From time to time, Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters find that they’re having trouble making the Network work for them.  What should they do?

In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” President Mark Demaree and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti discuss the steps that recruiters need to take when that’s the case.  (Oh, and they unveil a new set design for “Top Echelon TV,” too . . . can’t forget about that.)

There are many split placement situations that arise between two recruiters in Top Echelon Network.   All of them are included in either The Policies or The Golden Rules of Networking.  In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Top Echelon Network President Mark Demaree addresses the issue of how to contact another recruiter’s candidate in a split placement situation (with a little help from Drea Codispoti and John Pagley).  As always, this is one “dramatization” that you don’t want to miss.

If you have any question about this Golden Rule, or about any of Top Echelon Network’s Golden Rules or Policies designed to help Preferred Member recruiters make more split placements, please contact Drea at (330) 455-1433, Ext.156 or via email at Drea@TopEchelon.com.

In this week’s episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Communications Coordinator Matt Deutsch and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti discuss how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) affects what a recruiter does and how a recruiter works.

By following the guidelines set forth by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, recruiters can avoid trouble, legal or otherwise.  Because if the EEOC doesn’t get you . . . the “Karma Police” will.

Next week, when you login to Top Echelon Network—specifically the TEN Menu—you might notice something different.  That’s because the TEN Menu will have a slightly different layout and some added functionality.

In this article in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, I’d like to not only announce these changes, but also explain them.  So . . . that’s what I’ll do.  First and foremost, though, please note that much of the same information that was there before is still there.  It just might be presented in a different format.  (In fact, there’s actually more information there now than there was before.)  Here’s what I mean:

• The News Section and The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog articles are now side-by-side at the top of the page.  The News Section is on the left, and the newsletter articles are on the right.
• “Top Producing Recruiters” have been moved from near the top of the page to the left-hand column.
• There is now a “Recent Job Orders” tab AND a “Recent Candidates Tab,” both of which show the 30 most recent that have been added to the system.
• The tab for “New Recruiters” has been joined by a tab for “Recently Left.”  These are typically recruiters who have left the Network during the past week.  Anybody who has a question regarding a recruiter who has left the Network can contact me.
• “Recent Offers Accepted” and “Recent Completed Placements” are still on the page, but they’re also in a tabbed format.  Simply click on the tab that you wish to view.

Okay, here’s the biggie—by popular demand, The Discussion Forum is now back on the main page of the Members’ Area.  I thought I’d address this one last, considering its impact and the number of recruiters who are interested in the fact that it’s back on the main page.

Below are two crucial points regarding the return of The Discussion Forum:

1. When you click “New Post,” you’ll be able to build a very solidly formatted discussion thread. (Go ahead. Try it. You’ll like it.)
2. You can now “block” other recruiters whose posts you don’t want to see.  In other words, if you don’t like what someone is posting, you can block them so you don’t see their posts.  To do this, click on the orange circle with the line through it.  Once done, that recruiter will be hidden from view in The Discussion Forum and also in “Splitsville.”  If you wish to unblock them, navigate to “Settings” and then “Splitsville Settings.”  There will be a section for “Blocked Recruiters” that shows the recruiters you are currently blocking.  Uncheck the box next to the recruiter you wish to unblock and save your changes.

Of course, as with everything that we do at Top Echelon, these changes were made to help you, our Preferred Member recruiters, make more split placements.  If you have any questions, I encourage you to contact me via phone or email.

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(330) 455-1433, Ext. 156
Drea@TopEchelon.com

Top Echelon Network wants you to be a bum . . . a beach bum, that is.  That’s because our 2011 National Convention will be held at the Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Thursday, May 12, through Saturday, May 14.  As is the case with ALL Top Echelon Network events, there will be plenty of networking and training opportunities, as well as fun, fun, and more fun.

Oh, and as a side note, Top Echelon Network just turned 23 years old on March 8.  So . . . we’d like to wish ourselves a happy birthday and also thank all of the recruiters who call themselves Preferred Members of the Network, especially the Charter Members, who have been with us since the beginning.

Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters shouldn’t be living in the past . . . and that’s especially the case with their Recruiter Profile.

In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Top Echelon Network President Mark Demaree—as well as Communications Coordinator Matt Deutsch and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti—illustrate how neglecting the Recruiter Profile can sabotage recruiters’ attempts to network and make split placements.  As much as we’d like it to be, this just isn’t the 1980s anymore.

If there are other issues that you believe we should address in “Top Echelon TV” (with or without the “Top Echelon TV players,” let us know about them.  Send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

Every week, there’s proof that Top Echelon Network can help recruiters make split placements.  That’s because recruiters in the Network make split placements with each other every week. In fact, it’s almost every day that two Top Echelon recruiters split a placement fee.

As Membership Development Coordinator, it’s my job to help connect recruiters with one another so they can make split placements.  And when those split placements occur, we at Top Echelon Network want to recognize the recruiters who made them and congratulate them.  After all, we’re primarily concerned with YOUR success as Preferred Members.  We want to help you make splits, and then we want to celebrate those splits when they happen.

This week, we’d like to recognize the recruiters listed below and celebrate the split placements that they recently made with each other.  If you haven’t made a split placement with another Network recruiter, I want you to CALL me at (330) 455-1433, Ext. 156.  Let me know what I can do to help you make a split, so that your name can be included in this feature in the future.  (We want everybody to be included!)

Daniel L. Williams of The Williams Company and Bill Elias of Elias Associates, Inc. placed a Maintenance Manager.

Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems and James McMahon of Chicago Search Group, Inc. placed an Audit Staff.

Alan Carty of Automationtechies.com and Hani Mussa of KnowPeople, Inc. placed a Custom Service Manager.

Dan Simmons, CPC of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc. and Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services placed a QA Manager.

Donna Carroll of Systems Personnel and Gary Silver of The Shay Group placed a Systems Analyst.

Greg Lawrence of Career Recruiters, Inc. and Twanda DeBorde of CMD and Associates Executive Search placed a HR Manager.

Denise Milano Sprung of Joseph Associates, Inc. and Jan Clements of Med Exec International placed a Director of Clinical Pharmacology.

Chris Harol, CPC of Lighthouse Recruiting and Doug Stephens of Stephens International Recruiting, Inc. placed a Histology Supervisor.

Jan Burke of Metaljobs Network and David Wick of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc. placed a Mechanical Engineer.

Russell Schutt, CSP of Progressive Executive, Inc. and Jim Strickland of BioSource International placed an Account Manager.

Don’t forget: contact me if you have any question about your Network Membership or would like me to help you make a split placement.  That’s why I’m here, and that’s what we do.

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(330) 455-1433, Ext. 156
Drea@TopEchelon.com

At Top Echelon Network, we’re ALL about communication.  After all, it’s one of the Four Pillars of the Network.  However, there’s a right way to communicate with other Preferred Members of Top Echelon Network, and there’s a wrong way.

In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Communications Coordinator Matt Deutsch and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti present an extreme example in order to illustrate the wrong way to ask another recruiter for information when attempting to switch niches.)

For a further explanation about how Top Echelon Network recruiters should approach this subject, read Drea’s post in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  And if there are other issues that you believe we should address in “Top Echelon TV” (with or without the “Top Echelon TV players,” let us know about them.  Send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

When we want answers from recruiters . . . we ask them questions, naturally.  In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Top Echelon Network President Mark Demaree and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti discuss the results of a recent recruiter survey.  In that survey, we asked recruiting firm owners their thoughts about business structure and why they chose the structure (S corp, LLC, etc.) that they did.

What say you?  As a recruiting firm owner, which business structure do you prefer?  Why did you make that choice?  What questions, if any, do you have about choosing the right business structure?

As a recruiter, do you offer a guarantee to your clients?  If so, what’s the timeframe?  What kind is it?  Top Echelon recently conducted a survey of recruiters from all across the country and asked them these same questions.  In this episode of “Top Echelon TV,” Communications Coordinator Matt Deutsch and Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti discuss the results of that survey.

In addition, they share a share a box of chocolates and talk about wacky business slogans, one of which involves guarantees.  Because you can’t take recruiting too seriously.  After all, you’ll never get out of it alive.  We guarantee it.  Along that same vein, we’ve included outtakes from our filming, which you can view at the end of this week’s episode.  (Just remember, we laugh at ourselves just as much as we laugh at you.  Wait a minute . . . that didn’t sound right.)

What’s your take on guarantees?  If you’re a recruiter, we want your feedback, too.  If you’re not a recruiter, we still want your feedback.  We just might not put as much stock in it.  You understand.