We’ve droned on and on about the value of attending recruiter conferences from the perspective of networking with another recruiters, forming friendships and relationships, and sharing hot job orders and candidates.

We’re not going to do that with this blog post.

Instead, we’re going to discuss the value of attending recruiter conferences from the perspective of the content presented by the speakers at the event. We at Top Echelon make a painstaking effort to ensure that the content you receive at our events is timely, valuable, and relevant to the desks and firms of everybody in attendance.

We want YOU to make more placements! (Sure, split placements would be great, but if you don’t make those, full-fee placements will be just fine. Just make placements, won’t you? Thank you.)

Top Echelon recruiter conferences ROCK!

Take, for example, the 2015 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference in Chicago. Barb Bruno of Good as Gold Training was the keynote speaker. Barb has presented at a number of our recruiter conferences and conventions down through the years, and her content is always timely and designed to help recruiters do the exact same thing that WE want to help recruiters do—make more placements!

Below is a recent Network placements that illustrates the value of attending such a conference and hearing such a speaker present. And as you probably already know, we have another TE event coming up: the 2016 National Convention in Las Vegas!

Greg Doersching of Bullsye Mentor will be the main speaker at the convention, and like Barb, he will have plenty of applicable information to share with those in attendance . . . and we want you to be attendance! (Yes, you. Don’t look behind you. YOU.)

The cost of Early Bird Registration for the convention is just $295 per person. Not ohly that but the room rate for our hotel, the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, is only $58 per night. You can’t pass that up! Okay, you could pass that up, but you would be foolish. Don’t be foolish.

To sign up with a credit card, login to the Members’ Area and locate the convention registration links in the left-hand side of the page. Click on the appropriate links and follow the instructions to submit the correct information.

Join us . . . join us . . .

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Pat McCombs, CPC

Russ Lloyd

“Thanks, Russ, for a GREAT candidate! Very fast process . . . as we had a really good candidate. We had an offer within two weeks of submitting the candidate! I think we just heard Barb Bruno tell us at the [Fall Conference] in Chicago that companies do move quickly when they are excited about a candidate. She was right! Thanks again!”

Submitted by Pat McCombs of KB Search Team, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Russ Lloyd of Cube Management

Position Title—REGIONAL SALES MANAGER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

Companies want great candidates! Internal recruiters want great candidates! External recruiters want great candidates!

Everybody wants them . . . but how do you find them?

Well, if you’re an organization or an internal recruiter, we don’t have much for you here. Move along. However, if you’re an external recruiting agency (especially one that’s Top Echelon Network member), then we’ve got good news for you.

YOUR trading partners have great candidates!

Top Echelon Network recruiters are finding great candidates every day, and they’re doing it by relying on their trading partners. We’re not kidding or joking or exaggerating about this.

Network members send us comments all the time describing how ridiculously happy they are because one of their trading partners found a candidate that nobody else could find—not their client, not another recruiter, not nobody. (Yes, that was a double negative.)

If you’re having difficulty completing a search for one of your clients because you absolutely, positively can NOT find the candidate you need, then turn to your trading partners. Find more trading partners. Find new trading partners. Do whatever it takes. Network recruiters can help you!

Once again, we have real-life split placement case studies that illustrate how Top Echelon Network members are leveraging the power of their trading partner relationships to help source the great candidates they need to fill their clients’ job orders. Those case studies are below.

Call your trading partners. Email them. Show up unexpectedly at their house. Stalk them, if necessary. Go the extra mile to let them know that you need their help.

Take their candidates, place their candidates, and split that hard-earned and satisfyingly hefty placement check. And then, you know, send us our 6%.

For more information about how YOU can create trading partner relationships that result in great candidates and more placements, contact Top Echelon Director of Network Operations Drea Codispoti, CPC/CERS at 330.455.1433, x156 or via email at drea@topechelon.com.

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Steve Kohn

Bill Kubena

“Steve, we really appreciate you finding a Controller for us. We don’t deal in these types of guys, but to be able to fill this need for a great client of ours really means a lot to us and them. Thanks for taking your time to help with this search!”

Submitted by Bill Kubena of Kubena and Associates regarding his Network split placement with Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Position Title—CONTROLLER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

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Pat McCombs, CPC

Ashley Smith

“Ashley sent me a great candidate for what had turned into a very difficult search. Thanks so much, Ashley!”

Submitted by Pat McCombs, CPC of KB Search Team, LLC regarding her Network split placement with Ashley Smith of Global Talent Resources Corp.

Position Title—PLANT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

The truth be told, recruiting firms would rather not offer a guarantee period. After all, once their client decides which candidate to hire (the client’s decision, not the recruiting firm’s), the firm has no control over the future.

However, since companies seem to think that recruiters are more than just identifiers and wooers of great talent, but also magicians with otherworldly powers of prognostication, they want guarantees, gosh darn it!

So we posted the following question in the Members’ Area. Follow along, everybody:

What is the standard time frame for your recruiting firm’s guarantee period?

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

• 30 days — 14.6%
• 45 days — 0.0%
• 60 days — 22.3%
• 90 days — 59.2%
• 180 days — 1.0%
• One (1) year — 1.0%
• We offer no guarantee — 1.0%

The MOST popular guarantee period

As might be expected, “90 days” was the most popular answer by participants in this poll. That’s been the industry standard for quite a few years now. However, there are some other results of note:

• Nobody offers a 45-day guarantee. Apparently, clients like gurantee periods in increments of 30 days.
• A healthy number of respondents offer just a 30-day guarantee (14.6%), which is impressive considering they got their clients to sign a fee agreement that included such a guarantee.
• Only 1% of recruiting firms represented in this poll offer NO guarantee period, underscoring the fact that although such guarantees make little sense on the surface, they’re alive and well.

What is your recruiting firm’s guarantee period? Is it 90 days? Is it 30 days? Why are recruiting firms even offering guarantees? You’re not psychic, after all!

(Unless, of course, you are psychic . . . and if so, I apologize. Also, I would like you to give me a call: 330.455.1433.)