This is it! We’ve reached the end!

The end of what, you may ask? The innocence? High inflation? The world?

No, no, and not yet. Instead, we’ve reached the end of our 2024 Top Echelon Hall of Fame induction announcements.

During the past several weeks, we’ve inducted individual recruiters—both current members and past members—and entire agencies. This week, we finish with two recruiters and one agency.

All right, I’ll share the names of this week’s inductees upfront. Don’t let anybody tell you that I’m not a nice guy. Here they are:

• John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.
• Larry Gallin of Gallin Associates
• First Search, Inc.
  

Happy? You should be! This is a great time to celebrate. Our inaugural HOF class is in the books, TE Connect Fall 2024 is next week, and it’s officially “pumpkin spice” season.

What’s not to love?

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NO JOKE: You know the saying: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Well, that saying does not apply to recruiters, especially long-time members of Top Echelon’s recruiting network.

Not that we’re necessarily calling John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc. old when his agency joined Top Echelon Network in 2012. However, by that time, he had been a search consultant for 32 years. Usually, when a recruiter is used to doing things a certain way for that long, they’re hesitant to change their ways, especially if those ways have been successful.

But John did just that, and in the process, he accomplished a significant feat: making 101 split placements in Top Echelon over the course of the next 12 years. John, who specializes in Chemical Engineering, served in the U.S. Navy from 1971 to 1975, then worked at AT&T Bell Labs from 1977 to 1980 before becoming a recruiter.

According to John, his mantra in life is “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” an outlook on life and business that is a perfect fit for Top Echelon Network membership. John and his life live in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and his hobbies include reading non-fiction books, going to concerts, and joke telling. He is especially passionate about jokes.

“If you have a good joke,” said John, “tell it!”

According to Top Echelon President and CEO Mark Demaree, John’s tenure in the Network has certainly been no joke. Not many recruiters can crank out more than 100 split placements in 12 years’ time. It’s not a Top Echelon record, but it’s still quite admirable.

“John has enjoyed a stellar career in the recruiting profession, and his time in the Network has been equally impressive,” said Mark. “He’s an excellent example of the type of recruiter—and person—who can excel within Top Echelon.”

We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of John Peterson into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!

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THROUGH THE YEARS: The recruiters in Top Echelon Network have been among the most successful, longest turned search consultants and headhunters (do we call them that anymore?) within the profession. Some of them have recruited for 30, 40, and even 50 years.

Larry Gallin of Gallin Associates is one such recruiter. Gallin Associates was founded in 1976, and Larry made his first TE placement in September of 1997.

Since that first Network split placement 27 years ago, Larry has added another 120 TE placements to his resume, thus solidifying his place in the Top Echelon Hall of Fame!

Gallin Associates specializes in technology-focused recruiting. The agency conducts searches for Sales, Marketing, Engineering, IT, Manufacturing, and Management positions.

While Larry has worked both sides of the split placement process during his time in Top Echelon, he has excelled in recent years as an exporter. (An exporter is a recruiter who “exports” candidates or provides viable candidates to the job order recruiter in a potential split placement situation.)

According to Top Echelon President Mark Demaree, Larry has continued to produce at a high level since 1997, fully leveraging the tools and resources of Top Echelon to generate revenue and help his agency grow.

“Larry Gallin has been a stalwart member of Top Echelon Network down through the years,” said Mark. “His knowledge, experience, and talent have constituted a valuable contribution to Top Echelon and to his trading partners.”

We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of Larry Gallin into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!

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FAMILY AFFAIR: It’s been quite a journey for First Search, Inc.

One of the founders of First Search, Al Katz, has already been inducted into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame on an individual basis. Early in this career—and early within First Search’s Top Echelon Network membership—Al established himself not only in terms of split placements, but also contract placements.

In fact, First Search made a whopping 726 contract deals through Top Echelon Contracting (TEC), which was established in 1992. (TEC has since undergone a name change and is now known as Foxhire.)

Since then, Al has made 161 direct hire TE placements as a Network member. In addition, Al’s daughter Sarah has joined the First Search team, and she’s “hit the ground running” in Top Echelon Network since doing so.

Sarah started in the profession in 2019 and she made her first TE split in 2021. She’s added 27 more TE placements since then, including nine in this year alone. Sarah’s contributions have helped boost First Search’s all-time placement total within Top Echelon Network to 227 placements.

According to Sarah, First Search’s trading partners have been and continue to be central to the success of the agency within TE Network.

“All of the split partners we work with, we consider them as part of our team,” she said. “You have to work as a team in order to make splits. We might be asked to prescreen candidates or help along the interview process, and we have no issue helping in whatever way we need to. Our split partners are an extension of First Search.”

We at Top Echelon are pleased to announce the induction of First Search, Inc. into the Top Echelon Hall of Fame as a member of the 2024 class!

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Be sure to check The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog—as well as Top Echelon’s official LinkedIn account—for future announcements regarding The Top Echelon Hall of Fame . . . including when the 2025 inductees will be revealed!

Now that we’ve identified and explored the five stages of a networker, we’re going to apply these stages to the nine essential elements for success in Top Echelon Network.

Specifically, we’re going to examine the attitudes that Network recruiters in each of the five stages have about these elements. In short, their networking mindset.

Why? Because it’s these attitudes that determine Network recruiters’ ultimate level of success in Top Echelon. (In other words, how many split placements they make.)

The first of the essential nine elements that we’ll address is mindset.

The networking mindset in 5 stages

Below is an examination of that element through each of the five stages of a networker.

STAGE 1 NETWORKER:

They’ve heard that networking is a good way to go, but they’re extremely skeptical. In most cases, they want networking to work for them, but many times they’re not prepared to give it the initial time investment required for it to work.

STAGE 2 NETWORKER:

They also feel that networking can help them, but they still need to see results before they’re a true believer in split business.

STAGE 3 NETWORKER:

These recruiters know that networking should be a steady percentage of their business. In addition, they know split business can make a good year a great year and a bad year survivable.

STAGE 4 NETWORKER:

They have the frame of mind that split business is a percentage of their business that is no longer optional. They expect split placements and work to make them happen.

STAGE 5 NETWORKER:

Not only do they take their split business very seriously, but they also even enjoy splitting. They’re good at it, and they like it!

What is YOUR networking mindset as a Top Echelon recruiter?

In a future issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, I’ll examine the essential element of Trust, which also happens to be one of The Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network.

If you have any questions about your split network membership, please contact me by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

Now, more than ever, we need to pull together our resources in Top Echelon’s recruiting network.

There are definitely challenges in the job market at the moment. Hiring has slowed. Job orders are not flowing like honey like they did in 2022, during the height of the Great Resignation. And some candidates seem to be as obstinate as ever.

And then there’s the economy at large and world events, including inflation, interest rates, unrest in the Middle East, and an upcoming Presidential Election that could go down in the history books for all of the wrong reasons.

There’s so much uncertainty in the air, you can cut it with a knife. (Or in my case, a samurai sword.) and if there is one thing that the job market and the economy do NOT like, it’s uncertainty.

So what should you be doing? These things, among others:

• Run searches for candidates and jobs in the Top Echelon Network software. This includes the Network Candidates sourcing tool, which contains over eight million recruited candidates.
• Check your Alerts for matches.
• Call your trading partners and make things happen. Be proactive!

However, I do want to say one thing regarding jobs that you may have on the Network:

When one of the job orders you have posted on Top Echelon Network gets filled, please remove that job order from the Network immediately.

If you’re lax in doing this, then you greatly increase the chances that you’re going to waste the time of another well-intentioned recruiter. And that recruiter just wants to help you fill your search assignment.

Now, more than ever, every job in the Network should be open and active. That’s because now, more than ever, time is of the essence. Don’t waste your own time and don’t waste the time of other Top Echelon recruiters.

THIS is the time to connect with other recruiters and build activity. In fact, this is the time to generate more activity with your trading partners than you’ve ever generated as a member of Top Echelon Network.

At Top Echelon, we have not survived and thrived for 36 years by accident.

We have survived and thrived during both good times and bad times because the Network pulls together.

So share your jobs and candidates, call your trading partners, and make it happen!

If you’d like to discuss your split network membership, then I encourage you to contact me. You can do so by calling 330.595.17423 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

Top Echelon Customer Success Manager Todd Bossler recently conducted a special Training Tuesday webinar titled, “The TE Marketplace: Your One-Stop Shop for Integrations.”

You may have attended this free webinar on Tuesday, September 3. On the other hand, you may not have been in attendance.

Regardless, we have the recorded version of the webinar, which I am presenting to you now. (The recording is also located in the Top Echelon Help Center.)

If you are not a user of our recruiting software, then check out the video, anyway, to see how the software could benefit your recruiting desk and agency.

We at Top Echelon are continually working to make the resources that we provide to our customers better, and this is yet more proof!

Below is the official description of this training video:

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Todd Bossler

As Top Echelon Software grows and evolves, we’ve continued adding new and exciting integrations to our applicant tracking system.

And during the next webinar video in our Training Tuesday series, Training and Support Manager Todd Bossler discusses “all things integrations” so that you can maximize the value of your Top Echelon software subscription.

During this information-packed video, Todd will address:

• Where to find the TE Marketplace
• The integrations currently available to Top Echelon users
• How to access integrations of interest
• Which integrations and partnerships are on the horizon
• How to suggest an integration that we don’t already offer
• And more! (Because we wouldn’t have it any other way.)

Summer is nearly over, but Top Echelon Software continues to get better and better . . . and integrations are one reason why!

So watch this video and get ready to learn all about “The TE Marketplace: Your One-Stop Shop for Integrations”!

Watch this Top Echelon ATS training video!

Remember to check The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog every week for more updates regarding Top Echelon software improvements and upgrades.

If you have any questions about how you can maximize your Top Echelon split network membership, please contact 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. Interface Preview Updates

As a result of recent feedback regarding the new interface preview, here are a few of the most recent updates and bug fixes that have been addressed:

• Datasheet layouts: you can now have more than two (2) columns of cards on larger resolutions.
• Activity details and timestamps are now displayed on People Datasheets.
• Additional Planner views (week, month, overdue) have returned.
• Missing Resume card has been returned to the bottom of People Datasheets.
• Ability to drag Activity modals has been restored.
• An initial iteration of changes to address some spacing concerns.

To follow along with the changes we’re making, check out the New User Interface section of our Help Center. We encourage everyone to check out the latest updates using the banner at the top of any page.

2. [BETA – PRO TIER] Smart-TE AI Search Generator

Use AI to automatically craft a job-specific candidate search within your database (and Network Candidates database where applicable).

If you’re interested in Beta testing this feature, email us at beta@topechelon.com.

3. [NEW] Network Falloff Reason Requirement

In an ongoing effort to promote transparency and uphold the integrity of Top Echelon Network, we now require that all reported Network Falloffs include a reason consisting of at least 35 characters

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 Top Echelon Network and/or recruiting software 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.