We’ve chosen a location for the 2014 Top Echelon Network National Convention!

It’s Charlotte North, Carolina!

We’ve also chosen dates for the convention.  Those are Thursday, April 10, through Saturday, April 12.  And as you might have guessed, we’ve also selected a hotel for the event: The Renaissance Charlotte.

Some Network recruiters might recall that the 2007 National Convention was also held in Charlotte, although we stayed at a different hotel.  However, there’s something else that the 2014 National Convention has in common with the 2007 version: the Richard Petty Driving Experience!

As part of that experience, Network recruiters will have the opportunity to compete against each other in teams and participate in a high-performance go-cart race.  (These aren’t just ANY go-carts, either . . . these are Richard Petty go-carts.)

We’ll have more information regarding the Richard Petty Driving Experience and go-kart racing at a later date.  We’ll also be releasing the preliminary agenda for the National Convention next month, so that recruiters can register for the convention before the end of the calendar year.

In the meantime, we’ve posted photos from the 2007 National Convention on the Top Echelon Network Facebook Fan Page.

Click here to see photos from the 2007 National Convention!

We’re excited about all aspects of the 2014 National Convention: the location; the hotel; the Richard Petty Driving Experience; and of course, the possibility of seeing you there!

Make sure you sign up for the convention next month!

SPLIT PLACEMENTS THIS WEEK:

Not only are Top Echelon Network recruiters making split placements at a faster clip than a year ago, they also continue to make splits in a number of different industries.

This is evident by the split placements included in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog!

The placements listed below represent a variety of industries and niches, including those in Information Technology, Engineering, and Manufacturing . . . to name just a few.

And of course, the placements were also made in a number of different ways, as well, including with Members’ Hiring Hook recruitment website design and through “Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network recruiter.”

It all adds up to more placements, more money, and more reason to be optimistic about 2014!

SPLIT JOBS FILLED THIS WEEK:

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

• Customer Service/Order Entry Representative
  
• Development Engineer
  
• Data Specialist – Data Design
  
• Chief Financial Officer
  
• Production Supervisor
  
• Outside Sales – Industrial Supply
  
• Software Developer – Biotech Client
  

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: Robert Gabor of The Gabor Group

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Split job title: CUSTOMER SERVICE/ORDER ENTRY REPRESENTATIVE

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Split job title: DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Daniel B. Lear of Omega Systems, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Joe Pelayo of Joseph Michaels International

Split job title: CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Fee percentage: Flat

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

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

Split job title: PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR

Fee percentage: 25%

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

— — —

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

Candidate recruiter: Catherine Bateman of Woods & Paolino Recruiting Solutions

Split job title: OUTSIDE SALES – INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY

Fee percentage: 20%

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

— — —

Job recruiter: Kerry Boehner of KOB Solutions, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Ram Kola of Stewart Cooper & Coon

Split job title: SOFTWARE DEVELOPER – BIOTECH CLIENT

Fee percentage: 20%

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

SURVEY QUESTION:

We recently posed a question to the Top Echelon Network Membership in the form of a survey in the Members’ Area.

That question was as follows:

How much longer do you plan to work your recruiting desk full-time in 2013?

SURVEY RESULTS:

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

• Up until Thanksgiving — 2.3%
• Up until the middle of December — 10.7%
• Up until Christmas — 38.2%
• I plan to work full-time all the way through the end of the year. — 48.9%

SURVEY ANALYSIS:

What’s interesting is that nearly half of survey participants (48.9%) plan to work full-time through the end of the year.  There was a time when that wasn’t the case.  In fact, once upon a time, way more than half of all recruiters stopped working full-time shortly after Thanksgiving or the beginning of December.

Speaking of which, 10.7% of recruiters plan to work “up until the middle of December,” while 38.2% plan to work “up until Christmas.”  A scant 2.3% plan to work only “up until Thanksgiving,” which will be here before you know it.

The results of this survey fall in line with the prevailing sentiment that recruiters may be billing as much as they have in the past, but they’re working longer and harder to achieve those billings.

FEEDBACK:

How much longer do YOU plan to work full-time this year?  Is your answer the same as it is every year?  How much is the state of the economy affecting your decision?

Has your firm backed away from its contract staffing services due to the hassle and financial and legal liability that comes with it?  If so, you are NOT alone.  But it might surprise you to know that some recruiters who had abandoned their contract staffing services are now returning to contracting.

These recruiters have found that they can get all of the benefits of contract staffing (steady income source, increased sales, becoming a sole-source provider to clients, etc.) WITHOUT the additional task and liabilities that come with employing the contractors.

That’s what Network Member Jeri Bartunek is doing.  For 20 years, her firm, Bartunek Group Global Recruiting, did nothing but contract placements.  Although she says that contract staffing was a “fabulous revenue stream,” she stopped offering that service when she was burned by a client during the recession.  As the employer of her contractors, she was responsible for the payroll processing AND funding.

In short, she paid the contractors before she got paid by the end client.  That was all well and good until a client didn’t have the ability to pay their $80,000 tab.  That’s when Bartunek decided to shift her firm’s focus to direct hire, which they have done exclusively for the past several years.

Bartunek recently decided to re-establish the firm’s contract staffing services.  So what happened?  Did employing contractors suddenly get less risky?  Did she have a guarantee that her clients would always pay?  No.  She simply became aware of the option to outsource the employment of her contractors to a contract staffing back-office service.

As the legal employer of her contractors, the back-office service is responsible for the payroll processing and funding, as well as all of the collections and other administrative tasks, including legal contracts, employment paperwork, background checks, unemployment, Workers’ Compensation, benefits administration, etc.

“With direct hire, it’s really great to get that big check, but with contract staffing, there is a ton of opportunity and a constant revenue stream that you don’t have with direct hire,” Bartunek said.

Meanwhile, for Network Member Scott Leishman and his firm, bizjobz, it was the “administrative nightmare” of running their own back-office that drew them away from contract staffing.

For starters, there was the liability insurance his firm had to obtain, and each client wanted to see different coverages on the firm’s Certificate of Insurance.  Then there was unemployment and Workers’ Compensation—both filing claims and fighting them. The firm has not run any contractors out of its own back-office in two years, but they still have to administer claims on some former employees.

Realizing they were leaving money on the table by not offering contractors, Leishman sought a way to get back into the contract staffing game.  Like Bartunek, he found the answer in outsourcing the employment of his contractors to a contract staffing back-office.

He is once again making contract placements—without the administrative nightmares.

“We are back in contract staffing because of the back-office service,” said Leishman.  “We wanted to to be a full-range office.  We are able to take care of the clients and candidates whether they prefer contract or direct.”

If you want to be able to solve ALL of your clients’ staffing problems, you have to provide contract staffing services.  But you don’t have to take on all the liability and administrative hassles.

Let a contract staffing back-office provider do that for you so you can continue to do what you do best . . . recruit!

THE SPLIT PLACEMENTS:

Back in the day, there was a chewing gum commercial.  The catch phrase for that commercial was “double your pleasure, double your fun.”  (For a bonus question, can you guess the name of the chewing gum?  Send us an email with the answer.)

Anyway, chewing gum is great and all, but it doesn’t compare to placements.  After all, you can buy a TON of chewing gum with the money from a placement check, not to mention other things . . . like doughnuts and never-ending lattes.

The recruiters below have made not one, but TWO split placements with one another during the past year.  These were the first splits that they’ve made with each other, and based on the great experience they had making them, they should make more splits in the future.

So they’re doubling their placements and doubling their fun . . . and their chewing gum, doughnuts, lattes, etc., etc.

— — —

“This is my second split with Trey this year!  Hopefully, we can make one more in the fourth quarter!”

Submitted by Pat McCombs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Position Title—TRANSPORTATION SUPERVISOR

Fee Percentage—22.5%

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

— — —

“Thanks, Justin!  This is our second split together in 10 months!”

Submitted by Juli Smith of The Smith Consulting Group, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Justin Bidwell of Bidwell & Associates, LLC

Position Title—OSP Engineer

Fee Percentage—25%

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

Top Echelon Network is pleased to welcome seven new agencies to our recruiter network during the month of October!  These seven agencies work in a number of different industries.

The names of these new Network agencies are listed below, along with their location; the number of recruiters in each agency; the disciplines, industries, and specialty areas in which the recruiters work; and the date the agency officially joined the Network.

We encourage you to reach out to these recruiters and welcome them to the Network, especially if they operate within your specialty area!

Smith Engineering Recruiters in Springfield, Missouri
—Metal Working, Automotive, Motors, Compressors, Military, etc.
—Join date: October 1

Search for Hire, LLC in Glen Allen, Virginia
—Information Technology
—Join date: October 2

Advanced Technical Staffing in Scitutate, Massachusetts
—Information Technology & Finance
—Join date: October 3

Paradigm Sourcing in Matthews, North Carolina
—Retail, IT, Distribution, Manufacturing, Architecture, Logistics, HR, and Accounting
—Join date: October 8

Global Personnel in St. Paul, Minnesota
—All areas, with an emphasis on IT and Financial; has had recent experience in the Medical industry (physicians only)
—Join date: October 10

Top Hire Recruitment in Manilus, New York
—General
—Join date: October 17

Top Cover Search in Tuscon, Arizona
—General
—Join date: October 21

Remember, if you know somebody who you think would be a good fit for Network Membership, you can receive a $100 credit toward your Top Echelon invoice for referring an agency that eventually becomes a Preferred Member.

You can send your referrals to info@topechelon.com.