Top Echelon Network Preferred Members and Ohio recruiters Bob Gabor of The Gabor Group and David M. Sgro, CPC of True North Consultants, LLC have visited us.

Top Echelon Network Charter Member Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems paid us a “long-distance visit.”  (He hails from California.)

Now Preferred Member recruiter Dan Toussant has done the same!  Like Top Echelon, his firm (Dan Toussant & Associates, LLC) is located in Canton, Ohio.  That means he didn’t have to travel far to find us, but we’re certainly glad that he did.  Thanks, Dan!

DAN THE MAN: Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter Dan Toussant (left) and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CERS pose for the traditional “beside the Top Echelon Network sign” photo.  (Unlike the photo with Steve Brody, there is no tornado brewing in the background.)

If you’re a Network recruiter and you find yourself in the Canton area, we encourage you to visit us.

Just give us a call at (330) 455-1433 and we’ll set it up . . . and we’ll even take your picture for FREE!

In case you’ve forgotten, we want your crazy recruiting stories!

And in case you’re really forgotten, we’re giving away prizes for your craziest recruiting stories!  (As mentioned previously, the judging process will be subjective, but democratic in nature.)

To help kick us off, a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter submitted a crazy story, one that happened to him recently.  While you enjoy this story, think back to some of the outlandish things that have happened to YOU during your many searches . . .

— — —

I have a good one that just happened a couple months ago.

I’m just finishing a search for a regular client adding a new COO position.  At the beginning of the search, they provided me with 10 names of people they wanted me to check out that were names referred by some industry people they knew.  I talked to one of the referral sources (a CEO at another company) and she said this one particular person used to work for her and was fantastic, but she hadn’t talked with her in a few years.

When I called that person’s company, I was screened much harder by the initial receptionist than I would expect.  I was told I wouldn’t be able to contact her, which was strange because she wasn’t a high executive.  After doing some more research, I found out why they wouldn’t let me through.

It turns out she is currently the girlfriend of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Upon telling the hiring CEO the news, he told me that should I get through to her, I had the authority to offer her the job on the spot.

— — —

Remember, there are two ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can give me a call at 330.455.1433, x125 and relay your story to me.

Remember, your story does NOT have to be from 2013.  If you have a crazy recruiting story that you’d like to submit and it occurred in a year other than this year, please share it with us, anyway.  You could still win a prize!

We broke out two of this week’s split placements, so that we could focus on them specifically.  Why?

Because Preferred Member recruiter Jim Strickland of BioSource International has made his 100th placement in Top Echelon Network, that’s why!

Top Echelon Charter Member Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems made his 100th Network placement earlier this year, and now it’s Strickland’s turn.  No, he’s not a Charter Member like Brody, but Strickland joined Top Echelon Network on October 17, 2003, just a little over 10 years ago.

So not only is Strickland celebrating his 100th Network placement, but he’s also celebrating his 10th anniversary as a Top Echelon Preferred Member recruiter!

Okay, if this doesn’t call for cake and ice cream, I don’t know what does.  Anybody?  C’mon . . . marble cake with Rocky Road?  Carrot cake with butter pecan?

Red velvet cake with raspberry fudge torte?

— — —

Job recruiter: Troy Randolph of Lea Randolph & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Split job title: RN/HOSPICE SENIOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/ADMINISTRATOR

Fee percentage: 15%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Matthew Dahm of IT Audit Search

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Split job title: DATA SPECIALIST-DATA DESIGN

Fee percentage: 20%

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

SPLIT PLACEMENTS THIS WEEK:

These are the kinds of stories that we LOVE here at the Network!

Marsha McKim of Management Performance Associates, who became a Preferred Member recruiter on August 1 of this year, recently sent the email below to Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti, CERS.

Hello Drea,

I am very pleased to announce that we have already made our first TE placement!

But wait, there’s more in terms of firsts.  This is also affiliate Sandra Lopez’s first-ever placement at all (she’s new to Joseph Michaels International) and our first-ever placement with this particular client!

This job order seemed nearly impossible to fill.  We threw it on the Network “for the heck of it,” never dreaming the PERFECT candidate would be delivered to us in less than one week.

We LOVE Top Echelon!  I could [kick myself] for not having joined YEARS ago.

But wait, there’s even more!  Lopez recently made her second Network split placement with long-time Preferred Member Dan Simmons, CPC of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc.

Congratulations to everybody!

SPLIT JOBS FILLED THIS WEEK:

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

• Applications Engineer
  
• Maintenance Technician
  
• Clinical Project Manager
  
• Instructional Designer
  
• Quality Manager
  
• Reliability Engineer
  
• Technical Lead-Software-Offshore Development

For more information about how YOU can be more successful in Top Echelon Network and make more split placements, call Drea Codispoti at 330.455.1433, x156.

THIS WEEK’S NETWORK SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

Job recruiter: Marsha McKim of Management Performance Associates

Candidate recruiter: Sandra Lopez of Joseph Michaels International

Split job title: APPLICATIONS ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Rhonda Pratsch of Markent Personnel

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Split job title: MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

Kerry Boehner

Job recruiter: Kerry Boehner of KOB Solutions, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Split job title: CLINICAL PROJECT MANAGER

Fee percentage: 20%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Pamela Ratz Deville, CPC of the MMS Group

Candidate recruiter: Bob Vogt of Vision 2020

Split job title: INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER

Fee percentage: 20%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Mark Udulutch of Markent Personnel

Candidate recruiter: Bob Wick of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Split job title: QUALITY MANAGER

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

Brenda Wylie-Biggs, CPC

Job recruiter: Brenda Wylie-Biggs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Paul Miller of Miller-Franklin Search Group

Split job title: RELIABILITY ENGINEER

Fee percentage: Flat

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Vito Chesky of ICONSTAFF

Candidate recruiter: Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC

Split job title: TECHNICAL LEAD-SOFTWARE-OFFSHORE DEVELOPMENT

Fee percentage: 25%

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

THE SPLIT PLACEMENTS: Technology is great . . . but you can’t use it to replace old-school networking. Building relationships is the cornerstone of business success, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the benefits of embracing technological tools. The good news is that you don’t have to choose one or the other: you can have the best of both worlds!  (Just like the recruiters in this week’s installment of “‘Comments’ and Compliments.”) Two of the recruiters below have used both a great technological tool (a Hiring Hook recruitment website design) and traditional relationship-building networking efforts to make a placement together they probably would NOT have made otherwise. Don’t choose between technology and relationships.  Use both to make more placements!

— — —

“This placement is the start of a good working relationship with George, and I’m looking forward to more placements in the future.  The Hiring Hook system worked like it was [designed] to.” Submitted by Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates regarding his Network split placement with George Mancuso, CPC of Client Growth Consultants, Inc. Position Title—QUALITY ENGINEER Fee Percentage—25% (Editor’s note: This is the first Network split placement that Sunshine and Mancuso have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

“Paul is awesome to work with . . . he knows his candidates well!  Thanks, Paul, for all you do!” Submitted by Brenda Wylie-Biggs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Paul Miller of the Miller-Franklin Search Group Position Title—RELIABILITY ENGINEER Fee Percentage—FLAT (Editor’s note: This is the first Network split placement that Wylie-Biggs and Miller have made together in Top Echelon.)