It’s end of the year! Believe it or not, 2016 will soon be nothing but a memory. So not only is this a great time to celebrate everything that’s happened this year, but it’s also a great time to celebrate even more TE anniversaries.

And like that month, we have a LOT of Network recruiting firms celebrating lengthy anniversaries. In fact, check this out:

• There are 10 recruiting firms celebrating a Network anniversary this month.
• Eight of those firms are celebrating an anniversary of 20 years or longer!

TE anniversaries: bigger and better

After breaking down the numbers, maybe this is our biggest anniversary celebration ever and not this one. But then again, who can complain about celebrations that continue to get bigger and bigger?

Below are the length of the anniversaries this month that are 20 years or longer:

• 28 years (ITS Technologies)
• 24 years (Corporate Management Solutions, Inc.; Tri-Force; and The Shay Group)
• 22 years (Alternate Route, Systems Personnel, and the David Wood Company)
• 20 years (Engineering and Technical Associates, Inc.)

Once again, there are plenty of recognizable names that go with these firms. We’re talking about recruiters who have been making placements in Top Echelon Network for decades. These are names like Gary Silver, Donna Carroll, David Wood, and John Hope, to name just a handful.

We’re talking about over 800 combined placements in our elite recruiting network! To put that into perspective, Network recruiters have made nearly 18,000 placements during the past 28-plus years. The firms celebrating TE anniversaries this month are responsible for a fair amount of those.

Congratulations to everybody! Let’s make another 18,000 placements!

(Editor’s note: Top Echelon recognizes firms celebrating five, 10, 15, and 20-year Network anniversaries, plus any firm celebrating an anniversary in excess of 20 years.)

— — —

28-Year Anniversary

ITS Technologies in Holland, Ohio
Staff Members: Chad Felgner, CPC; Tim Kalucki; and Sarah Nadolny
Agency Join Date: December 8, 1988
Placements: 31

— — —

24-Year Anniversary

Corporate Management Solutions, Inc.
Staff Members: Thomas Havey, CPC and Roger Miller, CPC
Agency Join Date: December 29, 1992
Placements: 85

Tri-Force in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Staff Members: John Hope
Agency Join Date: December 29, 1992
Placements: 115

The Shay Group in Hobe Sound, Florida
Staff Members: Gary Silver
Agency Join Date: December 30, 1992
Placements: 241

— — —

22-Year Anniversary

Alternate Route in San Diego, California
Staff Members: Douglas Pajak
Agency Join Date: December 27, 1994
Placements: 47

Systems Personnel in Southwick, Massachusetts
Staff Members: Donna Carroll
Agency Join Date: December 27, 1994
Placements: 146

The David Wood Company in Vancouver, Washington
Staff Members: David Wood, CPC
Agency Join Date: December 1, 1994
Placements: 87

— — —

20-Year Anniversary

Engineering and Technical Associates, Inc. in Walbridge, Ohio
Staff Members: Lisa Wilczynski
Agency Join Date: December 12, 1996
Placements: 49

— — —

10-Year Anniversary

Diversity Search Group, LLC in Columbus, Ohio
Staff Members: Bruce Sherald and Keisha Minley
Agency Join Date: December 13, 2006
Placements: 2

— — —

5-Year Anniversary

Cranbrook Search Consultants in Bloomfield, Michigan
Staff Members: Laura Freund and Matt O’Mara
Agency Join Date: December 5, 2011
Placements: 4

Recruiters are excited about making placements. There is NO disputing that.

But what about split placements? At certain times during the past 30 years or so, there have been those in the recruiting profession who have viewed splits skeptically.

In fact, one renowned industry figure stated, “Real recruiters don’t split.” (Along the same vein as “Real men don’t eat quiche.”)

Setting aside the possible sexist undertones of such a statement (there are women recruiters, of course), real men and women do split. And judging by evidence on display below, they’re even excited to split.

So excited . . . and they just can’t hide it

Below are some reasons why Top Echelon Network recruiters are excited to make split placements:

1. Chances are excellent that they would not have made the placement otherwise.
2. If they’re the job order recruiter, they’ve branded themselves with their client and cultivated a greater degree of loyalty with them. (Translation: more job orders!)
3. They had a true partner during the process, somebody who could help them with the “heavy lifting” of making a placement.
4. They’ve set the stage for making additional splits with the same recruiter in the future.
5. They’re building not only a valuable business relationship, but also a possible friendship with their split partners.

More business in the present, more business in the future, better relationships, a better experience . . . the list goes on and on.

Real recruiters—both men and women—DO split. And in Top Echelon Network, they are excited to be making split placements.

How about you? Do you want more excitement on your recruiting desk? Then contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.

— — —

Deb North

Donna Schuback, CPC

“I am so excited to FINALLY do a deal with Donna! She works so hard to help me fill my job orders and we finally got one. She is definitely one of the best out there! Thank you, Donna!”

Submitted by Deb North of True North Consulting, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Donna Schuback of Schuback Search Associates, Ltd.

Position Title—WEB APPS DEVELOPER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

— — —

Chris Ramsay, CPC

Bruce Mendenhall

“Working with Chris has been both productive and fun! I look forward to many more placements with her in the future.”

Submitted by Bruce Mendenhall of Acloche Executive Search regarding his Network split placement with Chris Ramsay, CPC of Corporate Resources, LLC

Position Title—ASSOCIATE PACKAGING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

— — —

Bill Kubena

Jim Strickland

“Jim, thanks so much for providing an outstanding candidate. This was our first shot with a new client, and the experience was just fantastic. Thanks for helping us fill this position so quickly! Many more positions to come!

Submitted by Bill Kubena of Kubena & Associates regarding his Network split placement with Jim Strickland of Bio Source International

Position Title—MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

If you’re a recruiter, you want to bill more. That’s what you do. (C’mon, name the commercial.)

It’s true though: if you’re a recruiter, you want to bill more. That includes the amount that you bill through Top Echelon Network. Remember, these are placements that you would NOT have made otherwise. (Because if you could have made them otherwise, then you would have made them otherwise, no?)

Taking all of that into consideration, there are a couple of things we wanted to find out. The first is how much Top Echelon recruiters will bill through the Network this year. So, presto! We put a poll question in the Members’ Area:

How much will you bill through the Network this year?

Results:

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

• Less than $10K — 27.8%
• Between $10K and $25K — 20.4%
• Between $25K and $50K — 46.2%
• Between $50K and $75K— 12.0%
• Between $75K and $100K— 3.7%
• Over $100K — 8.3%

I like to bill . . . yes, I like to bill . . .

As you can see by the results listed above, there’s a “sweet spot” when it comes to how much TE recruiters bill through the Network. That sweet spot is “between $25K and $50K” (46.2%).

Let’s see . . . the monthly membership dues for Top Echelon Network is $130 per month. Over the course of a whole year, a recruiting firm would pay $1,560 in dues.

Hold that thought. Let’s say that same firm bills $25,000 through the Network during that same year. Then let’s take their part of the brokerage fee away from that total. Since the brokerage fee for a split placement in Top Echelon Network is 6%, that firm’s share of the fee is 3%. So . . .

• $25,000 x 3% brokerage fee = $750
• $25,000 – $750 brokerage fee = $24,250
• $24,250 – $1,560 = $22,690

Theoretically, that recruiting firm paid $1,560 in membership dues over the course of a single year. That was the firm’s monetary investment. The return that it received on that investment was $22,690.

Pay $1,560, receive $22,690.

How many times would you do that as a business owner? As many times as you possibly could.

And $25,000 in billings is at the low end. Keep in mind that at least another 24% of poll respondents billed more than $50,000 this year. So their return on their Network investment was even greater than what we’ve calculated.

No matter how you slice it, using Top Echelon’s recruiter network to source candidates and fill job orders is a fantastic investment in your recruiting business. What kind of return are you getting on your investment?

Just last week, Top Echelon Contracting President Debbie Fledderjohann wrote about how a recruiter can get started in contract staffing. With this blog post, I’m writing about another way, a bonus way: the Contracting Corner newsletter.

Contracting Corner is a quarterly newsletter, one that we’ve sent in hardcopy format for many years. However, Top Echelon decided recently to make the transition from hardcopy to digital. While we make this transition, we’d like to extend an invitation to sign up for the newsletter.

Newsletter content

Contracting Corner, “The Perm Recruiter’s Contracting Resource,” contains the following:

• Practical information and tips about contract staffing
• In-depth interviews with perm recruiters who are benefiting from adding contracting to their business model
• Analysis of industry trends
• A special section devoted to human resources, accounting, and legal/legislative issues in the contract staffing industry
• A Q&A section that provides clear answers to commonly asked questions

Utilizing contingent labor is becoming more of an attractive option to employers of all sizes. As a recruiter, if you provide these solutions to your clients, you can accomplish a number of attractive goals. They include:

• Becoming more valuable
• Positioning yourself as a sole-source provider
• Cultivating long-term loyalty

How to subscribe

The bottom line is this: you can make a ton of money with contract staffing. The good news is that you don’t have to drastically change your business model or invest a bunch of time. The process is the same as making direct hire placements IF you use a back-office service provider.

Top Echelon Contracting is a back-office service provider. When you partner with TEC, you make the placements, and we’ll take care of all the ugly back-office details. It’s not difficult, it’s not scary, and it’s not a waste of time.

Sign up for the Contracting Corner newsletter.

Read past issues of the newsletter in PDF format.

And if you want even more information about getting started, download our Quick-Start Guide to Contract Staffing. You can walk through the basic steps of a contract placement in a matter of minutes!

Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group is the Recruiter of the Month in Top Echelon Network for the month of November. But that’s beside the point.

On December 24, 2014, we announced that Trey had reached $2 million cash-in through the Network. Then on February 11 of this year, we announced that he had reached $3 million cash-in.

So, you guessed it: we are now announcing that he has reached the $4 million plateau!

Trey, Trey again

As of the writing of this blog post, Trey Cameron has billed over $1.2 million through the Network during the past 12 months alone. What does that mean? Well, for one thing, at this pace he’ll easily reach $5 million cash-in during some point in 2017.

For another, he continues to set Top Echelon Network production records that may never be broken. He’s already the first recruiter to make 500 Network placements. (And once again, 600 is well within his reach in 2017, if not already a foregone conclusion.)

So while winning the Recruiter of the Month Award for the umpteenth time is nice and all, cresting $4 million in his TE career is a more notable accomplishment.

Congratulations to Trey Cameron and everybody else who made placements in Top Echelon’s recruiter network during the month of November!

— — —

Recruiters of the Month:

1st Place: Trey Cameron
Agency: Cameron Craig Group
Placements: 18
Commission: $156,285

— — —

2nd Place: Steve Kohn
Agency: Affinity Executive Search
Placements: 5
Commission: $41,277

— — —

3rd Place: Judi Terrando
Agency: Key Corporate Services, Inc.
Placements: 3
Commission: $33,546

— — —

4th Place: Mike Pettit
Agency: Channel Personnel Services, Inc.
Placements: 3
Commission: $33,546

— — —

5th Place: Dan Trudeau
Agency: The PRA Group, Inc.
Placements: 3
Commission: $30,984

— — —

If YOU are looking to make more placements with your Top Echelon Network membership, contact Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS by calling 330.455.1433, x156 or by sending an email to drea@topechelon.com.