Top Echelon Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS asked a great question in our previous blog post:

Are you sending gifts to your trading partners?

Well, I happen to have another such great question in THIS blog post, and that question is as follows:

What makes a great trading partner relationship?

Although Drea didn’t have an answer to his question, I have an answer to mine! That’s because I profiled “The Most Successful Relationship in TE History” a couple of weeks ago. That relationship exists between Network recruiters Donna Carroll, CPC of Systems Personnel and Gary Silver of The Shay Group.

We’ve profiled Donna and Gary in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog in the past, chronicling why they’re so success as trading partners. However, the duo wanted to further elaborate on why they’ve made 53 split placements together during their time in the Network.

Below is what they had to say:

— — —

Donna Carroll, CPC

Gary Silver

“In business, it’s pretty wonderful to find a partner that you trust implicitly, know their personal style, can count on to back you up, and to lift you up when needed. Sometimes we tell each other to step back and reflect when a hiring manager takes the process a bit off the tracks. 

“We give each other support and advice on non-business topics, as well. But more importantly, we often harass each other, much like peers on a sports team. We have partnered on accounts and by doing so, actually won new business together. Using our different strengths and capabilities makes us greater than the sum of the parts we each bring to the table. And we certainly look forward to doing that for some time down the road.”

Submitted jointly by Donna Carroll, CPC of Systems Personnel and Gary Silver of The Shay Group

— — —

Do YOU have a trading partner relationship like this one? Obviously, you don’t have one that has produced over 50 split placements in the Network, but do you have one that could produce that many placements? Do you have one with the potential for that kind of production?

If so, nurture that relationship! Help it grow and continue to evolve. If not, contact us to find out how you can build such a relationship. A great first step is contacting Drea at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

It’s the holiday season, so that begs this question:

Are you sending gifts to your trading partners?

It’s a pertinent question because this is the time of year that recruiters customarily send gifts to their clients, and Top Echelon advocates treating your trading partners like your clients.

There is certainly a precedent for this. There have been many precedents, in fact, including the one associated with the above photo.

Top Echelon Network recruiter Ken Lazar of Ability Professional Network, LLC sent a gift basket to MJ Recruiters, LLC. This isn’t the first time this year that Maria Hemminger and Joanna Spaun of MJ Recruiters received a gift basket.

Greta Guimond of Career Development Partners sent a gift to the firm a little over a month ago.

Photos like the one above go on our Facebook Fan Page, specifically in the “‘No Time Like the Present’ Recruiter Networking” photo album. If you haven’t browsed that album, you can do so by clicking on the link below:

Our “No Time Like the Present” Photo Album!

If you’ve made split placements in Top Echelon Network this year, you had help doing so, and that help came from your trading partners. Sometimes, all it takes is a small token or gift basket (or LARGE token or gift basket) to show your appreciation for everything they’ve done for your firm during the past year.

There’s only one month left in 2015. The New Year is nearly upon us, and you want your firm to bill at least as much next year as it did this year.

With that in mind, the question still stands:

Are you sending gifts to your trading partners?

The top-producing recruiter in Top Echelon Network is . . .

NOT the guy in the above photo. That guy is a model in a stock photo. There is a very good chance that he’s never worked a single day as a recruiter. There’s also a very good chance that he has not done the following:

• Made 377 placements in Top Echelon Network
• Billed over $836,000 during the past 12 months in the Network
• Billed $2.85 million during his Network career

However, Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group HAS done these things, and he IS the top-producing recruiter in Top Echelon Network. In fact, Trey is the reigning Recruiter of the Year in TE for three years running, and a fourth award is a foregone conclusion.

We don’t highlight the “Trey Cameron Placement Machine” a whole lot in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, but we thought this would be a good time to check on the Network’s top-producing recruiter.

After all, he had a birthday recently! Happy birthday, Trey! And congratulations on the placement you made in the time it took for me to write this blog post!

— — —

Trey Cameron

Brenda Wylie-Biggs, CPC

“Happy belated birthday, Trey! Finally, we had one come through. [The candidate] is thrilled. Yay! Thank you!”

Submitted by Brenda Wylie-Biggs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC regarding his Network split placement with Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Position Title—ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGER

Fee Percentage—22%

(Editor’s note: This is the 10th Network split placement that Wylie-Biggs and Cameron have made together in Top Echelon.)

— — —

Cheryl Lang, CPC

“This is my seventh split placement with Trey! I appreciate the candidates I get from him! He is always so positive when I email him with updates!”

Submitted by Cheryl Lang, CPC of Career Search Associates regarding her Network split placement with Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Position Title—STORE MANAGER-RETAIL

Fee Percentage—17.5%

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

— — —

Bill Kubena

“I am out of things to say literally . . . how about thanks again! Another great candidate! Let’s do it again and any other cliche that will work in this situation!”

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

Position Title—SWISS CNC MACHINIST

Fee Percentage—20%

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

You probably know the old axiom by heart: “Time kills all deals.”

It applies to just about every business situation, including those within the realm of recruiting. If the interviewing and hiring process drags on for too long, the chances of the company hiring one of your candidates becomes less likely.

With that in mind, we recently posted a poll question in the Members’ Area. That question is as follows:

What is the average time it takes for your firm to make a placement, from securing the job order to the candidate’s first day of work?

Results:

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

• 1 to 25 days — 3.5%
• 26 to 50 days — 39.6%
• 51 to 75 days — 40.3%
• 76 to 100 days — 12.5%
• Over 100 days — 4.2%

Analysis:

It was a close race, that’s for sure. The time-to-fill ratio of “51 to 75 days” won with 40.3% of the vote. However, “26 to 50 days” was right behind at 39.6%. That’s less than a one percent difference between the two answers.

In third place was “76 to 100 days” at 12.5%. At both ends of the spectrum were “1 to 25 days” (3.5%) and “over 100 days” (4.2%). So with some simple mathematics, we can calculate that the overwhelming majority of successful placements by recruiters within Top Echelon Network (79.9%) take anywhere between 26 and 75 days.

Conclusion:

Do Network recruiters want their searches to take this long to complete? Of course they don’t! However, there are certain factors involved over which they have no control. Instead, they only have a certain amount of influence over them.

Kudos to those recruiters who have a time-to-fill ratio of 25 days or less. While they are in the minority, that’s an impressive average.

However, for the majority of placements made by recruiters in Top Echelon Network, at least one month is needed to complete them, and in some cases, it takes two months. Finding quality, qualified candidates is one of the reasons it’s taking this long to fill job orders.

That’s why it’s so important to rely upon your Network trading partners for the candidates you need. Not only will these candidates help you to fill your job orders, but they’ll also help you to fill them more quickly.

And everybody loves a better time-to-fill ratio!

A couple of weeks ago, I announced that the Florida Regional Core Group would be meeting on January 15 in Orlando. Since then, the date of that meeting has been changed. It’s been moved up by one week, to January 8.

I also have some more information regarding the meeting, including the location of the meeting. That location information is below:

DoubleTree by Hilton
5555 Hazeltine National Drive
Orlando, FL 32812

There are two additional pieces of information I’d like to pass along regarding this recruiters event: the time of the meeting on January 8 and the cost. The meeting will be held from 9:45 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the cost is $40 per person.

That $40 includes a light breakfast and a buffet lunch. However, food is not the goal of this meeting; it’s just one of the benefits. The goal of the meeting is to network with other like-minded Top Echelon Network recruiters for the purposes of sharing knowledge and exchanging hot job orders and candidates.

Attendees will have both unstructured opportunities and structured activities that revolve around networking. The structured activities will include the following:

• “Who’s Who”—Each attendee will introduce themselves, their industry, and their hottest job
• Lightning Rounds—Attendees will spend 15 minutes at three different tables to discuss topics of interest
• Job Order Work Groups—Attendees will discuss hot jobs with other recruiters in their niche
• Best Practices—Each attendee will have two minutes to share a best practice that has helped them to make money.

The Ohio Regional Core Group held a meeting very similar to this one last month, and it was a great success. I can guarantee that split placements will happen as a direct result of that meeting, and split placement potential is also waiting in Orlando!

If you’d like to attend this Florida recruiters event in Top Echelon, please contact me at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com. If you’re interested in starting a regional core group in your area, we can certainly discuss that, as well.