RECRUITER OF THE WEEK:

Ann Boland

Ann Boland of The Boland Group

Agency Join Date: November 14, 2001

Started Recruiting: 1999

Accomplishments:

Ann Boland is proof of the value that Top Echelon Network Membership provides and how you NEVER know when that value will pay off.

In 2005, Boland made 13 placements in Top Echelon Network.  She then made three in 2006, two apiece in both 2007 and 2008, three in 2009, and one in 2010.

Unfortunately, Boland did not make a placement in the Network in 2011.  Then, after making one in October of 2012, she again went placement-less in Top Echelon last year.

However, Boland did NOT stop trying to make placements in the Network . . . and she has been rewarded for her persistence and patience.  How has she been rewarded?

With three placements in the month of June!

And not just any placements, either.  We’re talking about placements with substantial fees.  (One of them is over—cough, cough—$50,000.)

So despite not making a placement in the Network in two of the past three years, with one fell swoop Boland paid for her Network Membership for the next 16 years.

So . . . for her commitment, her patience, her perseverance, and her unwavering belief in the value that split placements and Top Echelon Network provides (not to mention one of the best and most detailed Recruiter Profiles in the Network), Ann Boland is the Recruiter of the Week.

Congratulations to Ann Boland from everybody at Top Echelon!

If you’d like to nominate somebody as the Recruiter of the Week, please send their name and agency name to marketing@topechelon.com.

‘CHECK’ THEM OUT: Recruiters from Top Echelon Network Preferred Member agency Stephens International Recruiting, Inc. pose with both their $1 Million Producer Award and Frequent Contract Placer (FCP) awards check presented by Top Echelon Contracting at the 2013 National Convention.  From left—Cindy Stephens, CPC/CTS; Tim Hopkins, CPC/CTS; and Doug Stephens.  Stephens International Recruiting is celebrating its 15th anniversary in the Network this month.

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Every month in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, we like to recognize and congratulate those Preferred Member agencies that are celebrating anniversaries in Top Echelon Network.

Of course, we don’t recognize every agency that’s celebrating an anniversary.  Instead, we focus on the “big” ones—five, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year anniversaries.

(And of course, we also celebrate every anniversary of the Charter Members . . . because we have a soft spot for them and all.)

This month, Stephens International Recruiting, Inc. is celebrating its 15-year anniversary in Top Echelon Network!  We’d like to congratulate everybody who’s part of that Preferred Member agency and thank them for their commitment and dedication to the Network:

• Cindy Stephens, CPC/CTS
• Doug Stephens
• Tim Hopkins, CPC/CTS
• Leslie Harp

Stephens International Recruiting, Inc. officially joined the Network on June 30, 1999.  Consequently, the agency’s official anniversary hasn’t arrived yet, but we thought we’d go ahead and celebrate it, anyway.  We’re zany like that.

Stephens International Recruiting has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success making split placements in Top Echelon Network and also making contract placements through Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.  Tim Hopkins has made 42 Network placements, Cindy Stephens has made 37 Network placements, and Doug Stephens has added four.

However, the business they’ve generated through Top Echelon Contracting has been tremendous.  They recognize the value of offering both direct-hire and contract staffing services to their clients, and they’ve certainly reaped the benefits.  In fact, Stephens International received an award for being a $1 Million Producer through Top Echelon Contracting at the Network’s 2013 National Convention in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Speaking of which, the recruiters of Stephens International are regular attendees of Top Echelon Network conferences and conventions, so they also recognize the value of networking.  Their willingness to invest time, energy, and resources into their Network Membership has paid dividends, and we’re more than happy to congratulate them on their success and their anniversary.

Congratulations from everybody at Top Echelon!

SPLIT CONTRACT JOBS FILLED THIS WEEK:

Below are the split contract  jobs that were recently filled by Top Echelon Network recruiters.  The majority of these contract placements were handled by Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution.

• Senior Mechanical Engineer
• IT Project Manager
• Accountant
• Contract Recruiter – Pharma
• Accounting Manager
• SAS Programmer Analyst

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.  For more information about Top Echelon Contracting and how YOU can start making contract placements, call 888.627.3678 to speak with a Contract Administrator.

THIS WEEK’S NETWORK SPLIT CONTRACT PLACEMENTS:

Joe Cali

Steve Copeland

Job recruiter: Joe Cali of Markent Personnel

Candidate recruiter: Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC

Split job title: SENIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Recruiter $ Per Hour: $5.47

Action causing split placement: Top Echelon Contracting will handle this contract placement.

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Carl L. Bradford

Job recruiter: Carl L. Bradford of Bradford Consulting Companies

Candidate recruiter: Thomas Edwards of Front Line Solutions

Split job title: IT PROJECT MANAGER

Recruiter $ Per Hour: $16.10

Action causing split placement: Top Echelon Contracting will handle this contract placement.

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Joe Noto

Mike Niedbalski

Job recruiter: Joe Noto of Regency Search Group

Candidate recruiter: Mike Niedbalski of Integritas Search

Split job title: ACCOUNTANT

Recruiter $ Per Hour: $3.70

Action causing split placement: Top Echelon Contracting will handle this contract placement.

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Linda Blakemore, CPC

Job recruiter: Linda Blakemore of Atlantic Pacific Group, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Hani Mussa of KnowPeople, Inc.

Split job title: CONTRACT RECRUITER – PHARMA

Recruiter $ Per Hour: $4.35

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

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Mike Niedbalski

Cynthia Strzelecki

Job recruiter: Mike Niedbalski of Integritas Search

Candidate recruiter: Cynthia Strzelecki of Spyglass Search, Inc.

Split job title: ACCOUNTING MANAGER

Recruiter $ Per Hour: $3.84

Action causing split placement: Top Echelon Contracting will handle this contract placement.

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Judy Kaplan

Job recruiter: Shari Skurnik of Omega Management Group

Candidate recruiter: Judy Kaplan of Professional Recruiting Consultants

Split job title: SAS PROGRAMMER ANALYST

Recruiter $ Per Hour: N/A

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

SPLIT JOBS FILLED THIS WEEK:

Below are the split jobs that were recently filled by Top Echelon Network recruiters.  Four of the seven split placements are Hiring Hook website placements.

• Production Supervisor
• Civil Engineer
• Sr. Process Engineer
• Plant Manager
• Manufacturing Engineer
• Senior Risk Analyst – P&C Insurance
• Biomedical Service 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:

Matt Scheihing

Trey Cameron

Job recruiter: Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Split job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter’s Hiring Hook recruitment website

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Trey Cameron

Juli Smith

Job recruiter: Juli Smith of The Smith Consulting Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Split job title: CIVIL ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter’s Hiring Hook recruitment website

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George Seipel

Job recruiter: George Seipel of Charter Executive Search

Candidate recruiter: Debi Apple of Apple & Associates, Inc.

Split job title: SR. PROCESS ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter’s Hiring Hook recruitment website

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Lou Michaels

Suzanne Benderski

Job recruiter: Lou Michaels of Lou Michaels Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Suzanne Benderski of CPS and Professionals Incorporated

Split job title: PLANT MANAGER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter’s Hiring Hook recruitment website

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Dave Wick, CPC

Robert David

Job recruiter: Robert David of Robert David & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: David Wick, CPC of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Split job title: MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 20%

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

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John Moskonas

Mike McDonough

Job recruiter: John Moskonas of The ARGroup of Search Companies

Candidate recruiter: Mike McDonough of General Search and Recruitment

Split job title: SENIOR RISK ANALYST – P&C INSURANCE

Fee percentage: 25%

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

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Larry Radzely

Jim Strickland

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

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Split job title: BIOMEDICAL SERVICE ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 15%

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

By DEBBIE FLEDDERJOHANN, President of Top Echelon Contracting

Driven by a presidential decree, the Department of Labor (DOL) is working hard to revise the laws regarding who can be exempt from overtime.  If you have contractors who are currently classified as exempt, you will want to stay up on the changes.

In March, President Obama issued a memorandum asking the DOL to update the regulations surrounding who can legally be considered exempt from overtime.  It was recently announced that the new, proposed regulations are expected to be published in November.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), most American workers must be paid at a rate of 1.5 times their regular pay rate for any hours worked over 40 in a workweek.  Some employees can be denied overtime if they qualify for the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, otherwise known as the “white collar exemptions.”

President Obama is seeking to make fewer people ineligible for overtime under these exemptions.  To that end, his memorandum to Secretary of Labor Tom Perez directed the DOL to do the following:

1. “Modernize and streamline” the overtime regulations to make them more consistent with the original intent of the FLSA.
2. Address the changes in the modern workforce.
3. Make them easier for both employers and workers to understand.

We will not know the content of these changes until the proposed regulations are released, but they will undoubtedly include changes to the “minimum salary” and “duties” tests that must be met for a position to be considered exempt.  A Fact Sheet released by the White House states that the minimum salary requirement has failed to keep up with inflation.  In fact, it has only been changed twice in 40 years, currently standing at $455 per week, which is below the poverty level for a worker with a family of four.  Someone could even fall under the minimum wage if they had to work 65 or more hours per week and were only paid the minimum salary required by the white collar exemptions.  In addition, that salary threshold makes it so that only 12% of Americans qualify for overtime, compared with 65% in 1975.  Experts believe the salary threshold could be increased to as high as $1,000 per week.

They also expect an update to the “duties tests.”  Each exemption spells out what duties must be performed to allow the employee to be exempt.  For example, workers under the Executive Exemption must be managing the enterprise or a department or subdivision and regularly directing the work of at least two other full-time employees.  The duties tests will likely become more specific, possibly dictating an exact percent of time a worker must spend doing certain duties to qualify.

Even if you outsource the employment of your contractors to a back-office service, this is an important issue.  You will want to be sure to do the following:

1. Keep up-to-date on the regulations.  Again, the changes will not happen overnight.  The DOL spent two years deciding on changes for the last revision in 2004.  Still, you will want to keep this issue on your radar so that when the regulations are updated, you are ready.
2. Educate clients.  If you have exempt contractors placed at any of your client companies, they need to be made aware that you may need to increase some contractors’ salaries to keep them as exempt, or you may have to make them nonexempt.  Either way, your clients’ costs could increase, and they will likely appreciate a heads-up, especially considering the new regulations could apply to some of their direct hire staff, as well.
3. Follow current federal AND state laws.  While waiting for the new regulations, it’s important that you and your clients continue to comply with the DOL’s current regulations.  Don’t forget rules in certain states, such as California and New York.  For example, in California, the salary of an exempt worker can be no less than twice the minimum wage for a full-time employee.  The minimum is currently $640, but will increase to $800 in 2016.

Hopefully, we will have a better picture of the new regulations this fall when the proposed regulations are supposed to be released.  We will be sure to keep you posted as this issue continues to develop.

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

Early Bird Registration for the 2014 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference started on Monday, June 9, but in case you didn’t know that . . . we’re telling you again!

We’re also formally asking you to attend the conference with this special video invitation!  What’s so special about this invitation?  It’s a video.  (Didn’t we establish that?)

So, for your viewing edification, we present:

As you might also already know, the Fall Conference will be held at the Sheraton O’Hare Hotel in Chicago on Tuesday, September 23, and Wednesday, September 24.

You can sign up for the Fall Conference in the Members’ Area for the low Early Bird Registration price of $199 per person.  And if you sign up now, Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti will wash your car!

(Actually, no . . . no, he won’t.  But he will attempt to hurt me for saying that.)