SPLIT JOBS FILLED THIS WEEK:

Below are the split jobs that were recently filled by Top Echelon Network recruiters:

• Quality Engineer
• SAP SD/Project Manager 
• Help Desk Supervisor
• Director of Marketing
• Horse Farm Operations Manager
• Project Engineer

For more information about how YOU can be more successful in Top Echelon Network and make more split placements, call Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CERS at 330.455.1433, x156.

THIS WEEK’S NETWORK SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

Kenneth Lowry, CPC

Bruce Ramstad

Job recruiter: Kenneth Lowry, CPC of Lowry Personnel Services

Candidate recruiter: Bruce Ramstad of Ramstad Recruiting

Split job title: QUALITY ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

Steve Schanz

Mark Rowbottom

Job recruiter: Mark Rowbottom of Rowbottom Partners

Candidate recruiter: Steve Schanz of CPS and Professionals Incorporated

Split job title: HELP DESK SUPERVISOR

Fee percentage: Flat

Action causing split placement: The job order or candidate was found by searching Top Echelon’s split databases.

— — —

Pat McCombs, CPC

Ann Boland

Job recruiter: Pat McCombs of KB Search Team, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Ann Boland of The Boland Group

Split job title: DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Fee percentage: Flat

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

— — —

Ann Boland

Dan Simmons, CPC

Job recruiter: Ann Boland of The Boland Group

Candidate recruiter: Dan Simmons, CPC of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc.

Split job title: HORSE FARM OPERATIONS MANAGER

Fee percentage: Flat

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

— — —

Cathy George, CPC

Reinhold Betsch

Job recruiter: Cathy George, CPC of C.G. & Company

Candidate recruiter: Reinhold Betsch of Career Development Partners

Split job title: PROJECT ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: The job order or candidate was found by searching Top Echelon’s split databases

Dave Wick, CPC

Yes, you’re recruiters, but you’re also people—people with families, interests, hobbies, and quirks.  Why keep all of that intriguing information to yourself?  Well, with a little help from us, you don’t have to!

With that in mind, we’re resurrecting a feature from the past in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  Because after all, the more you know about somebody, the easier it is to do business with them.  The first soul brave enough to play our game is Dave Wick, CPC of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Although Dave specializes in placing Engineering professionals, we wanted to delve a little deeper with Top Echelon’s “5 Questions.” Take it away, Dave!

#1—When you’re not recruiting, what do you do for fun?

I’m an “outdoors” type of person.  I coach youth baseball and basketball.  (My youngest child is now 15, so I’m getting to the finish line on the coaching).  I love traveling and exploring new areas . . . even working out in the yard.  Put me in a boat on Sarasota Bay pursuing redfish and snook, and I’m content.

#2—For whatever reason, you have to choose a “last meal.”  What do you order?

Not sure I like this question much—kind of creepy picking out a last meal—and the “whatever reason” can’t be a good reason.  But I’d order a filet mignon, medium rare, wrapped in bacon, along with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes.  Oh, and a coffee shake made with Graeter’s ice cream.

#3—Which actor would play you in a movie about yourself?

Doubt you’d get him to take the part—Enemy of the State, Hoosiers, Mississippi Burning, and The French Connection were better for his career—but I’d go with my favorite actor, Gene Hackman.

#4—What is currently your favorite television show and why?

I watch very little television, and if I do, it’s inevitably either sports or maybe an old classic show.  Some old favorites include The Andy Griffith Show, I Love Lucy, and Mary Tyler Moore.  These shows were actually entertaining and funny, in my opinion.

#5—If you could be anybody else for a day, who would it be and why?

Johnny Bench on October 11, 1972.  He hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the final game of the National League Championship Series against Pittsburgh to tie the game.  Still love to listen to the Reds’ announcer at the time, Al Michaels, call that home run.  (Click here to watch video of the home run on YouTube.)

Feel like you’re up to the challenge of answering Top Echelon’s “5 Questions”?  (Keep in mind that while some answers might stay the same, others will change.  Our goal is to never ask the same combination of questions.)

Send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com, and we’ll email back your list of questions.  Your answers will appear in a future issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  And if nobody volunteers . . . well, we’ll just pick some volunteers.

Top Echelon welcomed twelve (12) new recruiting firms to the network during the month of May! However, we’re breaking up the list and publishing half of them in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

These first firms work in different agencies, but there’s a heavy concentration in Engineering and Manufacturing. It just so happens that Engineering and Manufacturing are the two industries in which the most split placements are made in Top Echelon.

The names of these new Network recruiting firms are listed below, along with their location; the disciplines, industries, and specialty areas in which the agencies work; and the date the agencies officially joined the Network.

We encourage you to reach out to the recruiters in these agencies and welcome them to the Network, especially if they operate within your specialty area!  (Click on the name of the agency to view its profile in the Members’ Area.  However, please note that you must be logged into the Network software in order to do so.)

LME Resources, LLC in Dearborn, Michigan
—Specialties: All Engineering and Manufacturing disciplines
—Join date: May 1

Visron Technical Recruiting in West Henrietta, New York
—Specialties: Engineering, Technical, and IT all across the United States and Canada for a wide array of industries including but not limited to Locomotive, Railcar, Railroad, Aerospace, Automotive, Bus, Petro-Chemical, and Oil & Gas
—Join date: May 2

Employment Partners Group in Waltham, Massachusetts
—Specialties: Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Surgical Technologists Therapy, Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech-Language Pathologists, Respiratory Therapists Laboratory, Medical Lab Technicians, Histologists, Cytologists Imaging, Radiology Technologists, MRI Technologists, CT Technologists, Vascular Technologists, and Ultrasound Technologists Radiation/Oncology
—Join date: May 12

DMC Staffing in Medfield, Massachusetts
—Specialties: General
—Join date: May 15

National Executive Search in Brentwood, California
—Specialties: Recruiting in Manufacturing services, Accounting, Sales, Audio-Visual, Finance, Engineering, and Human Resources
—Join date: May 15

Primus Staffing Solutions, Inc. in San Jose, California
—Specialties: General
—Join date: May 20

Remember, if you know somebody who you think would be a good fit for Network Membership, you can receive a $100 credit toward your Top Echelon invoice for referring an agency that eventually becomes a Preferred Member.

You can send your referrals to info@topechelon.com.

THE AWARDS:

At Top Echelon Network, we recognize recruiters for both monthly and quarterly performance in four categories—Recruiter of the Month, Recruiter of the Quarter, Largest Split Fee of the Month, and Largest Split Fee of the Quarter.

For more information about the recruiter awards listed below, login to the Members’ Area and view the profiles and placement details of the Network recruiters who won them.

— — —

RECRUITER OF THE MONTH:

Trey Cameron

Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

The last few months, the race for Recruiter of the Month honors in Top Echelon Network has been close.  That was NOT the case for the month of May.

That’s because Trey Cameron made eight split placements in the Network during the month.  The next closest recruiter (and there were many of them) made two split placements in May.  Those recruiters included Joe Cotter of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc.; Jane H. Ko, CPC of DHG Search Advisors, LLC; Veronica Snyder of Career Professionals, Inc.; and Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search.

— — —

LARGEST SPLIT FEE OF THE MONTH:

Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services and Joe Cotter of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc.

The position for this split placement was a Sr. Brand Manager.  Scheihing was the job order recruiter, and Cotter was the candidate recruiter.  The action that stimulated this split placement was listed as, “Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network recruiter.”

— — —

OUR CRITERIA FOR THESE RECRUITER AWARDS:

Top Echelon Network determines the monthly and quarterly award winners 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.

THE SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

There are Preferred Members in Top Echelon Network who provide positive experiences for other Network recruiters every time they deal with them . . . and those Members include Chuck and Cindy Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc.!

This week in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, they’re mentioned twice by two different recruiters, who praised them for the work they did in separate split placement situations.

This is Chuck’s second stint as a Preferred Member.  Back when he was part of First Search, he billed over $1 million in contract staffing placements through Top Echelon Contracting.

Since starting Bulldog Recruiters and re-joining the Network in 2011, Chuck has made 12 Network split placements, while Cindy has made four Network splits.  Judging by the comments in this installment of “‘Comments’ and Compliments,” they have many more ahead of them.

Congratulations to everybody who made split placements this week!

— — —

Chuck Szajkovics

Joan R. Walters, CPC

“Chuck and I have worked together for years.  It is always great to make a split with such a dedicated recruiter.”

Submitted by Joan R. Walters, CPC of JR Walters Resources regarding her Network split placement with Chuck Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc.

Position Title—MANUFACTURING PROCESS ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

By DEBBIE FLEDDERJOHANN, President of Top Echelon Contracting

Summer is here, at least unofficially, and with it comes the start of many summer internship programs.  These programs can be great for students AND for the companies that utilize their services.  Students, of course, gain useful experience and can “get their foot in the door” at a company.  And for companies, internships are a way to get summer help at a reasonable price.

But there is a difference between “reasonable” and free, and the latter could land your clients in trouble.  The Department of Labor (DOL) has been looking closely at unpaid internships to determine if they comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  In order to be legal, they must meet six criteria as stated on the DOL’s Fact Sheet on Internships:

1. The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment.
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern.
3. The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff.
4. The employer that provides the training /internship derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded.
5.  The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship.
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

The DOL is not the only thing employers have to fear, though.  If unpaid interns believe they have been treated unfairly, they can file class action lawsuits, as the former interns of the Black Swan film did against Fox Searchlight Pictures.  Companies targeted these lawsuits could have to pay back wages, in addition to damages and fines.

Considering that nearly half of all interns are unpaid, there’s a good chance that a number of internships are not compliant with the FLSA.  You may want to encourage your clients to take a close look at their programs to make sure they are legal.  That doesn’t mean they need to abandon their internship programs, which can be a great way to identify and groom potential talent.  Nor do they need to hire interns as traditional employees, which comes with a lot of additional costs and legal liability.

Instead, you can offer to convert their interns to contractors who will become W-2 employees of a contract staffing back-office.  The back-office retains the employment responsibility and liability.  Meanwhile, you gain a valuable additional source of summer income.  How’s that for a happy summer?

(Editor’s note: This article is intended for informational purposes only and should NOT in any way be construed as legal advice.)