I think we might already know who one of the inductees in the 2025 Top Echelon Hall of Fame is going to be? Who, you might ask?

Amy Chapman of Key People, that’s who!

Amy Chapman

That’s because Amy reached the $1 million plateau in TE Network recently. With 88 split placements, she has become one of fastest to reach that plateau in the history of Top Echelon.

Believe it or not, Amy finalized her first TE Network placement on August 20, 2019. Now, just a little more than five years later, her cash-in total as a Network member stands at $1,016,705.

Amy’s success is the result of both her strategic approach and her commitment to building meaningful partnerships within Top Echelon.

“My success in Top Echelon has been a team effort with the help of many amazing recruiters,” said Amy. “So thanks to all those partners!”

Amy has built her business model around the resources and tools that Top Echelon provides, making the Network an integral part of her value proposition to clients.

“My value proposition to my clients, my business model, IS Top Echelon,” she said. “I fully utilize the tools that being a member of Top Echelon provides on both the business development side in showing clients or potential clients the extended reach I have in advertising and sourcing with access to over 500+ agency partners AND through using the platform as my main resource in filling my jobs.”

In addition, Amy credits her success to a combination of strategic focus, efficiency, and partnership.

“You can exponentially have more candidates in the interview process by focusing your time on moving candidates forward versus searching for them, which leads to higher conversion rates to hire and the ability to fill in volume,” she said. “It lessens the life cycle of days to fill, all of which creates YOUR value proposition to your customer, who then continues to give you repeat business.”

Amy also highlights the financial efficiency of leveraging the Network.

“From a financial standpoint, utilizing the network to advertise (including jobs feed) and source my jobs allows me to operate my desk with a zero-based budget for advertising and labor, two of the biggest expenses in running a recruiting agency,” she said. “This means my desk costs less to run monthly than most spend on a car payment, significantly adding to my bottom line.”

Amy emphasizes that success in Top Echelon comes down to trust and accountability. Whether she’s acting as an importer or exporter, her focus is on upholding high standards.

“Success through partnership in any relationship is gained by building trust, and it’s no different in this network,” said Amy. “As an importer, you need to hold yourself accountable to high standards to make sure your jobs are solid and up to date, your client relationships strong, you follow up with members timely, screen and process candidates with a sense of urgency, communicate and provide feedback, and show the ability to deliver results to those members that invest their valued time on your job orders.

“And as an exporter, your value proposition to the importer is measured by operating under the same quality standards as we do to our clients.”

Amy looks forward to continuing her success and partnerships within the Network.

“I look forward to continued success in the network with both existing and new partnerships,” she said. “Success within the network can come in many forms that include building good friendships, learning and growing from each other, and feeling a sense that you’re a part of something bigger within our recruiting community . . . and of course, success through split placements as success is always sweeter when it is shared!”

We at Top Echelon are thrilled to celebrate Amy’s incredible achievements and look forward to seeing her continued success in the Network. Congratulations to Amy on reaching these milestones, and here’s to many more years of partnership and shared success!

Making split placements in TE Network is ALL about teamwork. When two recruiters work as a team during the recruiting and hiring process, it’s a thing of beauty . . . especially when that beauty is accompanied by a big, fat placement check.

That’s why it’s crucial to find a true trading partner in this recruiter network. Once you find such a partner, the process becomes easier, more efficient, and more successful.

What constitutes a TRUE trading partner in Top Echelon? Well, using the case studies over the years in our “‘Comments’ and Compliments” feature, we have a list of descriptive phrases.

Below are five marks of a true trading partner in TE Network:

#1—Professionalism

This might go without saying, but it certainly merits mentioning. Be professional in all of your dealings with your trading partners.

When you say you’re going to call, call. When you say you’re going to email, email.

Brand yourself as somebody who is reliable. Nobody likes a flake, unless they’re eating a bowl of them for breakfast.

#2—Accessibility

When you’re working with a trading partner, you can’t just disappear. You must be accessible to your partners and able to answer questions if they need answers.

You should be accessible the same way that you want candidates and clients to be accessible during the hiring process. If you want to make the placement, then make the time to make the placement.

#3—Collaboration

As explained above, membership in Top Echelon’s recruiting network is ALL about teamwork. What we’re talking about is the desire to be collaborative and the ability to NOT micromanage during the placement process.

Don’t try to control everything. If there was ever a collaborative process, a split placement between two recruiters is it.

#4—Due diligence

You want to brand yourself as somebody who is not only reliable, but also trustworthy. In a split fee recruiting situation, each recruiter must trust the other to “hold up their end of the bargain.”

Each recruiter has work to do, and they can’t be worried about whether or not the other person is doing it. However, when that trust is developed and validated, placements happen.

#5—Follow-up

Communication is one of The Four Pillars of TE Network for a reason. When you follow up, you’re being professional and you’re doing your due diligence.

See how all of this ties together? It’s almost like it works this way for a reason.

Every week, TE Network recruiters partner with one another to make splits. And they display the above characteristics in their ongoing pursuit of more placements and more revenue.

Are YOU a true trading partner in TE Network?

As the end of the year approaches (yes, it’s hard not to rhyme sometimes), it’s time to consider upgrading your recruiting tools to the Professional Tier of Top Echelon recruiting software.

Why Upgrade? Pro Tier Features and Savings

With the Professional Tier, you gain access to a robust suite of features designed to streamline your recruiting process and give you a competitive edge. And here’s the best part: opting for the annual plan lets you enjoy these premium features at a discounted rate.

Here’s how it works:

• The monthly cost for the Pro Tier is $110.
• If you pay annually, the cost drops to $89 per month—the same price as the Standard Tier on a monthly plan.
• So, by choosing the annual plan, you get Pro Tier features at Standard Tier pricing.

Current Pro Tier Features

The Pro Tier already includes powerful tools that can help you save time and make more placements. In fact, below is everything that the Pro Tier offers that the Standard Tier does not:
We’ve recently added even more enhancements to the Pro Tier, making it an even smarter choice for your team:

• Custom Careers Page Forms and Questionnaires: Tailor your application process with customizable forms and surveys.
• Organization Chart Builder for Reports: Visualize team structures effortlessly with this robust reporting tool.
• Smart-TE: AI Job Description Generator: Generate detailed job descriptions automatically based on key role requirements.
• Smart-TE: AI Search String Generator: Create optimized search strings with AI assistance for better candidate sourcing.
• Increased Storage: Enjoy 100 GB of storage space (compared to 10 GB on the Standard Tier).
• Higher Email Limits: Send up to 10,000 emails per month (double the Standard Tier limit).
  More Frequent Data Backups: Weekly backups ensure better data security (versus monthly on the Standard Tier).

Exciting Upcoming Features

We’re constantly innovating, and new Pro Tier features are on the horizon, including:

Themes: Todd Bossler will be previewing this new feature during his December Training Tuesday webinar!
Sequencing: This is the next logical step for Automations and will be ready for beta testing early next year!

Take the Next Step: Book a Demo

Ready to see the Pro Tier in action? Schedule a free personalized demo with a Pro Tier Specialist to explore how these features can transform your recruiting strategy:

Yes, I want a demo of the Pro Tier!

At Top Echelon, we’re committed to helping you succeed. We’ve been doing it for the past 36 years and are excited to continue this tradition of excellence. Upgrade to the Pro Tier today and set yourself up for success in 2025!

Top Echelon offers a free monthly webinar as part of its Expert Recruiter Coaching Series.

These webinars touch upon a variety of recruiter-related topics. These topics deal with both job candidates and clients. As always, our goal with these webinars is to help agency recruiters and executive search consultants just like YOU make more placements.

We record these webinars for recruiters who can’t attend the live presentation, and we’re now pleased to offer the video from our most recent webinar by Greg Doersching, President of Next Level Coaching.

The title of that webinar (and corresponding training video) is “Closing the Door on Deals (and Keeping It Closed).”

Below is the official description for this training video:

— — —

The trend keeps creeping upward—more and more placements seem to be falling apart at the 23rd hour.

“Ghosting” continues to be a disappointing reality within the recruiting industry and more and more recruiters want to simply throw in the towel and scream, “I’ll never figure this out!”

Well don’t give up just yet, because Greg Doersching can help!

In fact, this is the topic that Greg presented during the most recent webinar in the Top Echelon Expert Recruiter Coaching Series.

How do you reverse this trend?

There are specific tactics and strategies that can minimize these effects and help turn this trend around, especially as you prepare to go into 2025.

This is a training video that you definitely want to watch!

Watch this FREE training video!

 — — —

Recorded versions of our Expert Recruiter Coaching Series of webinars are posted on our website as free online recruitment training courses in the Top Echelon Recruiter Training Library.

Keep an eye out for the next free webinar in our Expert Recruiter Coaching Series!

This week, in the “Planning Your Network Success” series, I’ll be tackling the topic of trading partners, specifically how they relate to The 5 Stages of a Networker.

What are recruiters’ attitudes and philosophies regarding trading partners in each of these stages? Well, I have the answer!

However, I’ll be addressing the first three stages this week and the fourth and fifth stages in the near future. That’s because the fourth and fifth stages are where the real money is made in Top Echelon’s recruiter network and deserve a bit more attention.

My analysis includes descriptions of each stage of being a networker and the three groups of recruiters involved in the process of networking—the Outer Group Size, the Inner Circle Size, and the Core Group Size. That analysis is below.

Stage 1 Networker

They often view other recruiters as competitors.

Outer Circle Size: Actual count is the current size of TE Network. A Stage 1 Networker is initially intimidated by the size of the Network. Anticipated placement billings = $0 to $5,000.

Inner Circle Size: Zero recruiters. Anticipated placement billings = $0.

Core Group Size: Zero recruiters. Anticipated placement billings = $0.

Stage 2 Networker

They’ve had contact with many TE Network members. Although most of these contacts have been pleasant, they have contacted enough people to have a few “not so good” experiences, as well.

Outer Circle Size: Actual count is the current size of TE Network. A Stage 2 Networker has begun learning how to maneuver. Anticipated placement billings = $0 to $5,000.

Inner Circle Size: Zero to five recruiters. A Stage 2 Networker has been working with between zero and five recruiters more than once and feels somewhat comfortable with them. Anticipated placement billings = $0 to $5,000.

Core Group Size: Zero recruiters. A Stage 2 Networker has not yet developed a close bond with any recruiters. Anticipated placement billings = $0.

Stage 3 Networker

They’ve had contact with a great many agencies, recognize that every agency does things differently, and are willing to “roll with the punches.”

Outer Circle Size: Actual count is the current size of TE Network. A Stage 3 Networker is beginning to realize that the larger this group, the higher the probability that somebody will place their candidates and provide them with good candidates. Anticipated placement billings = $5,000 to $10,000.

Inner Circle Size: Five to 15 recruiters. A Stage 3 Networker feels pretty comfortable with between five and 15 recruiters, even though they may not share the exact same work styles. Anticipated placement billings = $0 to $5,000.

Core Group Size: One to two recruiters. A Stage 3 Networker has begun to bond very closely with one or two recruiters. This is the type of relationship where there is ultimate trust and respect for each other. Anticipated placement billings = $5,000 to $10,000.

In my next blog post in this series, I’ll examine trading partners in regards to the fourth and fifth stages of a networker.

If you have any questions in the meantime—about this blog post, about The 5 Stages of a Networker, or about your split recruiting membership in TE Network—please contact me.

You can do so by calling 330.595.1742 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.