At Top Echelon, we encourage Network recruiters to get together on a consistent basis, to meet face-to-face.

While we love it when you attend the National Convention and Fall Conference (and we’d REALLY love it if you attended the 2013 Fall Conference), we also love it when you meet each other outside of those events.

One such event was held a couple of weeks ago: the annual “Networking on the Farm” extravaganza at the Hemminger Farm in Tiffin, Ohio.

Hosting the event, of course, was Maria Hemminger and Joanna Spaun, partners in MJ Recruiters, LLC, a Preferred Member agency in Top Echelon Network.

Hemminger and Spaun have completely embraced networking in Top Echelon, and their productivity is a testament to that.  Since MJ Recruiters joined Top Echelon in 2005, Hemminger and Spaun have combined to make 98 Network placements!

Networking and meeting other recruiters face-to-face works, plain and simple.  The National Convention and the Fall Conference are evidence of that fact, as are events like “Networking on the Farm.”

Check Out the ‘Networking on the Farm’ Photos!

We’re always looking for recruiters to form new Regional Core Groups or to get together on a consistent basis like the recruiters who attended “Networking on the Farm.”  If you’d like to start a new Regional Core Group, please contact me as soon as possible.

Call me at 330.455.1433, x156 or send an email to drea@topchelon.com.

SPLIT PLACEMENTS THIS WEEK:

Why, oh why, do we keep “beating the drum” when it comes to Hiring Hook staffing website design?

Because Top Echelon Network recruiters won’t stop making split placements with them!

Now don’t get us wrong; we don’t want them to stop.  If anything, they’ve been making split placements with their agency’s Hiring Hook website with more frequency during the past several months . . . and that’s the continuation of a trend that’s been occurring for the last few years.

If you don’t have a Hiring Hook website with the accompanying Job Board, then you should seriously consider getting one.  But don’t take it from us.  Ask the recruiters below who’ve made split placements with their recruiting website.

They’ll tell you that it’s well worth the investment.

SPLIT JOBS FILLED THIS WEEK:

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

• Process Engineer
  
• EH & S Manager
  
• Vice President of Underwriting
  
• Lean/Safety Specialist
  
• Food Scientist
  
• Retail Account Services Manager
  
• Safety Environmental Engineer
  
• Controls Engineer
  
• Director of QA
  

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

THIS WEEK’S NETWORK SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

Job recruiter: John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Split job title: PROCESS ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 15%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website.

— — —

Job recruiter: John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Split job title: EH & S MANAGER

Fee percentage: 15%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website.

— — —

Job recruiter: Mike McDonough of General Search and Recruitment

Candidate recruiter: Phil Georgenson of PMG Employment Consultants, LLC

Split job title: VICE PRESIDENT OF UNDERWRITING

Fee percentage: 30%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website.

— — —

Job recruiter: Carey Towe, CPC of Southern Recruiters

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Split job title: LEAN/SAFETY SPECIALIST

Fee percentage: 15%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook website.

— — —

Job recruiter: Joe Cotter of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jim Compton of Compton & Associates

Split job title: FOOD SCIENTIST

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Denise DeLongis of ICONSTAFF

Candidate recruiter: Betsy Harper of Sales and Marketing Search, Inc.

Split job title: RETAIL ACCOUNT SERVICES MANAGER

Fee percentage: 20%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Nick Stoia, CPC of ASAP Search and Recruiters

Candidate recruiter: Eric V. Stearley, CPC of Eric V. Stearley, CPC & Associates

Split job title: SAFETY ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 22.5%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Tim Hughes of Hughes & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Therese Eckhoff, CPC of Recruiting Pros of Chicagoland

Split job title: CONTROLS ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 20%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Jim Crumpley of Jim Crumpley & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Robert Briones, CPC of R.A. Briones & Company

Split job title: DIRECTOR OF QA

Fee percentage: 20%

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

People like photos.  People like to take photos, and people like to look at photos.  This is part of what makes social media so popular.

So this week, we’re combining this popular aspect of social media (specifically Facebook) with our upcoming Fall Conference in Chicago.

How are we doing that?  Easy—by posting photos from past Fall Conferences!

Just as we’ve done with the National Convention, we’ve created “photo albums” for our Fall Conference photos on Facebook, designating each album with a different year (2003, 2004, and so on).

Those of you who have attended a Fall Conference in the past might just see yourself in one of these photos, and some of you might see yourself in multiple photos.  Of course, feel free to “tag” other people you see, as well (that’s Facebook parlance for identifying them).

To view the albums, all you have to do is click on the link below:

View the Fall Conference Photo Albums!

We hope you enjoy the photo albums.  Most of all, though, we hope you attend the 2013 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference, which is scheduled for Thursday, October 3, and Friday, October 4, at the Sheraton Suites O’Hare in Chicago.

Because people like making money, too!

THE SPLIT RECRUITERS:

Lloyd Shoemaker has made 33 placements as a Top Echelon Network recruiter.  His agency, TriVista Professional Placement Services, has been a Preferred Member since 1994.

David Manns has made 2 placements as a Top Echelon Network recruiter.  His agency, ACCESS Professional Search & Staffing, has been a Preferred Member since April of 2008.

Cindy Szajkovics has made 4 placements as a Top Echelon Network recruiter.  Her agency, Bulldog Recruiters, Inc., has been a Preferred Member since 2011.

Juli Smith has made 35 placements as a Top Echelon Network recruiter.  Her agency, The Smith Consulting Group, LLC, has been a Preferred Member since 2006.

Carolyn Barcus has made 6 placements as a Top Echelon Network recruiter.  Her agency, Barcus Associates, has been a Preferred Member of the recruiting network since 1996.

Mark London has made 65 placements as one of the Top Echelon Network’s top recruiters.  His agency, Command Consultants, Inc., has been a Preferred Member since 1990.

THE SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

The split placements highlighted in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle are representative of true partnerships in the recruiting process.  Not only did the recruiters involved help one another every step of the way, but they also went “above and beyond” to close the deal and make the split.

Some of these recruiters made their first split placement together, while others have made multiple splits together.  To top it all off, since placements in Top Echelon Network are up 25% over last year, more recruiters are praising their Trading Partners, which means we’re increasing the number of placements we highlight in this weekly feature . . . but that’s a good “problem” to have!  Happy placements for all!

— — —

“I want to thank David Manns for being persistent regarding his candidate.  When we first submitted the candidate, his compensation requirements were too high for the company to consider him.  But, as time went by and we and they were not finding qualified candidates in their salary range, we finally convinced them to up the salary range.  When they did, David reminded me of his candidate, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Submitted by Lloyd Shoemaker of TriVista Professional Placement Services regarding his Network split placement with David Manns of Access Professional Search & Staffing

Position Title—PROJECT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

— — —

“Working with Juli was great!  We exchanged candidates for like positions, and we made a split, 1-2-3, all within a week.  It’s nice to have it happen that quickly with the right candidate!  Thanks, Juli!”

Submitted by Cindy Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Juli Smith of The Smith Consulting Group, LLC

Position Title—SR. CIVIL ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—22%

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

— — —

“Mark put forth extraordinary effort into this search, and we managed to resurrect interest in this candidate after the client originally said, ‘No.’  In the meantime, the client made an offer to their first-choice candidate, who made unreasonable demands.  So then they agreed to meet with THIS candidate, resulting in a happy placement for all.”

Submitted by Carolyn Barcus of Barcus Associates regarding her Network split placement with Mark London of Command Consultants, Inc.

Position Title—PHARMA VERTICAL NEW BUSINESS SALES EXECUTIVE

Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: This is the sixth Network split placement that Barcus and London have made together in Top Echelon.)

SURVEY QUESTION:

Social media has changed the way recruiters conduct business.  Of course, the social media platform that’s most popular with executive recruiters is LinkedIn, which touts itself as “The world’s largest professional network.”

Although LinkedIn is popular with recruiters, how integral is it to the recruiting process?  In other words, how valuable is LinkedIn to the process that recruiters use to find and successfully recruit candidates for their clients’ job orders?

Well, it just so happens that we have answers to these questions.

We recently conducted a survey of Top Echelon Network recruiters, and that survey was based upon the following question:

How valuable is LinkedIn as a tool for your recruiting process?

SURVEY RESULTS:

The choice of answers that were provided is listed below, along with the percentage of recruiters who selected each answer:

• Extremely valuable — 55.0%
• Somewhat valuable — 31.7%
• Not that valuable — 5.0%
• I’m undecided. — 3.3%
• I don’t use LinkedIn for my recruiting process. — 5.0%

SURVEY ANALYSIS:

As one might guess, the majority of recruiters believe that LinkedIn is valuable to their recruiting process to some degree.  Over half (55%) chose “extremely valuable” as their answer, while 31.7% selected “somewhat valuable.”

However, that still leaves 13.3% of survey participants who don’t find value in LinkedIn.  In fact, 5% of participants have not made LinkedIn part of their recruiting process.

So while LinkedIn has definitely become the social media platform of choice for executive recruiters, not ALL recruiters consider it to be a “sourcing nirvana.”  (But the majority?  Absolutely.)

FEEDBACK:

How important is LinkedIn to YOUR recruiting process?  Did you participate in the survey described above?  If not, what’s your answer?