October is right around the corner. Since pumpkin spice lattes are already here—along with everything else that’s flavored with pumpkin spice—that means something else is around the corner.

Halloween? No. That’s around two more corners.

The 2015 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference in Chicago, that’s what! C’mon!

This year’s conference is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, and Wednesday, October 14, at the Sheraton Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel. Barb Bruno, CPC of Good as Gold Training will be this year’s keynote speaker and trainer.

However, what’s even more important to consider about the Fall Conference is the number of Network top producers who are planning to attend. Right now, that number stands at 11.

That’s right: 11 of the 12 top producers in Top Echelon Network are going to the Fall Conference in Chicago. (I know that there are extenuating circumstances affecting why the other top producer can’t attend, so that number could be 12!)

The top producers planning to attend include the following:

#1—Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group
#3—Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.
#4—Pam Copeland of Albert Energy LLC/fulltimeGiGS
#5—John Peterson of Sun Recruiting, Inc.
#6—Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC
#7—Mary Anne Buckley, CPC of Interstate Recruiters Corp
#8—Steve Copeland of Albert Energy LLC/fulltimeGiGS
#9—David M. Sgro, CPC of True North Consultants, Inc.
#10—Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates, LLC
#11—Stephanie McGinty of Ives & Associates, Inc.
#12—Kerry Boehner of KOB Solutions, Inc.

The top producers in Top Echelon Network KNOW that events like the Fall Conference are the key to enjoying more success as a Network recruiter. That’s why they attend! It’s no accident and it’s no coincidence.

How do you think they got to be top producers in the first place?

If you want to be a top producer, or even if you just want to bill more through Top Echelon Network, attend the Fall Conference in Chicago. There’s still time to register, to meet other recruiters, to talk with the top producers, and to set yourself and your firm up for a great year in 2016.

— — —

Trey Cameron

Bill Kubena

“Trey, this will be our eighth split together! Thanks again, and let’s get to #10 before [the Fall Conference in] Chicago. I really appreciate all your efforts on our behalf here at Kubena & Associates.”

Submitted by Bill Kubena of Kubena & Associates regarding his Network split placement with Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Position Title—CNC MACHINIST

Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: This is the seventh split placement that Kubena and Cameron have made together in Top Echelon.)

If you’re a member of the Top Echelon split placement network (and if you’re reading this blog post, chances are good that you are), then you should have at least some idea of how important candidate matching is to success in our network.

When you have trading partners who are exceptional at not just providing high-quality candidates, but also providing candidates that are a near-perfect match for the job description—if not a perfect match—then you’re going to make a lot of placements in Top Echelon.

Like, for instance, the recruiters below. Here are the ways they described the candidates presented to them by their trading partners:

• “excellent candidate”
• “wonderful candidate”
• “excellent candidate”

This happens EVERY week in Top Echelon Network. TE recruiters are sharing candidates that match these descriptions right now, and . . . wait . . . did you hear that? Somebody just made another placement.

Candidate matching translates into success in a split placement network. If you need “excellent” and “wonderful” candidates in your niche for hard-to-fill job orders, contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS.

Drea can get you pointed in the right direction and connected with the right recruiters. Contact Drea at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

Congratulations to everybody who made split placements this week!

— — —

Kenny Frey, CPC/CERS

Sean Napoles, CPC

“As always, can excellent candidate provided by Sean. Pre-screened, spot-on, and a win for the candidate and client company.”

Submitted by Kenny Frey, CPC/CERS of The Frey Consulting Group regarding his Network split placements with Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

Position Title—WELDING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: This is the fourth Network split placement that Frey and Napoles have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

Justin Bidwell

Kerry Boehner

“Justin did a fabulous job of matching a wonderful candidate to my position . . . I look forward to many more splits!”

Submitted by Kerry Boehner of KOB Solutions, Inc. regarding her Network split placement with Justin Bidwell of Bidwell & Associates, LLC

Position Title—CLINICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Fee Percentage—20%

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

— — —

Trey Cameron

George Seipel

“As usual, Trey’s network provides an excellent candidate that ‘wowed’ the hiring team, and the whole process from start to finish took only seven days.”

Submitted by George Seipel of Charter Executive Search regarding his Network split placement with Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Position Title—MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR

Fee Percentage—25%

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

The Top Echelon Golf Outing has become something of a tradition over the years, and I’m glad to report that the outing (and the tradition) has continued to be a great success in 2015.

This year’s event was held at Deer Ridge Golf Course in Bellville, Ohio on Wednesday, September 23. Bill Kubena of Kubena & Associates was the organizer of this year’s event, and I’d just like to offer a public word of thanks to Bill for his hard work and diligence.

As I’ve stated on many occasions, events like the Golf Outing are actually regional core group meetings within Top Echelon Network. That’s because they involve recruiters from a specific geographic region (in this case Ohio) who meet at a central location.

True, these recruiters were there to golf, but that’s not the main reason they showed up. They were there to network with each other!

Below are three reasons why the 2015 Top Echelon Golf Outing was a great success:

#1—Recruiters met each other face-to-face.

Talking with your trading partners (and potential trading partners) on the phone is great, but meeting face-to-face takes relationships to a whole new level. This has been proven time and time again. When you meet somebody in person, you get to know them more and you’re able to form better business relationships, and in some cases, even friendships.

#2—They shared hot job orders and candidates.

Talking business on the golf course is a time-honored American tradition, and the Golf Outing was no different. Split placements will absolutely result from this event. They always happen as a direct result of a regional core group meeting. Sure, the recruiters at the Golf Outing work in a variety of different industries, but that doesn’t mean they still can’t make splits. They can and they do!

#3—They had fun!

This is the “X factor” of a regional core group meeting. When you have fun with other people and enjoy a positive experience with them, then that serves to further strengthen the relationships you have with those people. Those relationships are what form the basis of your trading partner success. When you feel comfortable with another recruiter because of a fun experience, it’s easy to pick up the phone and call them to talk about a candidate or job order.

If you haven’t yet attended a regional core group meeting in Top Echelon Network (OR attended a National Convention or Fall Conference), you need to do so. This is one of the BEST ways to experience success in Top Echelon and to experience it more quickly!

So sign up for the Fall Conference next month and/or contact me about joining or creating a regional core group. Placements are waiting.

You can contact me at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

You can run. You can hide. But you can never get away from The Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network . . . not if you want to bill a lot through TE, you won’t.

We’ve covered Quality, we’ve covered Trust, and now we’re back with a third Pillar: Active Participation—more specifically, recruiter participation in the Network.

As it is customary for us to do, we composed a poll question in the Members’ Area, and that question went something like this:

How many days during the work week do you login to the Members’ Area?

Results:

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

• Every day — 84.4%
• Four days — 5.2%
• Three days — 1.3%
• Two days — 3.9%
• One day — 5.2%

Analysis:

“Every day” was the runaway winner with a whopping 84.4% of the vote! There was actually a tie for second place between “four days” and “one day.” Each earned 5.2% of the vote.

What’s interesting is that the percentage of recruiters who login to the Members’ Area four or more days during the work week stands at 89.6%, nearly nine out of every 10 Network members in the poll.

Next was “two days” at 3.9%, and in dead-last place was “three days” at 1.3%. That’s interesting because it seems as though there is no middle ground when it comes to recruiter participation as far as the Members’ Area: it’s either (practically) all or (practically) nothing.

Conclusion:

Are these results a little skewed? Yes, they are, and here’s why: not every single Network recruiter participated in the survey.

• Recruiters might not have been logged in during the span of time that the poll question was live.
• Recruiters may have been logged in, but did not see the poll question.
• Recruiters may have been logged, saw the poll question, and did not participate in the poll.

Heck, there could be recruiters who login to the Members’ Area every single day of the work week, but they never participate in the poll. On the other hand, there could be recruiters (and there almost certainly are) who do not login to the Members’ Area regularly enough, and that’s why they didn’t see this poll or participate in it.

So this is what we can say with certainty based up on the results of this poll:

Of the recruiters who login to the Members’ Area on a consistent basis, nearly 90% of them login every day of the work week.

How often do YOU login to the Network?