Last week in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, I discussed the fact that there’s a story behind every placement in Top Echelon Network.

And just like clockwork, we have another story!

This one is even more extraordinary in nature, and here are a few reasons why:

• The recruiters involved were making their first split placement in the Network together.
• One of the recruiters has been in the Network for less than a year.
• It illustrates the power of networking and how a split-minded attitude contributes to success in Top Echelon.
• It also illustrates how quickly a bad situation can turn into a good one within the Network.

If you have a split placement story that you’d like to share with the rest of the Network membership, send your information to marketing@topechelon.com, OR you can just include it with your completed placement form.

As always, if you have questions about how to maximize your Top Echelon Network Membership and make more splits, I urge you to contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

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Roger Preble

Jed Davis

“There is an interesting story to this placement.  I don’t want to steal any thunder from Roger, as it’s his first Network placement and he really made us happen, but Bob Small introduced us a month or so ago.  The day I talked to him about this role, I had the perfect candidate pull out of the interview process with another of my clients because it didn’t fit what he was looking for in a career move.  Lo and behold, Roger’s position was a perfect match for him.  I shared [the candidate’s] RDS and resume with Roger and filled out a few client presentation forms he requested, and he took the ball from there.  This, to me, is the essence of the Network.  We made lemonade out of lemons!”

Submitted by Jed Davis of Carroll Technology Services, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Roger Preble of Cornerstone Search and Consultants, LLC

Position Title—SOLUTION ARCHITECT

Fee Percentage—20%

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

We’ve chronicled Trey Cameron’s accomplishments many, many times in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog. In fact, we’ve made a concerned effort not to over-chronicle those efforts.

However, six months into 2015, there’s no doubt that Cameron is heading toward yet another Recruiter of the Year award in the Network.  During the past 12 months, he’s billed over $800,000 through the Network.

That being said, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the top 10 recruiters in the Network.  That’s because nearly all of them have billed $100,000 or more through the Network during the past 12 months.  It’s been a while since that’s been the case, and that speaks both to the talent and the commitment level of these recruiters.

There are many Top Echelon recruiters who embrace its philosophies and make the investment necessary for reaping the rewards of Network membership.  However, when you have a recruiter like Cameron who’s “crushing it” like he’s “crushing it,” you have to give credit where credit is due.

And that includes the Recruiter of the Month recognition for the month of June.

For more information about the TE recruiting awards listed below, login to the Members’ Area and view the profiles and placement details of the winning recruiters involved.

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Recruiter of the Month:

Trey Cameron

Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Cameron once again won this award with 10 split placements during the month of June, while Recruiter of the Week Bill Kubena of Kubena & Associates was second with three splits and three recruiters boasted two splits apiece.  (Incidentally, this is the second month in a row that Kubena has finished second behind Cameron in the Recruiter of the Month standings.)

Those three recruiters were Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, Debbi Reiger of Reiger Technical Search, and Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

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Largest Split Fee of the Month:

Maynard Charron

Maynard Charron of Paper Industry Recruitment and Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

The position for this split placement was a Continuous Improvement Coordinator.  Charron was the job order recruiter, and Cameron was the candidate recruiter.

The action that stimulated this split placement was listed as, “Another Top Echelon Network member’s Hiring Hook website.”

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Top Echelon determines the monthly and quarterly winners of its recruiter network 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.

Okay, we’re building up to Early Bird Registration for the Fall Conference!

That’s because the Fall Conference registration period starts on Monday, July 6.

Starting on that day, you’ll be able to sign up for the conference at the low price of $225 per person.

As you probably know by now, the dates of the Fall Conference are Tuesday, October 13, and Wednesday, October 14, and the site is the Sheraton O’Hare Suites in Chicago.

We’ve used the Sheraton for the Fall Conference for many years now, and we’ve done so for a number of reasons:

• It’s close to the Chicago O’Hare Airport, as the name of the hotel denotes.
• It’s designed well for our meeting purposes.
• It’s easy for conference attendees to navigate.
• The suites have an area for business, in addition to the bedroom and bathroom.  (More than one Network recruiter has cited this as a plus.)

And also as you probably already know, Barb Bruno, CPC/CTS of Good as Gold Traning will be keynote speaker at the Fall Conference.

And she has another video message for you this week . . .

[iframe src=”//player.vimeo.com/video/130761220?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0″ height=”675″ width=”1080″]

Look at your calendar, and if there’s any way to join us in October, save those dates and plan to join us for the Fall Conference.

Come to Chicago, meet your trading partners, meet new recruiters, and make more placements!

We recently conducted a poll of Top Echelon Network recruiters by posting a question in the Members’ Area.

That question was as follows:

Are your clients taking longer and longer to pay invoices?

Results:

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

• Yes, it’s happening a lot lately. — 15.8%
• Yes, but it’s not a concern. — 13.7%
• No, things are about the same. — 65.8%
• No, they’re actually paying sooner. — 4.8%

Analysis:

Far and away, the most popular answer in the poll was “No, things are about the same” at 65.8%.  However, nearly a third of poll respondents did indicate that it was taking their clients longer to pay invoices.

That’s because 15.8% stated that “Yes, it’s happening a lot lately” and another 13.7% chose “Yes, but it’s not a concern” as their answer.  Put those two percentages together, and you have 29.5% of poll participants indicating that it’s taking clients longer to pay.

Another 4.8% chose “No, they’re actually paying sooner” as their answer . . . which is actually a higher percentage than one might expect.

Conclusion:

Okay, there’s plenty of good news to be culled from the results of this poll.  Basically, companies aren’t taking any longer to pay invoices than they have been . . . which means they have the money to pay recruiters for placing candidates.

BUT when nearly a third of companies are taking longer to pay invoices, should that serve as a warning sign?  Even if it’s not as much of a concern to the recruiters that are dealing with those companies, does it merit additional vigilance?

Let’s face it, the economic recovery following the Great Recession has been an uneven one.  Companies were burned, and they were burned badly, making them hesistant to be decisive about even slam-dunk hiring decisions.

So are companies taking longer to pay invoices because they want to hold onto their money longer . . . or because they’re not really in a position to pay any sooner?  And are enough of them in such a situation to even worth fretting about?

What are your thoughts?