and Top Echelon Network’s statistics for the first quarter of the year.  (Of those three, the last item is included in this blog post.)

The statistics with which we’ll begin are the “Actions Causing Placements,” which indicate how placements are being made within the Network.  As you’ll see, the actions that have been causing placements are the “usual suspects.”  In other words, what has caused placements in the past is causing them now, and more than likely, will continue to cause them in the future.

One of the biggest “usual suspects” is the number-one action that causes placements in the Network—“Regular Communication with Trading Partner.”

The percentage of placements that resulted from that action during the first quarter was 58.4%.  That was down slightly from the 66.9% for all of 2011, but chances are good that it will rise during the final three quarters of this year.

Coming in second place was “Hiring Hook Websites” at 14.9%, while “Searching the Split Databases” was third at 9.9%.  What does this mean?

It means simply that if you communicate regularly with your Trading Partners, you have a Hiring Hook website, and you search the Split Databases on a consistent basis, you greatly increase your chances of making placements in Top Echelon Network!

What have been the actions that have caused your placements in the Network?  One of the top three listed below?  Or all three?

Note: The “actions causing placements” were taken from the Completed Placement Forms submitted by the placing recruiter.

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, be sure to contact us.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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If there’s one thing we like at Top Echelon Network, it’s excitement about making split placements.  We like banana splits a lot, too, but let’s stay focused, shall we?  We like it when our Preferred Member recruiters get excited about making split placements.

(You know the kind of banana splits I’m talking about, with vanilla, chocolate AND strawberry ice cream—never mind.)

Anyway, in this week’s installment of split placements made by Preferred Member recruiters in Top Echelon Network, we find that type of excitement.  Specifically, we find it displayed by Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC, who was extraordinarily complimentary of his Trading Partner in a split placement situation: Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC.

That was just one of nine split placements made by Preferred Member recruiters this week—and all nine of them are listed below.  While we might not know exactly how excited every recruiter is about the split placement they made, what we do know is that revenue generated by these placements could buy a whole lot of banana splits.

(And you gotta put whipped cream and nuts on top, and holy cow, don’t forget the cherry . . . wait a minute, where was I?)

.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC

Job title: GLOBAL ALLIANCE PROGRAM DIRECTOR-BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Tenacious passive sourcing and epic moral support by Jeff Gilbert, the “Kingfish of Recruiting”!

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Cal Jones of Front Line Solutions, LLC

Job title: BIOMED SERVICE ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—15%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Debbie Harper of Harper Hewes, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Betsy Harper of Sales and Marketing Search, Inc.

Job title: SALES

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Deb Zakrzewski of Harper Hewes, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Leslie Corbin, CSAM of Recruiters Network, Inc.

Job title: SENIOR INK JET CHEMIST

Fee Percentage—Flat

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Marc Tappis of Opportunity Search, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Janet Miller of Computer Management, Inc.

Job title: PROJECT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Nick Stoia of ASAP Search and Recruiters

Candidate recruiter: Glenn Richards of Global Talent Resources Corp.

Job title: SENIOR ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—22.5%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Jim Brown of Galileo Search, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: CORPORATE ACCREDITATION OFFICER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: David Manns of Access Professional Search and Staffing

Job title: ASSISTANT MANAGER-INJECTION MOLDING

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Ralph Dahm of IT Audit Search

Candidate recruiter: Rich Harrold of Front Line Solutions, LLC

Job title: BANK COMPLIANCE CONTRACTOR

Recruiter $/Hour—$11.05

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

 — — —

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
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Trey Cameron is NOT the “Recruiter of the Month”!  Why in the world is that significant?  Because he’s seemed to be the winner of the award nearly every month for the past year.

In fact, Cameron was the “Recruiter of the Quarter” for the first quarter, as we reported in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog last week.  However, we have a new “Recruiter of the Month” for the month of March, and you’ve probably guessed by reading the headline to this blog post that the recruiter in question is David Wick, CPC of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Needless to say, Cameron was in the running for the award . . . and so was the other recruiter in his office, Gene McQueen.  McQueen was also part of the other recognition award for the month of March, which isn’t surprising, since that placement also garnered him the same award for the first quarter of the year.

For more information about the placements and cash-in totals associated with these recognition awards, please login to the Members’ Area and view the profiles and placement details of the recruiters involved.

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Recruiter of the Month
David Wick, CPC of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Wick made a total of three split placements during the month of March, narrowly edging out three other recruiters who made two split placements apiece.  Those recruiters were Gene McQueen of the Cameron Craig Group, Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group and Kim Kirby of Balanced Career Solutions, Inc.

— — —

Highest Split Placement Fee of the Month
Steven C. Brandvold of Executive Connection and Gene McQueen of the Cameron Craig Group

This placement was for a Director of Human Resources.  Brandvold was the job order recruiter, and McQueen was the candidate recruiter.  The action causing this split placement was listed as, “The job order or candidate was sent to me via the automated email alerts.”

— — —

Our criteria for these recognition awards:

Top Echelon Network is a split placement network.  As such, we place an emphasis on split placements, and that emphasis constitutes the basis of our criteria for these recognition awards.  We determine the monthly award winners based upon two factors, which are listed below in order of importance:

1.) The number of split placements made
2.) The amount of cash-in dollars earned as a result of those split placements

In other words, the number of split placements that recruiters make is our first consideration.  In the event of a tie, the cash-in total earned from those split placements is the deciding factor and serves to break the tie.  Obviously, the recruiter with more cash-in dollars in the event of a tie is the recruiter who wins the recognition award.

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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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.)

Despite government funding, Healthcare organizations are struggling to obtain the Health IT staff needed to automate their processes.

The federal government is funding several initiatives to help Healthcare organizations invest in IT.  For instance, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing funding for implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) through the The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.

But according to the HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Leadership Survey, money is not enough.  Twenty-five percent of respondents said that the main barrier to IT implementation  is inadequate staffing resources.  Additionally, two-thirds said that their IT staff will increase in the next year.

Sounds like this is an area that is in major need of Health IT recruiters!  In fact, we have been hearing from recruiters that we work with that Health IT is a very hot area right now for both contract and direct job orders, so much so that some recruiters are even switching niches to take advantage of this need.

If you’re considering switching niches, this may be an area to consider!

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888.627.3678
DFledderjohann@TopEchelonContracting.com
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Many years ago, there was a certain advertisement for a long-distance telephone service carrier that encouraged people to “reach out and touch someone.”  As corny as it might sound now, that phrase proved to be quite catchy.

That’s one of the reasons we’re using it now, in this week’s installment of “Comments and Compliments.”  Another reason is because the split placements we’re featuring are the result of Preferred Member recruiters’ willingness to “reach out and touch someone.”

In fact, they reached out and touched another Preferred Member recruiter to find out what they needed on their search, so they could help them complete it.  Because they did that, they were able to make a split placement with that recruiter.  If they hadn’t taken the time to reach out, they wouldn’t be splitting a placement fee.

Is it really as simple as picking up the telephone and calling another Member?  Yes, it certainly can be.  And it’s a lot less corny when it results in an extra $7,000 or $8,000 worth of revenue for your firm.

If you’d like to thank another recruiter for their efforts in a split placement situation, send your information to marketing@topechelon.com.  Your comments might be included in an upcoming issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog!

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“Sue and I spoke about my job order, and she sent me a great, on target, local candidate.  Thanks, Sue!  We will do this again.”

Submitted by Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services regarding his split placement with Sue Christian of PRI Business Services, Inc.

Position Title—PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
Fee Percentage—25%

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

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“We’ve known Bill for almost seven years.  It is AWESOME to finally do a split with him.  You can rack up another split for the Fort Wayne Core Group!  Thanks, Bill, for your hard work and for taking time to work our search.”

Submitted by Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC regarding her split placement with Bill Quackenbush, CPC/CTS of QCI Technical Staffing

Position Title—GENERAL ACCOUNTANT
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Hemminger and Quackenbush have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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