Another month in Top Echelon Network means another month of anniversaries and Network recruiting agencies that we’d like to honor for their longevity!

And there are some very successful recruiting firms and individual recruiters included in our acknowledgement of anniversaries this month.  Some of the recruiters listed below have made quite a few placements and a LOT of money through Top Echelon Network, and we are certainly glad that we’ve been able to contribute to the success of their firms.

As we’ve stated, we don’t recognize every agency that’s celebrating an anniversary.  Instead, we focus on the “big” ones—five, 10, 15, 20, and 25-year anniversaries.

This month, we have two Network recruiting agencies celebrating their 20-year anniversary and three more Network recruiting agencies that are celebrating their 10-year anniversary.

Not only that, but the recruiters in the agencies listed below have combined to make 387 placements as Preferred Members in Top Echelon Network!

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20-YEAR ANNIVERSARIES

TriVista Professional Placement Services in Troy, Ohio
Staff Members: Lloyd E. Shoemaker, Mike McSweeney, George Atkinson, Heather Beeler, Therese Eckhoff, Ginny Wood, and Andrea Karn
Agency Join Date: July 21, 2004

Affinity Executive Search in Hollywood, Florida
Staff Members: Steve Kohn, Hannah Kohn, and Sara Kohn
Agency Join Date: July 28, 2004

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10-YEAR ANNIVERSARIES

Stewart Cooper & Coon in Phoenix, Arizona
Staff Members: Fred E. Coon, Brenda Richardson, Ram Kola, Lisa Greer-Boland, Greg Veverka, Michael Weishaar, and James Helms
Agency Join Date: July 27, 2004

Carroll Technology Services, Inc. in Sykesville, Maryland
Staff Members: Bob Small and Jed Davis
Agency Join Date: July 29, 2004

International Staffing Consultants, Inc. in Laguna Beach, California
Staff Members: James R. Gettys and Kathleen Porter
Agency Join Date: July 30, 2004

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(Mark Demaree is the President of Top Echelon.)

While we were at the National Convention in St. Petersburg at the end of last month, something funny happened: we moved!

For 25 years, we were located in a building in downtown Canton, near the center of the city.  We’re now in a new location, although we’re still in the city of Canton, Ohio.

All things considered, 25 years is a long time.  A move was inevitable, and the inevitable has arrived.

With the move in mind, I’d like to bring attention to the fact that we have a new physical address—one that will, of course, replace the one that many of you have been using for quite some time.

That new address is as follows:

Top Echelon Network
4883 Dressler Road, N.W., Ste. 203
Canton, OH 44718

At our previous location, we had both a physical address and a P.O. Box number.  Neither of those are valid any longer, and we have no plans to secure a new P.O. Box number.

Consequently, use the above address for any and all correspondence that you send to us.  If you have any specific questions, please give us a call at (330) 455-1433.

As always, thanks very much for your commitment as a Network recruiter and loyalty as a Top Echelon customer!

Since Top Echelon Network is a split placement network, there are many different types of recruiters who are Preferred Members.  Some are exporters who provide candidates (candidate recruiters) and some are importers who receive candidates (job order recruiters).

Each year in the Network, we recognize the recruiter who provides the most candidates in a split placement situation and the recruiter who places the most candidates in a split placement situation.  These recruiters are referred to as The Supplier of the Year and The Placer of the Year, respectively.

The Supplier of the Year for 2012 is Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group.

The Placer of the Year for 2012 is Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC.

Trey made a total of 35 placements in the Network last year, and he supplied the candidate for every single one of those placements.

Maria, on the other hand, made 19 placements in the Network last year, and she placed the candidate in every single one of those split placement situations.

As with all of our awards, Trey and Maria will also be recognized at the 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.  As part of that recognition, they’ll receive a plaque in front of their peers during the Awards Luncheon at the convention.

Congratulations, Trey and Maria, from everybody at Top Echelon Network!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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Up next on our list of award winners for 2012 is The Largest Split Placement Fee of the Year, and the story associated with this placement is a rather interesting one. We highlighted this placement in our “‘Comments’ and Compliments Extra” last year, not only because of the size of the fee, but also for the circumstances that surrounded it. Let’s start with the basics, though.  The placement was made by Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC and Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC.  Steve was the job order recruiter, and Jeff was the candidate recruiter.  The two of them placed a Global Alliance Program Director-Business Development. The amount of the fee that they split for placing that candidate: $49,000. With that total in mind, it’s not surprising that one of the recruiters was a bit superstitious about the placement.  After all, it’s not every month that a recruiter earns a placement fee as large as that one.  But I digress.  Instead, I’ll let Steve and Jeff tell the story in their own words.

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“‘The Kingfish’ of passive recruiting!  It was the fact that Jeff wore his ‘stinky lucky socks’ since January 1 that gave this hire the boost it needed.  Jeff didn’t take those socks off until our candidate showed up on the job!  He even wore them to bed.  I bet he slept in the other room with the dog . . . if the dog could stand it, that is.”

Submitted by Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC regarding his split placement with Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC Position Title—GLOBAL ALLIANCE PROGRAM DIRECTOR Fee Percentage—25% (Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Copeland and Gilbert have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

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“We recruiters are a very superstitious bunch!  What can I say, I have my ‘lucky socks.’  Now that summer is upon us, you can imagine . . . they look pretty ridiculous with my flip flops.  Regardless, we have many more deals to close by year’s end!”

Submitted by Jeff Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC regarding his split placement with Steve Copeland of Albert Energy, LLC Position Title—GLOBAL ALLIANCE PROGRAM DIRECTOR Fee Percentage—25%(Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Copeland and Gilbert have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172 MDemaree@TopEchelon.com Connect with Mark on LinkedIn. Follow Mark on Twitter.

As you may have noticed, we’ve been recognizing Preferred Member recruiters in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for their performance in the Network in 2012.

We’ve announced The Recruiter of the Year, the Top Ten Recruiters and the Regional Award winners in past issues, and in this blog post, I’d like to unveil “The Firm of the Year” award.  That award goes to . . . the Cameron Craig Group in Mooresville, N.C.!

Actually, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since Trey Cameron earned Recruiter of the Year honors for 2012.  However, Trey was one of two recruiters in the offices of the Cameron Craig Group.  The other was Gene McQueen, and their combined production helped propel the firm to the top.

Trey made a whopping 35 placements in the Network in 2012.  The truth be told, that total alone was probably enough to win The Firm of the Year award.  However, Gene contributed two more placements to that total, boosting it to 37 placements overall for the firm.

Trey and Gene have been busy already this year, with Trey making three split placements in the Network during the month of January and Gene adding another placement.

The Cameron Craig Group will be further recognized at the upcoming 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida.  From everybody at Top Echelon, I’d like to congratulate Trey and Gene for winning The Firm of the Year award for 2012!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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As you may remember, we announced Top Echelon Network’s Regional Award winners for 2012 in five of the nine regions in last week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

Now it’s time to announce the winners in the other four regions!

As I mentioned before, for the purposes of this award, we break the country up into nine different regions.  The Regional Awards are based upon the Frequent Placer Program (FPP) points that Preferred Member recruiters earn during the course of the calendar year.

Members can earn FPP points in a variety of ways, starting with making split placements.  They can also earn them for telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and meeting other Preferred Member recruiters in person.

Below are the winners of the remaining four regions within Top Echelon Network for 2011.  The top five recruiters in each region are listed, along with the number of FPP points they earned.  The top recruiter in each region will receive an award at the 2013 National Convention in St. Petersburg, Fla. in April.  (And I’d better see you there!)

Below are the 2012 winners in our final four regions:

South Atlantic

539,699—Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

187,121—Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

172,561—Jim Strickland of BioSource International

133,788—David Kersey of Kersey & Associates, Inc.

132,828—Gene McQueen of the Cameron Craig Group

East South Central

144,879—Daniel L. Williams, CPC of The Williams Company

107,674—Ken Nunley of 7 Solutions USA

106,398—Veronica Snyder of Career Professionals, Inc.

80,321—Paul Johnson of Paul Johnson & Associates

80,286—Pamela Ratz DeVille, CPC/CIR of Managed Medicaid Services

West South Central

335,902—Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

109,935—Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates

104,889—Travis Jones of Career Development Partners

86,791—Greg Downs of Downs Associates

66,175—Carolyn Barcus of Barcus Associates

Mountain

97,850—Peter Oettinger of Front Line Solutions, LLC

67,077—Steve Bret Jensen of Superior Search Consultants, Inc.

62,893—Ram Kola of Stewart Cooper & Coon

56,913—Thomas Edwards of Front Line Solutions, LLC

47,749—Marty Stan of Samaritan Technical Professional

We’d like to congratulate ALL of our Regional Award winners for 2012, and we wish them continued success in Top Echelon Network in 2013!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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Now that we’ve announced the Top 10 recruiters in Top Echelon Network for 2012, let’s move on to the Regional Award winners.  (Awards are fun, are they not?)

For the purposes of this award, we break the country up into nine different regions, and the Regional Awards are based upon the Frequent Placer Program (FPP) points that Preferred Member recruiters earn during the course of the calendar year.

Members can earn FPP points in a variety of ways, starting with making split placements.  They can also earn them for telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and meeting other Preferred Member recruiters in person.

Below are the winners of five of the nine regions within Top Echelon Network for 2012.  The top five recruiters in each region are listed, along with the number of FPP points they earned.  The top recruiter in each region will receive an award at the 2013 National Convention in St. Petersburg, Fla. in April.

Which reminds me . . . have you registered for the convention yet?  Sign up now during Early Bird Registration.  (This is our 25th anniversary convention, so you can believe it will be one of our best events ever.)

Below are the winners in five of the Network’s nine regions for 2012.  The winners of the other four regions will be announced next week:

Pacific

101,839—Gail Williams of Williams Recruiting, Inc.

83,648—David Wood of The David Wood Company

71,365—Debbie Winkelbauer of Apple & Assoc. Inc.

53,450—Hani Mussa of KnowPeople, Inc.

35,802—Bob Moore of Computer Recruiters, Inc.

West North Central

115,167—Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

100,636—Bob Ferris of Ferris & Associates, LLC

62,386—Larry Baker of Computer Careers

57,645—Justin Bidwell of Bidwell & Associates, LLC

52,871—Twanda DeBorde of CMD and Associates Executive Search

East North Central

314,216—Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

140,834—Chuck Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, LLC

134,032—David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

127,258—Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group, Inc.

126,870—Karen Akbal-Sturgeon of KLA Industries

New England

120,858—Richard Connors of Vista Technology

90,933—Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

61,375—Joe Miglizzi, CPC of Perspective

49,826—Rob Spaulding of Spaulding Associates

45,228—John Barry of ITech Consulting Partners, LLC

Middle Atlantic

78,017—Wendy Johnson of Professionals Incorporated

73,130—Denise Milano Sprung of JA Pharma, Inc.

69,714—Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.

69,647—Lawrence T. Ploscowe of EXEK Recruiters, Ltd.

64,529—Kerry Boehner of KOB Solutions, Inc.

Be sure to check next week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for the rest of our Regional Award winners for 2012!

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330.455.1433, x172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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Welcome to perhaps the least-surprising blog post in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  (Or perhaps so far this year.  Or maybe ever.)

That’s because Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group has won the “Recruiter of the Month” numerous times during 2012, and he also won three of the four “Recruiter of the Quarter” awards (he was second in the fourth quarter).

So it should come as NO surprise that he was the Top-Producing Recruiter in Top Echelon Network during 2012.  (Cameron was also the Network’s Top-Producing Recruiter in 2011, and here’s the proof.)

However, there are some new names in the Top 10, as well as some familiar ones.  Besides Cameron, repeat performances were turned in by Sean Napoles, Jim Strickland, and Judy Kaplan.  Those recruiters in the Top 10 for 2012 who were not there the previous year include Maria Hemminger, Georgette Sandifer, Marc Tappis, David Kersey, Richard Connors, and Chuck Szajkovics.

Congratulations to all of these recruiters on a great 2012 to even more awards, accolades, and placements in 2013!

Below is the complete list of the Top 10 Producers Overall for 2012:

1st—Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

2nd—Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

3rd—Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

4th—Georgette Sandifer of Gallman Consulting

5th—Jim Strickland of BioSource International

6th—Marc Tappis of Opportunity Search

7th—David Kersey of Kersey & Associates, Inc.

8th—Richard Connors of Vista Technology

9th—Chuck Szajkovics of Bulldog Recruiters, Inc.

10th—Judy Kaplan of Prof’l Recruiting Consultants

We’d like to congratulate all of these recruiters and thank them for their hard work and dedication as Preferred Members of our Network.  Their efforts are greatly appreciated, and we certainly wish them even more success in the future.

We’ll be publishing the winners of other 2012 awards in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  (In fact, we have other award winners in THIS issue!  We don’t like to waste any time.)

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330.455.1433, x172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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Every once in a while, I unfortunately have to write an article such as this one.  It pains me to do so, but it also reminds me of the brevity of life and how it should not be taken for granted.

It is with deep regret that I must inform the Top Echelon Network Preferred Membership of the passing of Network recruiter John Cokinos of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc. in Columbus, Ohio.

John started recruiting in 1976, so he was definitely a veteran of the recruiting industry.  (J.D. Cotter Search joined Top Echelon Network in 2001.)

We received news of John’s passing earlier this week.  He was a good man and friend to many, and he will be truly missed by those who knew him best.

Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.  We will keep everybody involved in the situation in our thoughts and prayers.

I would once again like to remind you about the great deal that we have with Next Level Exchange.  A number of Preferred Member recruiters have already taken advantage of this deal for NLE training, and I encourage you to do so, too.

Next Level Exchange offers high-quality training programs for every recruiter—from the rookie to the grizzled veteran—and you can try Next Level for FREE during their trial period.  You’re not required to buy anything “sight unseen.”  You’ll have a very good idea of what to expect before you purchase a subscription.

However, shifting gears slightly, I also want to address the issue of communication within Top Echelon Network, specifically how we communicate with you, the Preferred Member recruiters.

As you know, we use The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog as our chief form of communication.  There’s also the news section in the Members’ Area.  However, we’ve discovered that these two forms of communication don’t reach everybody in the Network.

We know full well how busy you are on your recruiting desk.  You often don’t have time to check out The Pinnacle or peruse the news section.  Of course, we want you to make more placements almost as much as you do, but we also want to make sure that we’re reaching as many of you as we can.

That’s why in the near future we’re going to start sending targeted emails to the Membership in an effort to raise awareness about important developments within Top Echelon Network.  An example would be the deal that we’ve struck with Next Level Exchange.  We want as many recruiters as possible to know about this great deal, so they can benefit from it.

There won’t be many emails sent to you, an average of only about one per month.  (In special situations, there might be two.)  We don’t want to bombard you; we just want to inform you.

Thanks very much for your commitment as a Preferred Member recruiter and for reading The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
mdemaree@topechelon.com
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.
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