Last week in The Pinnacle, we announced that split placements have been increasing in Top Echelon Network. Well, that trend is continuing: split deals are up again this week!

Will placements be up over 60% in September like they were in August? Only time will tell. However, at this point, it appears a foregone conclusion that there will be an increase over a year ago at this time. The only question is how much of an increase.

Split deals aplenty

The increase in split deals is another indication of how well the economy is doing. It’s also an indication of how hot the employment marketplace is for candidates right now. It’s definitely a candidates’ market. Employers are ready, willing, and able to hire. They just can’t find enough quality candidates quickly enough.

This is a great environment for recruiters and an even better one for Top Echelon Network members. That’s because if you don’t have the candidate your client wants to hire, one of your split recruiting partners might.

Look at the job order recruiters below. They didn’t have the candidate that their client wanted. However, their trading partner did. And that’s why they made the placement!

So congratulations to those recruiters and to everybody who made split deals this week in Top Echelon Network!

This Week’s TE Split Placements

— — —

Job recruiter: Kelly Goetsch, CPC of Van Zeeland Talent, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: SR. DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Lisa Wilczynski of Engineering and Technical Assoc., Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Pat Calvert of Career Search Associates

Job title: MAINTENANCE PLANNER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

Fee percentage: 28%

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

Candidate recruiter: Robert Alexander of Systems Technology International

Job title: COMMERCIAL SERVICE PLUMBER

Fee percentage: 23.5%

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

— — —

Job recruiter: Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

Candidate recruiter: Robert Alexander of Systems Technology International

Job title: MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

Fee percentage: 28%

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

— — —

Job recruiter: John Zurek of Zurek Professional Resources, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Joy Shanklin of Shanklin & Associates

Job title: WELDING ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 20%

Action causing split placement: MEGA Database

— — —

Job recruiter: Vicki Hubiak of HR Solutions, Inc.

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

Job title: MACHINIST

Fee percentage: 20%

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

— — —

Job recruiter: Ann Wyatt of Ann Wyatt Recruiting

Candidate recruiter: Gene McQueen of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 20%

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

— — —

Job recruiter: Dustin Griffin of Griffin Recruitment Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of Cameron Craig Group

Job title: SECOND SHIFT PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Fee percentage: 18%

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Sara Gallagher of Byrnes & Rupkey, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Terry Rhodes of NewCareers

Job title: PLANT CONTROLLER

Fee percentage: 18%

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Cindy Szajkovics, CPC of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Justin Bidwell of Bidwell & Associates, LLC

Job title: SENIOR ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

Fee percentage: Flat

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Bill Cebak, CPC of Orbital Search Group

Candidate recruiter: Michael Petras of Lodestar Executive Search, LLC

Job title: EH&S MANAGER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: Alerts

— — —

Job recruiter: Ken Lazar of Ability Professional Network, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Shari Kearney of JobXSite

Job title: OUTSIDE SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: Network Jobs Feed

— — —

Job recruiter: Mike Aquino of MPA Companies, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Mike Bishop of Quality Recruiting and Consulting

Job title: QUALITY MANAGER

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

— — —

Job recruiter: Melissa Truax of Premier Health Careers, Inc./Premier Paths

Candidate recruiter: Barry Showe of Showe and Associates, LLC

Job title: DIRECT SALES REPRESENTATIVE

Fee percentage: 25%

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

— — —

Job recruiter: Melissa Truax of Premier Health Careers, Inc./Premier Paths

Candidate recruiter: Shelli Saunders of GoRecruitMe

Job title: ADULT PSYCHIATRIST MEDICAL DIRECTOR

Fee percentage: Flat

Action causing split placement: Offline communication with a member

If you’re not at least offering contract staffing to your clients, you could be “leaving money on the table.”

What does that mean? It means you could be making easy placements and generating recurring revenue at the same time you make your direct hire placements.

You don’t make contract placements instead of direct hire placements. You make them in addition to direct hire placements. That’s what the Top Echelon Network members listed below are doing. They’re maximizing the potential of their recruiting desks by offering both services to their clients.

As always, the numbers below represent the placements made by Network members through Top Echelon Contracting. There are also placements made through our recruitment back office every month by non-members.

Congratulations to the recruiters listed below. They have the willingness to make contract placements, and their billings reflect that!

This report lists the Top 10 Top Echelon Network members by contract placement earnings through Top Echelon Contracting. The report is provided to Network members for informational purposes.

Leading Contract Recruiters: August 31, 2018

Recruiter and Agency	2018 Earnings
Keith Adams of PediaStaff	$636,374
Jim Brown of Galileo Search, LLC	$581,172
Cindy Stephens, CPC/CTS of Stephens International Recruiting, Inc.	$98,873
Cindy Ridley of HRtechies, Inc.	$45,999
Philip Bartfield of Analytic Search	$28,342
John F. Hope, CPC of Tri-Force	$25,783
Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC	$24,840
Donna Carroll, CPC of Systems Personnel	$23,306
Katy Moses of Top Hire Recruitment	$12,539
Bill Young of EPC Recruiters, Inc.	$11,288

As I mentioned above, all of the leading contract recruiters on this list are direct hire recruiters. You do NOT have to stop making direct hire placements to offer contract staffing services to your existing base of clients. All you have to do is two things:

#1—Ask your clients if they have contract job orders. (If they do, then there’s a good chance they’ll give them to you.)

#2—Use Top Echelon’s recruitment back office solutions. We’ll take care of all the financial, legal, and administrative details associated with employing the contractors.

If you have any questions about this whole process, we have answers. We invite you to contact us at 888.627.3678.

You can also click here to schedule a walk-through of Top Echelon Contracting’s services. Click here to download our “Quick-Start Guide to Contract Staffing.”

There are a number of reasons why recruiters shy away from contract placements. However, most of those reasons are the result of myths or misconceptions. One common myth about contract staffing is that you must have a stable of contractors ready because clients may request them at a moment’s notice.

This misconception is tied to the temp agency model. They have a group of temps who are employed by the agency and are sent out on assignment after assignment, the majority of which only last a few weeks at the most.

Temps and contractors

The use of temps in this model is more common for blue collar and clerical positions, where turnover is more frequent and immediate replacement is necessary. Temps are also often used to fill in for absent workers due to vacations, maternity leaves, disability leaves, etc.

Contract staffing is a “different animal.” Contractors are highly skilled individuals who typically fall into the professional, technical, or healthcare realm. They are most often used for long-term projects that last six to nine months or even longer.

While the lead time is usually shorter than direct hire placements, it is not the “warp speed situation” that many recruiters envision. The lead time is generally a few days or a week or two, depending upon the search. Many recruiters actually like the quicker nature of contract placements.

While clients want to ensure they’re getting someone with the right skills, they are less concerned about a cultural fit. As a result, you can bypass all of the second guessing, third and fourth interviews, and requests for more candidates. If you present a candidate who has the right qualifications for the contract assignment, it is likely they will be selected.

You already have a stable!

Chances are good that you already have the stable of contractors you need in your database. Recruiters have told us that their best source for contract candidates is their direct hire candidates.

Simply ask every candidate if they would be willing to work on a contract assignment. As flexibility becomes a key issue for workers, more of them are turning to contract staffing. That’s because there is more leeway when it comes to when and where the work is completed, the work schedule, daily requirements, etc.

Offering contract staffing services can smooth out the peaks and valleys of direct hire. Don’t turn away from it just because you don’t think you have a stable of contractors.

Give contract staffing a second look. You may be surprised by what you find!