May has been a big month for split placements in Top Echelon Network . . . but perhaps no week has been bigger than this week!

That’s because, as you can see below, there are 19 placements in this week’s edition of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog. Not only that, but some of those placements are also associated with hefty recruiting fees. In fact, here are the top five:

• $40,000
• $35,000
• $32,500
• $30,000
• $22,500

It all adds up to over $385K of Network placement fees during the course of one week. (Remember that we only publish placements in The Pinnacle if they are finalized, meaning that money has changed hands.) With a little more math, we discover that the average fee for a placement in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle is $20,263.

This is yet more evidence that the economy is continuing to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, that activity within Top Echelon Network remains at a high level, and that Network recruiters are making a lot of money!

Here is the information that we publish with 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

As mentioned in previous issues, there is a one-week lag in regards to the publishing of these placements. As a result, the placements below reflect deals finalized in Top Echelon Network for the week of Monday, May 17, through Sunday, May 23.

In addition, remember that 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 placements they made in Top Echelon Network!

This Week’s TE Split Placements

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Job recruiter: Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: RADIOLOGY CT TECH

Overall placement fee: $8,424

Fee percentage: 15%

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Job recruiter: Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: FINANCE & COMPLIANCE MANAGER (HEALTHCARE)

Overall placement fee: $13,111

Fee percentage: 18%

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Job recruiter: Amy Chapman of Key People Staffing

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Overall placement fee: $18,750

Fee percentage: 25%

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Job recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource Recruiters

Job title: ACCOUNTING MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $21,250

Fee percentage: 25%

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Job recruiter: Regina Beech of Plumlee & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Diva Milani of Tuscany Enterprises

Job title: MORTGAGE LOAN PROCESSOR (REMOTE)

Overall placement fee: $16,087

Fee percentage: 22.5%

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Job recruiter: Regina Beech of Plumlee & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Diva Milani of Tuscany Enterprises

Job title: JV PRODUCTION MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $25,110

Fee percentage: 22.5%

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

Candidate recruiter: Jagdeep (Jack) Nagdev of Staffor

Job title: CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $35,000

Fee percentage: 25%

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Job recruiter: Amy Chapman of Key People Staffing

Candidate recruiter: Neans Moran of CPG Talent Management, LLC

Job title: EHS MANAGER – BILINGUAL SPANISH

Overall placement fee: $30,000

Fee percentage: 25%

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Job recruiter: Travis Jones of Career Development Partners

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

Job title: SENIOR DESIGN MANUFACTURING ENGINEER PE/EIT

Overall placement fee: $22,500

Fee percentage: 22.5%

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Job recruiter: Nick Stoia of ASAP Search

Candidate recruiter: Terry Rhodes of NewCareers

Job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR – AUTOMATION/ASSEMBLY

Overall placement fee: $15,999

Fee percentage: 20%

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Job recruiter: Deb North of True North Consulting, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Donna Schuback of Schuback Search Associates, Ltd.

Job title: DESKTOP SUPPORT ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $9,776

Fee percentage: 20%

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Job recruiter: Keith Cornelison of Personnel Resources

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: LICENSED NURSING HOME ADMINISTRATOR

Overall placement fee: $14,700

Fee percentage: 15%

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

Candidate recruiter: Deb North of True North Consulting, LLC

Job title: FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER (PACKAGING)

Overall placement fee: $14,560

Fee percentage: 20%

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Job recruiter: Amy Chapman of Key People Staffing

Candidate recruiter: Terry Rhodes of NewCareers

Job title: SR. FOOD SCIENTIST (NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT)

Overall placement fee: $32,500

Fee percentage: 25%

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Job recruiter: Amylyn Kyler of Kyler Professional Search

Candidate recruiter: Rick Gallin of Gallin Associates

Job title: TALENT MANAGEMENT VP

Overall placement fee: $40,000

Fee percentage: 20%

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Job recruiter: Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems

Candidate recruiter: Robert Wilson of R.L. Wilson & Associates

Job title: AUDIT SENIOR

Overall placement fee: $18,750

Fee percentage: 25%

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Job recruiter: David Wood of The David Wood Company

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: MAINTENANCE MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $22,500

Fee percentage: 15%

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

Candidate recruiter: Hani Mussa of Knowhirematch, LLC

Job title: FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $14,400

Fee percentage: 20%

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Job recruiter: Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.

Job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Overall placement fee: $11,700

Fee percentage: 20%

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If you’re a newer member and you want to enjoy more success in our recruiting network, 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.

Like many recruiters, Bob White was somewhat skeptical about Top Echelon Network membership, even though he had made the decision to apply for membership.

“We were concerned that the level of effort would not be worth the revenue gained,” said Bob, President of Impact Solution, Inc. “We were also leery of recruiters on the network trying to take our clients.”

Despite any hesitation Bob might have felt, his desire to provide the most value possible to his clients convinced him to invest in Network membership.

“We just don’t have the resources, time and in some cases the expertise to find the quality and volume of candidates we wanted to provide our clients, especially when they are outside our niche,” he said. “To be more competitive and diverse, we wanted to take on more jobs outside our niche. Otherwise, when a client wanted us to work on a position out of our niche, we had to let them know we could not help them. So we were missing out on a lot of revenue.”

Three years later, the results certainly speak for themselves. Bob, who specializing in Information Technology and Engineering, has made 30 split placements in the Network with a cash-in total of nearly a quarter of a million dollars.

Needless to say, his investment in Network membership has paid off, and because of this production and consistency, Bob White is Recruiter of the Week in Top Echelon Network!

According to Bob, below are four takeaways that have been instrumental in his success as a member of the Network:

#1—Everything starts with Trust.

Why did we capitalize Trust? Because it’s one of The Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network and it might be the most important Pillar of all!

One of the mental obstacles that some new Network members must conquer is the belief that other recruiters operating in their niche are competition. While that might have been the case before joining Top Echelon, it certainly is not once they become a member.

“Our perspective has completely changed,” said Bob. “In our 25 years of existence before joining the network, we never made a split placement, as we just did not trust our clients and candidates to other recruiting firms that we felt were our competition.”

That competition has turned into Bob’s core group of split recruiting partners. Since joining the Network, he has made his 30 splits with 13 different recruiters.

#2—You can make placements outside your niche.

According to Bob, for many months after joining the Network, he did not post any jobs on the Network, as he was leery of his time of his time on the Network being worth the revenue gained. That all changed, though, when one of Bob’s better clients presented him with a job order that was outside of his niche, a job order for which he could not find candidates on his own.

“At that point, we felt if we were ever going to post a job on the Network, that would be the time,” said Bob. “When we did, we were pleasantly surprised that we received a good volume of candidates and several were very good fits. After that, we decided to post more of our jobs in need of candidates and it just kept growing from there. Now, we have all our positions posted and the Network is a big part of our day.”

#3—You can expand your recruiting business in the process.

Every recruiter wants to expand their business, and Network membership provides the opportunity to do just that. According to Bob, the Network has allowed him to make placements that he would not have made otherwise, and this has had a ripple effect that has positively impacted his agency.

“We’re making placements that we would not have made and we’re providing more and better candidates to our clients,” he said. “As a result, we have had more client use us exclusively as they are satisfied enough with our results that they no longer want to deal with other firms. We are satisfying clients that could have otherwise been disappointed in our performance. When [the COVID-19] pandemic hit, the additional network revenue helped lessen the revenue hit.

“The best example we can give is a company we had called for years that never wanted to work with us because they were satisfied with their current recruiters. Seven weeks ago, they gave us searches because the current recruiting firms they were using could not provide the candidates they wanted. Both positions were outside our niche so we did not have candidates for the positions. In the end, we filled both position through the network. Now, the client only wants us to work with us and no longer works with the other recruiting firms they have in the past.”

Network membership not only helps you turn your competition into your allies, but also helps you stand out from the remaining competition that you do have.

#4—You must make the Network a priority.

A big part of investing in your Network membership is making the Network a priority. However, that means a number of things, many of which are tied to the Top Echelon Network Pillar of Quality.

“We make Network candidates our top priority, as they should hopefully be qualified and interested versus calling out of our database when we are unsure of their interest,” said Bob. “We evaluate and make a decision on every candidate submitted by the end of each workday. We post every open job we have and never leave a job posted that is no longer open.”

Bob’s approach to Network membership, honed during the past three years, is undoubtedly at the center of his success. And when it comes to dispensing advice to newer members of the Network, Bob has to look no further than to what he has learned since joining Top Echelon.

“Trust the network and make the network a priority,” he said. “Go all in and see what works for you and your firm. You have nothing to lose.”

And in the case of Bob White, he had an additional 30 placements and an extra quarter of a million dollars to gain.

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Editor’s note: The selection process for the Recruiter of the Week Award is based upon multiple criteria, including production within Top Echelon Network, adherence to the Network Policies and Golden Rules, the spirit of networking that the recruiter displays while interacting with other members, and the level of commitment that the recruiter exhibits in regards to their Network membership overall. The Recruiter of the Week is a true embodiment of The Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network—Quality, Communication, Trust, and Active Participation.

We recently announced that we’re bringing back the “Comments and Compliments” feature in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, and with good reason. Not only do Network members like to make split placements with one another, but they also like to say nice things about each other when they do!

We’ve seen the comments that Network recruiters submit with their Completed Placement Forms for quite a few years. We’ve been taking notes during that time, so to speak. We’ve also compiled a list of “do’s and don’ts” regarding membership in Top Echelon’s recruiter network.

That’s because we want every Network member to be successful. One of the best ways to make that happen is to analyze and promote the behavior of members who have already been successful.

So this week, we have “5 Traits of a Classic Split Partner Relationship.” These traits have been culled from actual split placements made by actual Top Echelon Network recruiters during the past several years.

When we say, “classic split partner relationship,” we’re talking about a high-level relationship. This is the type of relationship to which ALL TE members should aspire. As you might imagine, not every relationship reaches this level.

However, when it does, good things happen. Really good things, actually.

Below are the five traits of a classic split partner relationship:

#1—The recruiters like one another.

#2—The recruiters know how each other likes to work and act accordingly.

#3—The recruiters communicate with one another on a consistent basis (every week, if not every day).

#4—The recruiters trust each other implicitly (including allowing each other to know the names of their clients).

#5—The recruiters have made multiple split placements together, usually 10 or more.

If you want an example of a “classic split partner relationship,” then look no further than the one between Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC and David M. Sgro, CPC of True North Consultants, Inc.

As of the writing of this blog post, the two of them have made 28 split placements together.

All five of the traits above apply to their trading partner relationship. That’s why they’ve made so many placements to date. It’s also why they’ll continue making split placements together.

When a trading partner relationship has progressed to this level, it’s conceivable that the recruiters involved could double their current TE placement totals . . . or even triple them. It’s happened before in the Network.

And once your split recruiting partnership becomes “classic,” it will taste a lot better than it did before. (No, wait. That’s Coca-Cola.)

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“This was an excellent contract hire with a nice conversion fee at the end. Thank you for all that you do, Dave, to help MJ Recruiters be an IT recruitment firm!”

Submitted by Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC regarding her Network split placement with David M. Sgro, CPC of True North Consultants, Inc.

Position Title—IT ANALYST

Fee Percentage—$22.96 per hour 

(Editor’s note: This is the 24th Network split placement that Maria and David have made together in Top Echelon.)