We have recent split placements in TE Network in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, and a $50,000 fee is leading the way!

The Network recruiters involved in that split placement were Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting and Rebecca Lucas of CPG Talent Management, LLC. Jeff and Rebecca placed a Director of Sales to earn their $50K fee at 25%.

And we also have a recruiter who made his first split placement as a member of TE Network!

That recruiter is Niko Bougadis of Elite Talent Consulting. Niko placed a New Construction Estimator/Project Manager with the help of Herman Bruno of Corps Partners.

But those weren’t the only TE Network splits made recently . . . behold the split placements listed below!

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

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

Please note that the placements listed below reflect deals finalized in TE Network for the period from June 9 through June 29, 2025.

Remember, if you don’t want information related to your split 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 TE Network!

This Week’s Split Placements

— — —

Job recruiter: Gary Kaufman of ExcelliSearch

Candidate recruiter: Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting

Job title: BUSINESS SYSTEMS ANALYST – ORACLE FINANCIALS

Overall placement fee: $25,600

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Stephanie Stephens of KESST Global Network

Candidate recruiter: Katherine Mastantuono of The KPM Group

Job title: OUTSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Overall placement fee: $14,400

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Herman Bruno of Corps Partners

Candidate recruiter: Niko Bougadis of Elite Talent Consulting

Job title: NEW CONSTRUCTION ESTIMATOR/PROJECT MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $10,000

Fee percentage: Flat

— — —

Job recruiter: Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Bruce Widnes of The Recruiting Group, Inc.

Job title: MANUFACTURING ENGINEER III (TOOL & DIE ENGINEER)

Overall placement fee: $23,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Erica Kochevar of Step Up Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Adam Pantelli of AJ search

Job title: HR MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $30,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Michael Mabry of Sora Resource Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Neily Horan of Horan Hiring Solutions, LLC

Job title: MAINTENANCE TECH (SUPPORT ASSOCIATE)

Overall placement fee: $14,976

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Amylyn Kyler of Kyler Professional Search

Candidate recruiter: Chris Wessell of PeopleWise

Job title: CONTROLLER

Overall placement fee: $24,000

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

Job recruiter: Dennis Cupp of Austin Allen Company, LLC

Candidate recruiter: David Manns of Access Staffing

Job title: QUALITY ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $26,250

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Hue Polinski of Sun Recruiting, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Brad Dodge of iLocatum Recruiting

Job title: SENIOR FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEER

Overall placement fee: $28,750

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Jeff Katz of JSK Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Rebecca Lucas of CPG Talent Management, LLC

Job title: DIRECTOR OF SALES

Overall placement fee: $50,000

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Amy Chapman of Key People Staffing

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

Job title: PRODUCTION MANAGER

Overall placement fee: $26,250

Fee percentage: 25%

— — —

Job recruiter: Alex Bakker of USA Staffing Network

Candidate recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group

Job title: PHYSICAL THERAPIST – HOME VISITS

Overall placement fee: $16,700

Fee percentage: 20%

— — —

If you’re a newer TE 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 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

We’re continuously updating both the Top Echelon recruiting software and our split placement network software.

So we’re pleased to announce the following software updates!

1. [PRO] Mass Enrollment into Sequences

Quickly enroll multiple People or Company records into Sequences directly from search results, Hotlists, and Pipelines. Scale your outreach faster than ever without having to do it one-by-one.

2. [PRO] Duplicate a Sequence

Love a Sequence you’ve already built? Now you can clone the structure and content to easily streamline your workflow. Perfect for tailoring campaigns to different audiences or industries.

3. [Pro] Mass Actions for Sequence Enrollments

Managing enrollments just got easier. Use new selection checkboxes and the action menu to stop, remove, or retry steps for multiple records—all at once.

4. Placement Comments in Reports

Need more context? We’ve added Placement Comments to the Table Details view and exports of Placement Reports. Capture critical notes like billing details or internal handoffs with ease.

5. New Interface Enhancements

Your feedback matters! We’ve made the following improvements to keep refining your TE experience:

• Expanded horizontal workspaces in Reports
• Bigger editing area for custom text block fields on cards

— — —

Remember, you can always stay informed about software updates by visiting the official Top Echelon Product Updates page. You can see current and past updates, as well as which updates and upgrades are next.

If you have questions about these updates or about any other aspect of your TE Network and/or TE Recruit account, you can:

→ Send an email to support@topechelon.com.

→ Visit our Help Center for answers to your questions or start a live chat by clicking the “Contact” link in the navigation bar.

As the Director of Network Operations for Top Echelon, it’s my job to operate TE Network. But . . . what does that mean, exactly?

Well, for one thing, it means ensuring that TE Network members communicate in the best way possible. And when I say “best way possible,” what I mean is “in a way that leads to the making of split placements.”

That’s because that way results in more money for everybody.

In this week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, I want to address one form of that communication. It involves importers submitting job orders to the Network.

In short, there are many job orders that don’t contain enough location information. And why is this important? Allow me to illustrate using three of The Four Pillars of TE Network:

Submitting job orders: Quality

Without a location, there is a missing piece of data that can make your job order even better.

Network recruiters run alerts and searches. Without a location, your job might not show up in the results for the trading partner who could have been able to fill the job with you.

If somebody does find your job in the Network and there is NO location listed, then they’ll have more legwork to do. If the location IS there, then they can start planning their attack in their database. They’ll have a better idea of where your client is and the type of sourcing strategies they must employ.

Submitting job orders: Trust

If you’re concerned about somebody knowing where or who your client is, then you’re going to have a difficult time filling the position in our recruiting network. You should feel comfortable about sharing your information to this extent with other TE Network members.

After all, they can help YOU and your client.

Submitting job orders: Communication

This (the location) is vital information. Communicating it will lead to a better response from TE Network recruiters.

If you don’t share the location, then other Network members might view you as not relaying information that’s important. As a result, that may deter them from working your job order.

Yes, by submitting job orders to the Network, you are engaging in the Fourth Pillar of TE Network, as well: Active Participation.

However, by NOT including the location information when submitting job orders, your participation will not bring you the type of results you’re seeking. By sharing this information with your job orders, you’ll increase the chances that you’ll make split placements and that you’ll make them more quickly.

If you have any questions about this blog post or about your TE Network membership in general, please contact me.

You can do so by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

The Top Echelon Software offices will be closed on Friday, July 4, in observance of the Independence Day holiday.

As I’ve mentioned on previous occasions, “Top Echelon Software offices” refers to the following:

• Top Echelon’s recruiter network
• Top Echelon’s recruiting software

Not to worry, though. The offices will re-open at 8 a.m. as usual on Monday, July 7.

As always, we at Top Echelon would like to wish everybody a fun and safe holiday. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the tremendous sacrifices that have been made—and continue to be made—for the freedom of this country.

Many of you have served this country in one capacity or another during your lives, and I want to thank you for both your service and your commitment.

And I also know that some of you will be traveling, so I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everybody safe travels and let you know that we’ll be keeping you in our thoughts and prayers.

Enjoy the holiday!

I’m pleased to announce the Virtual Core Group (VCG) meeting schedule for the month of July!

For those of you who don’t know, TE Network recruiters share the following information during Virtual Core Group teleconference call meetings:

• Hot job orders and candidates
• Information about the activity they’re seeing in the marketplace and/or in their niche
• Ideas for increased production on their desks and within their agencies

These are the activities that lead most directly to making more split placements in TE Network.

So that is why I’m inviting—or in other words, strongly encouraging—you to attend one of July’s Virtual Core Group meetings. Below is the complete VCG schedule for July, including the industries involved and the time that each meeting will be held. (Note: all times are Eastern.)

Wednesday, July 9:

• 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Manufacturing & Engineering
• 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Accounting & Finance

Thursday, July 10:

• 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. — Law & Legal Services
• 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. — Sales & Marketing

You can join the meeting to which you belong by accessing the information listed below.

Google Meeting link: https://meet.google.com/qba-qdic-kou

Below is the agenda for each Virtual Core Group meeting:

1. Welcome
2. Roll call of the members
3. I will share the latest software updates for both TE Network and the Top Echelon recruiting software (also known as TE Recruit).
4. Members will share their hot jobs with corresponding group discussion.
5. I will direct a software and Network protocol Q&A session to close the call.

It is my goal that this agenda will help you take away more from the meeting than just hot jobs and/or candidates. Hopefully, it will help make you more knowledgeable in terms of the Top Echelon community.

If you’d like to join one of the groups listed above or if you’d like to start a new group, please contact me.

You can do so by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.