A couple of weeks ago, we recognized longtime Network member Pat McCombs, CPC for reaching the $1 million plateau in Top Echelon Network.

We’re back with another milestone this week in the same category, and it involves another longtime member. That member is Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc. Steve recently eclipsed the $4 million mark in Top Echelon’s recruiting network!

Steve has a long and rich history in both Top Echelon and the recruiting profession in general. He started recruiting in 1989 and his agency joined the Network on July 28, 1994. (Meaning, of course, that his agency’s 28th anniversary is quickly approaching.)

Since joining the Network those many years ago, Affinity Executive Search has amassed 503 TE placements (another milestone!). Steve has accounted for 479 of those 503 placements.

The only recruiter who has been more productive in the history of Top Echelon Network is Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group. Trey has made 1,199 placements to generate a career cash-in total of $9.1 million.

According to Steve, what is most amazing about the placements he’s made in Top Echelon is that his $4 million in placement fees represents over $8 million in total fees when considering the other recruiter involved in each placement.

“Trying to comment on $4 million in split placement fees is like trying to making a statement on 500 miracles all at the same time,” said Steve. “It’s amazing on so many levels—trust, teamwork, etc.—but really the most incredible thing is this represents more than $8 million in total fees that were collected on deals where the job order recruiter failed to make the placement. We win even when we lose!”

For Steve, though, that’s just one part of it. Another important element involves being able to work with and glean knowledge from the other recruiters in the Network. Steve attributes that as also having a tremendously positive impact on his business.

“We have access to so many expert recruiters who successfully run their businesses in so many different ways,” he said. “The opportunities for learning better ways to do things, outside of split placements, are endless. The real magic of using a split placement network properly is that it enables each of us to perform better than we’re individually capable of. Top Echelon IS my business model.”

So congratulations to Steve Kohn for reaching this historic milestone in Top Echelon Network, as well as to his split recruiting partners who have been part of his remarkable journey!

The split placements keep rolling in for Top Echelon Network recruiters!

Specifically, Network members recorded 19 splits during the most recent two-week period. Counted among the fees generated by those splits was a $45K fee, the largest of the 19.

Bethany Brevard York of Professional Outlook, Inc. and Sarah Katz of First Search, Inc. split that fee by placing a Plant Manager at 25%.

Congratulations are also in order for Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group, who made four splits during this two-week period, and York, who made her first two placements as a Network member.

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

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

Please note that the placements listed below reflect deals finalized in Top Echelon Network for the two-week period of Monday, May 2, through Sunday, May 15.

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

Congratulations to everybody below for the split placements they made in Top Echelon Network!

This Week’s Top Echelon Split Placements

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Job recruiter: Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Sara Alexandroff of Sterling St. James, LLC

Job title: SIX-SIGMA BLACK BELT

Overall placement fee: $32,500

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Veronica Snyder of Career Professionals, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: SOFTWARE ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $21,625

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Nancy Phillips of Phillips Staffing Solutions

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: CLINICAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $26,772

Fee percentage: Flat

— — —

Job recruiter: Kerry Boehner of KOB Solutions, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST, IMMUNOLOGY

Overall placement fee: $24,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: John Spindler of The River Group

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: RELIABILITY TEAM LEAD

Overall placement fee: $7,488

Fee percentage: 10%

— — —

Job recruiter: Ryan Briggs of Tellis Executive Search

Candidate recruiter: Joe Cresci of Food Management Search

Job title: DIRECTOR OF APPLIED RESEARCH – AIR FILTRATION

Overall placement fee: $34,500

Fee percentage: 23%

— — —

Job recruiter: Bob White of Impact Solutions, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Joe Cresci of Food Management Search

Job title: ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $18,200

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Jim Sitek of FSN

Candidate recruiter: Phil Hurd of Oculus Search Partners, LLC

Job title: VP OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Overall placement fee: $36,250

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Steve Zollner of The Sunridge Group

Candidate recruiter: Jon Johnson of JSR Associates, LLC

Job title: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE

Overall placement fee: $28,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Bethany Brevard York of Professional Outlook, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Sarah Katz of First Search, Inc.

Job title: PLANT MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $45,000

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Bethany Brevard York of Professional Outlook, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Sarah Katz of First Search, Inc.

Job title: SENIOR SALES ACCOUNT MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $28,750

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Nick Stoia, CPC of ASAP Search

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

Job title: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $18,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Inc.

Job title: MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR

Overall placement fee: $25,000

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Steve Schanz of CPS Recruitment

Candidate recruiter: Scott Krepps of Hiring Solutions Group

Job title: LEAD MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $20,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Doug Boyce of Priority One Search

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource Recruiters

Job title: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $16,750

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Antoinette (Toni) Nucci of Toni Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: OPERATING ROOM REGISTERED NURSE

Overall placement fee: $12,480

Fee percentage: 15%

— — —

Job recruiter: Dustin Griffin of Griffin Recruitment Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR 1ST SHIFT

Overall placement fee: $18,860

Fee percentage: 23%

— — —

Job recruiter: Jon Sullivan of Ethical Search Professionals, Ltd.

Candidate recruiter: Gary Thompson of Gary Thompson

Job title: MANUFACTURING/PROCESS ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $25,000

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Tom Christensen of C. H. Thomas Search, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Jack Thornton of Thornton Associates

Job title: PROJECT/PROGRAM MANAGER 

Overall placement fee: $31,500

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

If you’re a newer 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 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

I have been at Top Echelon Network for almost 17 years; 15 of those years has involved managing and directing Top Echelon’s recruiting network. During this time, I have been asked so many different questions about recruiting, partnering, alerts, etc.

Who should I work with? How should I work best in TEN? How is this policy interpreted? The list goes on and on.

This particular blog post deals with a topic about which I receive the most questions. A topic asked of me by both first-year recruiters and those who have decades of tenure in the profession: the “But For Rule.”

The concept of split placements is simple. However, with simplicity there is also underlying complexity. What is the “But For Rule,” exactly?

In its simplest terms, it’s “what caused your interest to take action.” In Bernard Frechtman’s Employment Agency Law, the “But For Rule” is defined as “But For the particular act, would the employer have hired the applicant?” Here is a version which is more encompassing: “But For what particular piece of information caused interest and/or actions?”

Aside from regularly implementing the concept of reciprocity (the true spirit of the Network) to your membership activity, the “But For Rule” is key to being a successful and productive partner, as well as keeping you in alignment with the TE Policies. The “But For Rule” is woven throughout the fabric of the TE Policies very tightly, providing proper membership guidance.

Let’s start with a simple scenario. We have Elaine the Exporter and Irene the Importer. (Exporter = candidate supplier, Importer = job supplier).

Let’s say that Elaine submits a candidate (Carl) to Irene for a job that she has posted on the Network.

Before we go any further, let’s define the action word “submits.” In order to do so, we have to understand the tools that are being used. They include email, Network Candidates Database Requests, direct submittals to split jobs, and TEN Job Feed Nominations.

So to clarify the “submittal” of the candidate in this scenario, the candidate (Carl) is coming to Elaine from Irene by any of these means.

So Elaine sees Carl’s information and realizes that she knows Carl. She has been recruiting in her niche for a long time and has actually tried to place him a few times over the years. (A history of having success, or lack thereof, with Carl is irrelevant). Elaine did not think of Carl for this position. Instead, Irene brought Carl to Elaine’s attention for the job in question.

What does the “But For Rule” dictate in this situation? By using TE Policy #15a as a guide, the opening line for Policy #15a is as follows:

“As a general rule, once a recruiter accepts and acknowledges acceptance of candidate information from another Top Echelon Network recruiter, they must honor that candidate referral no matter if or whether they later determine they ‘already had the candidate.'”

The simplicity of this policy shows that Elaine is to honor Irene’s submittal of Carl for this job because it was Irene’s presentation of Carl that caused Elaine to be interested.

Let’s take another step forward with this scenario. Let’s say that Elaine realizes that Carl is not a fit for the job for which Irene had submitted him. However, Carl is a perfect match for another job she is working. At this point, the question to ask is, “What caused Elaine to consider Carl for Job #2?”

Was it because Elaine worked with him in the past and he was in her database, or because Irene brought Carl to her attention for Job #1? If not the former, then she is acting on the information that was sent to her by Irene.

What does the “But For Rule” dictate in this situation? We will jump into TE Policy #9a, which states:

“Top Echelon Network adheres to the industry’s ‘BUT FOR RULE’ when determining how long a recruiter owns a candidate. If a Top Echelon Network member receives a record/resume in 2010 from another Top Echelon Network member and later finds and begins working from that same candidate record in their database in 2011, then the recruiter should split the placement with the originating member that first brought the candidate to their attention.”

Irene would also be honored in the split on Job #2, again because it was Irene’s presentation of Carl that caused Elaine to be interested.

When you find yourself in a situation where you are not sure what to do or who is due credit for a split, look at the Top Echelon Network Policies. Be honest when you ask yourself “What caused my interest?”

If you are not sure, then call me. I will be glad to bring a clearer understanding to your situation, which in turn, will make you a more successful and reliable partner in Top Echelon Network!

Top Echelon Customer Success Manager J.D. Fye recently conducted a special Training Tuesday webinar titled, “5 Features Every New (and Existing) User Should Know.”

You may have attended this free webinar on Tuesday, May 3. On the other hand, you may not have been in attendance.

Regardless, we have the recorded version of the webinar, which I am presenting to you now. (The recording is also located in the Top Echelon Help Center.)

If you are not a user of our recruiting software, then check out the video, anyway, to see how the software could benefit your recruiting desk and agency!

We at Top Echelon are continually working to make the resources that we provide to our customers better, and this is more proof!

Below is the official description of this training video:

— — —

A common question that the Top Echelon team gets from our software newcomers and veterans alike is this one: “What are the most popular and useful features that I should be setting up right now?”

Well, here’s your answer! Join Customer Success Manager J.D. Fye for this Top Echelon Training Tuesday webinar video, as he looks at the top five features that are occasionally overlooked in the software. During this information-packed session, he’ll cover how to implement the following:

• Browser Extension
• Careers Page/Job Board
• Mass Email
• Google and Microsoft Integrations
• Outlook Add-In

So watch this special video TODAY and discover “5 Features Every New (and Existing) User Should Know”!

Watch this Help Center training video!

Remember to check The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog every week for more updates regarding Top Echelon software improvements and upgrades.

If you have any questions about how you can maximize your Top Echelon split network membership, please 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.