Top Echelon Internet Strategies Manager Todd Bossler recently conducted an informal poll of Top Echelon Network recruiters and found that nine out of 10 use dual monitor screens to run their desk.  Bossler explains why in this episode of “Top Echelon TV.”

And that’s not all . . . a few of the recruiters surveyed indicated that they would be open to adding a third monitor to their desk.  What about you?  Do you use two (or more monitors) on your recruiting desk?  If so, do you believe it improves efficiency and productivity?  If you only use one monitor, would you like to add a second?  Why?

The “Comments and Compliments” series is one of our most popular features in The Pinnacle blog . . . but so is our “Ten Questions” feature, which we’re resurrecting this week.  After a brief absence—during which The Pinnacle was transitioned over to its current blog format—the feature returns, and up first is Jim Folger of ONESource Technical, Inc.

After all, you may be recruiters, but you’re also people—people with families, interests, hobbies, and quirks.  Why keep all of that intriguing information to yourself?  Well, with a little help from us, you don’t have to.  Although Jim specializes in placing professionals in a broad range of industries, we wanted to delve a little deeper with Top Echelon Network’s “Ten Questions.”  (Editor’s Note: the second half of this blog post will be published next week.)

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1. What’s your most unusual candidate-related or client-related story in the past 12 months?

The last 12 months have been fairly predicable.  Nothing really comes to mind.

2. What’s the last book you’ve read (title and author)?

The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.  The book provides some interesting perspectives. Many times, people are consumed by worries about past or future events, and it prevents them from fully experiencing the present.  Most of the time the actual things to worry about in the present are fairly negligible.

3. What music is in your CD/MP3 player right now?

A fairly eclectic mix: AC-DC, Alanis Morissette, Barenaked Ladies, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Blue Oyster Cult, Blues Traveler, Bruce Springsteen, Bryan Adams, Counting Crows, Crash Test Dummies, Daughtry, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Genesis, Indigo Girls, Jackson Browne, John Mayer, Kansas, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Miles Davis, Ozzy Osbourne, Queen, Shaggy, Sheryl Crow, Spin Doctors, Steve Winwood, The Beatles, The Black Crows, The Jackson 5, The Rolling Stones, Tom Cochrane, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, U2, UB-40, Yes, and (of course) The Phunkhie Panduh Munkhieees.

4. What’s one of your favorite all-time movies?

The Outlaw Josey Wales, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, and John Vernon.  A story about a Missouri farmer who joins a Confederate guerilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.  This film brings back fond memories of watching these types of moves with my dad when I was a kid.

A memorable Josey Wales quote: “Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean.  I mean plumb, mad-dog mean.  ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up, then you neither live nor win.  That’s just the way it is.”

5. What’s one thing that other recruiters in the Network don’t know about you (and that you don’t mind sharing, of course)?

As a much younger person, I studied martial arts for about 20 years.  I got up to the rank of third-degree black belt and taught self-defense to men, women, children, and police for a number of years, and for a while had a dojo with two of my black-belt buddies.  When my kids came along, other things became more important and I took a break.  I did get involved again to teach when my boys were about five years old.  Both boys earned their junior black belts, but then I officially started my transformation into soccer dad and rock band roadie.

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(Editor’s Note: “The Phunkhie Panduh Munkhieees” is the name of Jim’s son’s band.  Check back next week for the “next five questions” with Jim Folger.)

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“Super Early Bird Registration” for the 2011 National Convention is now available!  Sign up now in the Members’ Area at the low price of just $275 per person.

“Super Early Bird Registration” began on Monday, and will run through Friday, December 31.  As we mentioned in last week’s issue of The Pinnacle Blog, there are two main reasons that we’re offering a “Super Early Bird” and such a low price for a National Convention:

• We want you to attend! Attending conventions is one of the quickest ways to enjoy success in the Network (i.e., make split placements).
• We want you to be able to claim the cost of the convention on this year’s taxes, which you can do if you register before the end of the year.

We’ve already had a handful of recruiters register for the convention, and we expect many more to do so by December 31.  Keep in mind that there will be a regular “Early Bird Registration,” but the price associated with that ($350 per person) isn’t nearly as attractive.  That’s why I encourage you to sign up now and lock in the special rate.

Another reason I encourage you to do so is that the first 50 Preferred Members who sign up for the 2011 National Convention will be entered into a drawing to receive free registration for the event.  The name of one lucky recruiter will be drawn from that pool of 50, and that recruiter will have the cost of the convention waived.  (They’ll still have to pay for all other associated costs, of course—travel, hotel, etc.)

Once we reach 50 registered attendees, we’ll conduct our drawing, pick a winner, and announce that winner in The Pinnacle Blog.  In the meantime, below is some additional information regarding the 2011 National Convention:

• The dates of the convention are Thursday, May 12, through Saturday, May 14.
• The location of the event is The Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• The main speaker for the convention is Jon Bartos of Jonathan Scott International.
• The preliminary agenda for the convention, plus logistics and location information, is also included in the Members’ Area, along with the registration form.  (All of that is located on the left-hand side of the Members’ Area, under the Placement Forms.)

We’re looking forward to a fun, productive, and exciting event.  This year has been a tough one for recruiters, but next year is looking up.  We hope that you’ll join us in Fort Lauderdale to meet other recruiters, drum up new business, and have a good time.

View the preliminary agenda.
See who’s already registered.
Sign up for the convention.

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MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
(330) 455-1433, Ext. 172

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ANY time is a crazy time to be a recruiter.  Let’s face it . . . with people on both ends of the sale, ridiculous things can and do happen.  Not only that, but 2010 could qualify as a unique year.  With a slow recovery, desperate candidates, and quirky clients, the year was rife with “craziness potential.”

And of course, we’d like to take advantage of it.

Well, not just take advantage of it, but also bring some levity to 2010 at the end of the year.  After all, if we can’t laugh at ourselves, what can we laugh at?  (Well, technically, we’re laughing at you and you’re laughing at yourself, but let’s not be technical.)

With all of that in mind, we’d like you to submit your craziest recruiting story of 2010.  It could be a story about clients.  It could be a story about candidates.  It could be a story about another recruiter.  It doesn’t matter.  It just has to be something wild, outrageous, and if possible, unbelievable.  Because after all, no matter how unbelievable it might be, if it happened in the world of recruiting, it’s much more plausible.

The deadline for submitting your craziest recruiting story of the year is Wednesday, December 22—two weeks from today.  After collecting the stories submitted to us by Preferred Members, Top Echelon Network officials will select a winner, “The Top Echelon Network Craziest Recruiting Story of the Year,” and announce the winner in both The Pinnacle Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

Will there be a prize given to the recruiter who provides the craziest story?  Perhaps.  (We have to include some element of suspense, don’t we?)  Regardless, you can email your crazy story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.  And I know what you’re going to ask: can you submit more than one story?  Absolutely.  But of course, in the end, when all is said and done, only one story is going to win.

So go back through the year and think about all the crazy stuff that’s happened.  I’m sure there’s plenty.  Pick out your best story and send it to us.

It could be “Top Echelon Network’s Craziest Recruiting Story of the Year.”

MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
(330) 455-1433, Ext. 125

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Every month—and every quarter—we like to highlight the Top Producers in Top Echelon Network in The Pinnacle blog.  We now have two main categories of awards that we announce on a monthly and quarterly basis—Recruiter of the Month and Highest Split Fee of the Month.

Below are the winners of these awards for the month of November.  We’d like to congratulate those Preferred Members who earned them and thank them for their efforts.

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Recruiter of the Month
Rich Connors of Vista Technology

Rich made two placements during the month of November, while a group of Preferred Members made one placement apiece.  The two recruiters at the top of the one-placement heap (due to their cash-in total for that placement) were Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc. and Scott Riffle, CPC of SJR & Associates.

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Highest Split Fee of the Month–Scott Riffle, CPC of SJR & Associates and Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

It makes sense that if Riffle and Berg had the highest cash-in totals for one placement during the month of November that they would be the recipients of this award, too.  This placement was for a General Manager of Operations, and Scott and Eric earned a 25% fee as a result of the placement.

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As always, if you have any suggestions for additional recognition awards, please email those suggestions to marketing@TopEchelon.com.  Live long and prosper.

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