It’s hard to believe that it’s already the third quarter of the year, but it’s been a good year so far for recruiters in Top Echelon Network.

Job orders are up. Candidates are up. Placements are up.

All good news—but where exactly are the placements being made? We have the answer to that question!

The chart below represents the top recruiting industries in Top Echelon as of the end of the second quarter (June 30). Although some of the information is not that surprising, some of IS somewhat surprising.

What is NOT surprising

Manufacturing remained the “mac daddy” in Top Echelon, and the disparity has grown even wider. That’s because, as you can see below, 37.2% of all placements in the Network during the past 12 months have been in that industry. It also had 28.7% of the candidates and 9.5% of the job orders.

Also not surprising are the next four industries on the ladder: Engineering, IT, Sales & Marketing, and Healthcare. Those have traditionally been among the top industries in the Network.

What IS surprising

IT has taken a step back at 11.7% of all placements, while Sales & Marketing has taken a step forward at 11.3%. Also taking a step back is Healthcare, which once comprised a healthy (excuse the pun) percentage of the placements in the Network. Its share is now down to 5.9%.

That percentage is the same as Personnel & Human Resources, which has also taken a step forward. That industry wasn’t even on the radar a few years ago, and now it’s tied with Healthcare.

Below are Network statistics for the top recruiting industries in the second quarter, including percentages for job orders, candidates, and placements.

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, you can contact myself or Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CERS at 330.455.1433, x156.

For quite a while now, we at Top Echelon have provided free training webinars every month for customers.  These webinars have been held on Tuesdays throughout each month, and as a result, they’re called “Training Tuesday.”

I’m pleased to announce that we have an addition to the “Training Tuesday” family!

That addition deals with contract staffing, specifically the many, many ways that contact staffing can benefit your recruiting firm.

With the addition of contract staffing, our updated schedule of “Training Tuesday” webinars is below.  Click on the respective link for more information about each webinar series and/or links to recorded versions of past webinars in that series.

• First Tuesday of each month: Big Biller “Training Tuesday”
• Third Tuesday of each month: Top Echelon Network “Training Tuesday”
• Fourth Tuesday of each month: Top Echelon Contracting “Training Tuesday”

You might be asking yourself, “Hey, what about the second Tuesday of each month?”

I’m glad you asked!  That’s when we offer our free training webinars from expert recruiter coaches.

Click here to access the recorded versions of past recruiter coaching webinars.

Each of these webinars, including the recruiter coaching webinars, starts at 1 p.m., Eastern Time, on the date indicated.  We send emails to customers promoting the webinars as they occur.

This new schedule has already started.  That means there will be a Top Echelon Contracting “Training Tuesday” webinar at 1 p.m., Eastern Time on Tuesday, July 28.

We want you to be as successful as possible—both using our services and also as a recruiter or recruiting firm owner.  That’s why we offer these training webinars.

We hope that you’ll join us for a webinar soon and that 2015 has been a great year for you!

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

That question was as follows:

How many times this year has a candidate accepted your client’s offer before accepting another offer instead?

Results:

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

• None — 45.0%
• Once — 26.6%
• Twice — 21.1%
• Three times — 4.6%
• Four times — 0.0%
• More than four times — 2.8%

Analysis:

It would be great if once a candidate accepted an offer of employment, they actually started employment with the company 100% of the time.  Alas, that is NOT always the case, since the results of this poll indicate a recent rash of candidates accepting other offers after already accepting an offer.

Only 45% of the recruiters who participated in the poll have not had a candidate accept another offer this year.  That means the remaining 55% have had a candidate first accept their client’s offer and then say, “Sorry, but I’m taking this other one instead.”

In fact, some recruiters have experienced such a scenario two and three times already this year, and a select group of recruiters (2.8%) have endured it more than four times!

Where’s the Pepto-Bismol?

Conclusion:

Once again, it’s clearly a candidate’s market.  The top candidates in the marketplace are interviewing at multiple companies for premium employment opportunities, and they’re receiving multiple offers, just about all of which are enticing.

While the fact that job orders are (generally) plentiful is good, the downside is that candidates feel as though they can play “fast and loose” with their commitments.  In other words, for some of them, their word is only as good as their options.

Basically, they’re saying, “Yeah, I’ll work for your company . . . unless I get a better offer in the next two weeks.”

What have you been seeing in the way of candidate behavior?  Are they keeping their commitments—or breaking them?

What’s the primary goal of membership in Top Echelon Network?  Making more placements!

How do you accomplish that?  By forming relationships with other recruiters!

And when you form relationships and continue to nurture them, something great happens: you make multiple placements over a long period of time.

That’s exactly the case with a pair of recruiters in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  They met nearly 20 years ago, and they’ve been working together ever since.

Based on the comments listed below, here are just a few of the characteristics of their trading partner relationship:

• Mutual respect for each other as recruiters
• Accountability for completing their respective duties during the placement process
• The similarity of their working styles and approaches to the search profession
• Enjoyment of each other’s friendship

These are characteristics of just about every long-term trading partner relationship in Top Echelon Network.  The recruiters involved like working with each other and they trust one another.

The result is a positive experience, especially in the form of multiple split placements.

You, too, can enjoy a relationship like this in Top Echelon Network.  To find out how and for more information, contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

Congratulations to everybody who made placements this week!

— — —

Eric Berg

Jeff Ploeger

“Eric has been my best candidate supplier since we met in 1996.  He knows talent and is a direct, no-nonsense recruiter.  He does his job and expects me to do mine.  I enjoy him as a person and respect him as a recruiter.”

Submitted by Jeff Ploeger of Ploeger Recruiting Services regarding his Network split placement with Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

Position Title—QUALITY ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: This is the third Network split placement that Ploeger and Berg have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

Denice Kerr

Steve Kohn

“This is my first placement with Affinity Executive Search, and I want to thank Steve Kohn for his continuous support and working with Moonriver Resources.  It finally paid off, and we have our split placement!”

Submitted by Denice Kerr of Moonriver Resources regarding her Network split placement with Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Position Title—RAD TECH

Fee Percentage—20%

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

— — —

Lois Rupkey

Roger Malatesta

“It was great to work with Roger.  His [Top Echelon website] gave us some talent that was very accommodating, and he was very invested in the interview process with our client.”

Submitted by Lois Rupkey of Byrnes & Rupkey, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Roger Malatesta of Professional Recruiting Consultants

Position Title—PROJECT LEAD

Fee Percentage—20%

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