The 2016 Top Echelon National Convention will be held this coming week in Las Vegas, and there will be a TON of Network top producers at the convention. In fact, some of them are listed below as our top recruiters for the first quarter of 2016.

Almost all of the recruiters below have attended at least one Top Echelon conference or convention during their tenure in the Network, and most of them have attended multiple events. Is it a coincidence that regular attendees of our events are also top producers in the Network?

No, it is not.

If you’re not attending the National Convention this week, then seriously consider attending the 2016 Fall Conference. The conference will be held this October in Chicago. We’ll be publishing more information about this event in future issues of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

Top producers and Recruiter of the Quarter

We recently expanded the information that we typically include with the announcement of the Recruiter of the Quarter Award. That information is below:

• The top five (5) recruiters in the Network for the quarter
• The number of split placements those recruiters made during the quarter
• The dollar amount of commission that the recruiters earned as a result of those split placements

When you consider that the monthly fee for Network membership is just $125, these recruiters received quite a return on their TE investment during the past three months.

Below are the standings for Recruiter of the Quarter in Top Echelon Network for the first quarter of 2016. Congratulations to these top producers for their accomplishments in our split placement network!

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First Place

Recruiter: Trey Cameron
Agency: Cameron Craig Group
Placements: Thirty-five (35)
Commission: $268,856

Second Place

Recruiter: Steve Kohn
Agency: Affinity Executive Search
Placements: Eleven (11)
Commission: $107,845

Third Place

Recruiter: Sean Napoles, CPC
Agency: Career Brokers, Inc.
Placements: Nine (9)
Commission: $91,268

Fourth Place

Recruiter: Kerry Boehner
Agency: KOB Solutions, Inc.
Placements: Five (5)
Commission: $61,010

Fifth Place

Recruiter: Kristy Staggs
Agency: Byrnes & Rupkey, Inc.
Placements: Five (5)
Commission: $24,309

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Top Echelon Network determines the monthly and quarterly winners of its recruiting awards based upon two criteria, 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

This explains why, when multiple recruiters are tied with the same number of split placements during a given month or quarter, the recruiter with the largest “cash-in” total for their placements is deemed the winner.

There are some recruiters in the world who do NOT want to make split placements. They want to enjoy placement success, to be sure, but they don’t want to make splits. I know . . . crazy, right?

You know how it goes . . . “Real recruiters don’t have to split” . . . “Settling for anything less than a full fee is borderline heresy” . . . “You can’t make placements by using the Internet” . . . “The world is flat”. . . blah, blah, blah.

These recruiters are not part of Top Echelon Network. That’s because the Network is filled with recruiters who want to make split placements, are glad to make split placements, and are thankful to make split placements.

Thankful to make splits, you might ask? It’s 100% true.

Split placement success and real recruiting

We have the proof to back it up! In fact, we have three recent split placement success stories that involve recruiters who were thrilled to make those splits. (And “thrilled” is not an exaggeration.)

As part of being thrilled, these recruiters made sure to properly thank their trading partners for the placements they made together. They wanted to praise them for the candidates they provided, for the work they did, and for the experience they provided during the placement process.

Making split placements is NOT heresy. It’s:

• Recognizing the value that other recruiters can provide to your firm
• Using that value to fill more job orders and place more candidates
• Meeting more of your clients’ needs and generating MORE revenue

That sounds like real recruiting to me—and more than enough reason to be grateful for your trading partners and show gratitude.

If you’re looking to build and nurture trading partner relationships like the ones listed below, then I encourage you to contact Top Echelon Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

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Carol Luksan

“Hanni is awesome! He called this candidate to pre-qualify, and [the candidate] was exactly what we needed. He also followed up with him before and after. Thanks, Hanni!”

Submitted by Carol Luksan of The Luksan Group regarding her Network split placement with Hanni Mussa of KnowPeople, Inc.

Position Title—HYDRAULICS ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

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Kristy Staggs

Pam Copeland

“Another great resume from Pam! Quick interview process, offer, and acceptance on the same day. Now, on to the next placement! Thanks again, Pam!”

Submitted by Kristy Staggs of Byrnes & Rupkey, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Pam Copeland of fulltimeGiGS

Position Title—QUALITY SUPERVISOR

Fee Percentage—20%

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

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Lois Rupkey

Terry Rhodes

“I truly enjoy working with Terry. This was a nice, solid split that we are pleased to have.”

Submitted by Lois Rupkey of Byrnes & Rupkey, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Terry Rhodes of NewCareers

Position Title—SR. PRODUCT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

Membership in Top Echelon Network is unique to every recruiter that’s a member of the Network. That’s because each recruiter uses the Network in a different way with their candidates and job orders, incorporating it into their firm’s business model in whatever fashion makes sense.

This includes their preference in sharing candidates with the rest of the Membership. It’s no surprise that some recruiters like to share more than other recruiters. Part of that might have to do with which recruiters are exporters (candidate recruiters) and which ones are importers (job order recruiters).

In fact, some Network members deal ONLY with candidates and let their trading partners deal with companies and provide the job orders. To some recruiters, that’s lunacy. To others, it’s a viable—and profitable—business model.

With that in mind, how many candidates do members share with the rest of the Network? To find out, we polled the membership by posing the question below:

What percentage of your firm’s candidates are posted on the Network?

Results:

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

• None of them — 31.0%
• Between 1% and 25% — 50.0%
• Between 26% and 50% — 4.0%
• Between 51% and 75% — 3.0%
• Between 76% and 99% — 7.0%
• All of them — 5.0%

Summary:

As you can see, half of those who participated in the poll (50%) share “between 1% and 25%” of their candidates. That is apparently the “sweet spot” in the Network.

At the extremes, 31% of respondents don’t share any, and that could be for a variety of reasons. Some recruiters simply email the members of their core group instead. Still others are strictly importers.

At the other end of the spectrum, 5% of poll participants share ALL of their candidates with the rest of the membership. In between, only 14% share between 26% and 99%.

Analysis and Conclusion:

It’s true that the more candidates you share with the Network, the more successful you’ll be in the Network. The results of this poll clearly illustrate, though, that recruiters in Top Echelon do NOT share the majority of their candidates in TE.

Obviously, recruiters would like to make a full-fee placement if they can, and who can blame them for that? However, members are still enjoying considerable success with the candidates they ARE sharing.

As I mentioned above, everybody runs their recruiting firm differently, and everybody uses Top Echelon differently. However, sharing is the founding principle upon which the Network was built. The more you share, the more you’ll bill. With nearly 30 years of numbers to back us up, sharing is more than just good manners . . . it’s good business.