For the longest time in Top Echelon Network, the mack-daddy of industries was Industry and Manufacturing (discipline code 25).  Why is that?  Because Preferred Member recruiters in the Network made the most placements in that industry, and they did so quarter after quarter after quarter.

However, the statistics for the first quarter of 2012 within Top Echelon Network paint a different picture.

That’s because the industry of IT/Information Systems/Data Processing (discipline code 20) has caught up with Industry and Manufacturing.  As you can see in the chart below, both industries have accounted for 27.7% of the placements made in the Network during the past 12 months.

A tie?  That’s unique all by itself.  But an industry poised to knock Manufacturing off the top spot?  That’s close to being a paradigm shift within Top Echelon Network.

The fact of the matter is that IT talent is as much in demand as it’s ever been.  In fact, many recruiters are discovering that IT talent is in short supply.  Is Manufacturing demand in short supply, too?  Absolutely, but the demand in IT appears to be reaching near-critical levels.

If you work in these industries and disciplines, what’s been your experience?  Is demand high?  Is it difficult to find candidates who are qualified enough?  Do employers keep asking for another candidate and another candidate and another . . .

Even more importantly, what do you need from other recruiters in Top Echelon Network?  What can they give you to help fill your job orders?

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, be sure to contact us.

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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Okay, now we get down to the nitty-gritty.  When it comes to the Top Echelon Network statistics for the first quarter of 2012, that is.

In this blog post, we’re including some of the numbers that recruiters always seem to be interested in, namely the following:

• The average fee for placements made in the Network ($18,894)

• The average fee percentage for placements made in the Network (22%)

• The average salary for positions that are filled within the Network ($83,278)

As you can see, the specific numbers for the first quarter in these categories is located both above and in the chart below.  The chart is broken down into specific industries and disciplines, and it includes the placements that have been made in those industries and disciplines during the first quarter.

The average fee percentage has remained basically the same over the past several quarters, while both the average fee and the average salary have climbed steadily upward—not by leaps and bounds, mind you, but upward, nonetheless.

Have you encountered clients who still want to drive down your fee percentage?  Or are they accepting 25% and 30% fees more easily than they were a few years ago?  And how closely is their acceptance tied to the urgency of the job order and the type of position they’re seeking to fill?

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, be sure to contact us.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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It’s April! That means more rain, warmer weather, and Top Echelon Network’s statistics for the first quarter of the year.  (Of those three, the last item is included in this blog post.)

The statistics with which we’ll begin are the “Actions Causing Placements,” which indicate how placements are being made within the Network.  As you’ll see, the actions that have been causing placements are the “usual suspects.”  In other words, what has caused placements in the past is causing them now, and more than likely, will continue to cause them in the future.

One of the biggest “usual suspects” is the number-one action that causes placements in the Network—“Regular Communication with Trading Partner.”

The percentage of placements that resulted from that action during the first quarter was 58.4%.  That was down slightly from the 66.9% for all of 2011, but chances are good that it will rise during the final three quarters of this year.

Coming in second place was “Hiring Hook Websites” at 14.9%, while “Searching the Split Databases” was third at 9.9%.  What does this mean?

It means simply that if you communicate regularly with your Trading Partners, you have a Hiring Hook website, and you search the Split Databases on a consistent basis, you greatly increase your chances of making placements in Top Echelon Network!

What have been the actions that have caused your placements in the Network?  One of the top three listed below?  Or all three?

Note: The “actions causing placements” were taken from the Completed Placement Forms submitted by the placing recruiter.

If you have any questions about these statistics or about how you can make more split placements as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network, be sure to contact us.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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At Top Echelon Network, we practice what we preach!  That’s why you’ll see us at a lot of recruiting industry events in 2012.

What we preach, of course, is networking.  How we’ll practice it is by attending a number of recruiting conferences and conventions around the country.

In fact, we’ll be in attendance at six industry events in 2012, and I wanted to take a moment to promote these six events in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  In the interest of brevity, though, three will be included in this blog post, and the other three will be included in next week’s issue of the newsletter.

All three of the events in this blog post will occur during the month of May.  Those three are as follows, and I’ve included the name of the event, the date, the location, the website address, and the names of the Top Echelon employee (or employees) attending the event:

Illinois Search & Staffing Association (ISSA) Midwest Conference

Date—Thursday, May 3
Location—CareerBuilder offices in Chicago, Illinois
Website—http://issaworks.com
Top Echelon employee in attendance—Internet Strategies Manager Todd Bossler

New England Association of Personnel Services (NEAPS) Annual Conference

Date—Thursday, May 3, through Saturday, May 5
Location—Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Website—http://www.neaps.org
Top Echelon employee in attendance—President Mark Demaree (yes, that’s me)

Ohio Association of Executive Search Professionals (OAESP) Spring Workshop

Date—Monday, May 14
Location—Embassy Suites-Columbus Airport in Columbus, Ohio
Website—http://www.oaesp.org
Top Echelon employees in attendance—President Mark Demaree and Hiring Hook Salesman Mike McCrae

I wholeheartedly encourage you to check out the websites of the above associations, and if you’re already a member or live in the area, to attend these upcoming events.  We believe in the value that these events offer, including the networking opportunities they present, and that’s why we’re proud to sponsor them.

We also hope to see you there!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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During the past few weeks, we’ve been publishing the names of our 2011 Network Award Winners, specifically the Top Ten Producing Recruiters and the Regional Award Winners.  These Preferred Members will receive an award for their accomplishments, and if they attend the upcoming National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., they’ll receive their award in person and in front of their peers.

In the meantime, though, we’re going to wrap up our series of blog posts regarding the 2011 Network Award Winners by presenting the names of those recruiters who won Special Awards.  (You’ll notice that the name of the Network’s Top-Producing Recruiter for 2011 is mentioned frequently.)

Without further adieu, below are our Special Award Winners for 2011.

Highest Split Placement Fee of the Year
Denise Milano Sprung of Joseph Associates and Gail Williams of Williams Recruiting, Inc.

This placement was for a Head of Cancer Biology.  Milano Sprung was the job order recruiter, and Williams was the candidate recruiter.  The action causing this split placement was listed as “Regular phone communication with a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter in my specialty area.”  Login to the Members’ Area to view the total fee associated with this placement.

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Importer of the Year
Russell Schutt, CSP of Progressive Executive, Inc.

This award is for the recruiter who supplied the job order in the split placement situations that produced the greatest amount of cash-in revenue during the 2011 calendar year.  Login to the Members’ Area in order to view the overall cash-in revenue that Schutt earned last year, as well as the number of times he provided the job order in a split placement situation.

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Exporter of the Year
Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

This award is for the recruiter who supplied the candidate in the split placement situations that produced the greatest amount of cash-in revenue during the 2011 calendar year.  Login to the Members’ Area in order to view the overall cash-in revenue that Cameron earned last year, as well as the number of times he provided the candidate in a split placement situation.

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100 Career Placements
Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Cameron didn’t just eclipse the 100-placement mark, he shot past it in 2011.  In fact, he made a total of 26 Network placements during the calendar year.  Right now, his total stands at 116.  If he keeps making 26 placements per year, he’ll reach the 200-placement plateau fairly quickly.  Not only that, but he’s also closing in on $1 million cash-in for his Network career.  More awards await him.

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Highest Producing Agency
Cameron Craig Group

It’s probably not surprising that the Cameron Craig Group won this award, since this is Trey Cameron’s firm.  However, he wasn’t the only recruiter in the firm who generated revenue through the Network last year.  In addition to Cameron’s 26 placements, Gene McQueen made five placements.  The cash-in total from those 31 placements makes the Cameron Craig Group the Network’s Highest Producing Agency for 2011.

We’d like to congratulate ALL of our Special Award Winners, and we wish them continued success in Top Echelon Network in 2012!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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Hey—guess what we didn’t do this year?

We DIDN’T forget our birthday!

The last few years, we’ve had difficulty remembering that the official birthdate of Top Echelon Network was March 8, 1988.  That was the date of the first issue of The Pinnacle newsletter, which has traditionally been used to mark the birth of the Network.  At the time, though, the Network was referred to as Nationwide Interchange Service.  It wasn’t until 10 years later that the name was changed to Top Echelon Network.

Top Echelon founder Mike Kappel sent out that first issue of The Pinnacle (via snail mail, of course).  Mike is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the Network, but I still meet with him on a consistent basis and he attends our larger conferences every year.  In fact, he’ll be in attendance at the upcoming National Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

There are a handful of recruiters who started as Charter Members back in 1988 and who are still with us as Preferred Member recruiters today.  Those recruiters are listed below:

• Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems

• Mark Suss of Contract Placement Associates

• Lou Michaels of Lou Michaels Associates, Inc.

• Carlene White of White/TemTech, LLC

I’d like to thank these Charter Members for their commitment to Top Echelon Network, for their dedication to networking and split placements, and for their determination to persevere during the tough times (of which there have been plenty).

I’d also like to thank all of YOU, because without you, there would be no Top Echelon Network.  While we’re celebrating our birthday, we’re also celebrating our Preferred Member recruiters, those people who have made all of this possible and continue to make it possible on a daily basis.

Of course, since we started in 1988, this is our 24th birthday . . . which means the next one will be our 25th!  To help celebrate a quarter-century of existence, we’re going to be uploading old photos from past conferences and conventions to our Facebook Fan Page during the next 12 months—and believe me, there are a TON of those.

If you have any photos that you’ve taken through the years and you’d like to submit them for inclusion on our Facebook Fan Page, please send them to us.  Email your photos to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

Thank you!  Here’s to 24 more years of success for Preferred Member recruiters!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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Last week, I presented the names of roughly half of the Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters who were Regional Award winners for 2011. Not only did I publish the names of each Regional Award winner, but I also included the names of the top five recruiters in each region throughout the country.

This week, I’ll be wrapping up our 2011 Regional Award winners by presenting the winners in the remaining four regions—South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, and Mountain.  As I mentioned last week, 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 2012 National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., later this month.

South Atlantic

320,276—Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

200,625—Jim Strickland of BioSource International

140,885—Judy Kaplan of Prof’l Recruiting Consultants

119,139—Bob Small of Carroll Technology Services, Inc.

112,447—Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

East South Central

97,977—Pamela Ratz DeVille, CPC/CIR of Managed Medicaid Services

82,935—Frank Gregg of Gregg & Associates

80,845—Bob Allen of The ManCom Team, Inc.

73,585—Jay Laney of The Williams Company

71,852—James Compton of Compton & Associates

West South Central

243,225—Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

108,278—Stacy Pursell of The Pursell Group, LLC

105,648—Amy Dunn of Technology Recruiting Solution

98,679—Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates

71,981—Greg Downs of Downs Associates

Mountain

69,108—Peter Oettinger of Front Line Solutions, LLC

55,742—Ram Kola of Stewart Cooper & Coon

42,653—Marty Stan of Samaritan Technical Professional

36,036—Lisa Greer-Boland of Stewart Cooper & Coon

34,292—Thomas Edwards of Front Line Solutions, LLC

We’d like to congratulate ALL of our Regional Award winners for 2011, and we wish them continued success in Top Echelon Network in 2012!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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It might be an understatement to say that Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group has been on fire in the Network during the past 12 to 18 months (not literaly, though . . . figuratively).  Not only was he the Top-Producing Recruiter in the Network for 2011, but he’s also earned numerous “Recruiter of the Month” and “Recruiter of the Quarter” awards, as well.

And . . . here we go again.

That’s because Cameron is the “Recruiter of the Month” for the recently completed month of February.  If you take a look in the Members’ Area, you’ll see that Cameron is leading the pack once again as far as cash-in totals are concerned, and his lead is a rather substantial one.  If he keeps this pace up, he’ll be the Top Producer in the Network for two years in a row.

Unless somebody can knock him off the top spot, that is.  Is that a challenge, you ask?  Of course it’s a challenge.

We recognize recruiters for both monthly and quarterly performance in three categories—“Recruiter of the Month,” “Recruiter of the Quarter,” and “Highest Split Placement Fee of the Month.”  For more information about the placements and cash-in totals associated with these awards, please login to the Members’ Area and view the profiles and placement details of the recruiters involved.

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Recruiter of the Month
Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Cameron was the only Preferred Member recruiter in the Network to make three split placements during the month of February.

Two recruiters made two split placements apiece.  They were Cheryl Fox of Woods & Paolino Recruiting Solutions and John Barry of ITech Consulting Partners, LLC.

 — — —

Highest Split Placement Fee of the Month
John Barry of ITech Consulting Partners, LLC and Marc Tappis of Opportunity Search, Inc.

The position for this placement was an IT Audit/Security Manager.  Barry was the job order recruiter, and Tappis was the candidate recruiter.  The action that stimulated this split placement was listed as “Regular phone communication with a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter in my specialty area.”

 — — —

Our criteria for these awards:

Top Echelon Network is a split placement network.  As such, we place an emphasis on split placements, and that emphasis constitutes a large part of our criteria for these awards.  We determine the monthly and quarterly award winners based upon two things, which are listed below in order of importance:

1.) The number of split placements made
2.) The amount of cash-in dollars earned as a result of those split placements

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330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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I talk with Preferred Member recruiters on a daily basis, and as a result, I’m generally able to determine the “pulse of the Network,” so to speak—what recruiters are experiencing, what obstacles they face, how their niche is doing, etc.

In speaking with recruiters lately, I’ve learned that activity levels are up in a number of different industries.  One of the industries in which activity has increased the most is in Manufacturing.

That’s not surprising for a couple of different reasons:

1. Manufacturing has always been the “bread and butter” of Top Echelon Network.  In other words, we typically make more placements in this industry each year than in any other industry.
2. Manufacturing overall in this country has been generating a tremendous amount of momentum in recent months.  Click here to read an article from USA Today titled “Factory Hiring Up, Output is Soaring.”  It details how U.S. manufacturers are currently producing more, growing more, and hiring more.

Which brings me back to my phone calls . . . I’ve spoken with Preferred Member recruiters in the Manufacturing industry lately, and they’ve indicated that they need help filling their job orders!  In fact, what they really need are more Trading Partners.

That’s why I’d like to ask you to refer recruiters to us that you think would be a good fit for Top Echelon Network.  Yes, we want your referrals!

The good news is that we’re willing to pay for those referrals.  As part of the Top Echelon Referral Program, we’ll pay you $100 for each recruiting firm that you refer to us that becomes a customer as a result of your referral (and stays a customer for a period of not less than three months).

Learn more about the Top Echelon Referral Program.

This referral program doesn’t just pertain to Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters, either.  It also applies to the Big Biller recruiting software and Hiring Hook recruitment website design.  However, for the purposes of this blog post, we need more Manufacturing recruiters in Top Echelon Network—more recruiters with more candidates who can help our existing Members fill more of their job orders.

If you’d like to refer somebody, you can send your referral to info@TopEchelon.com.  Let’s get more experienced, high-quality recruiters in the Network and help everybody make more placements!

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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Each year, we recognize the Top Producers in Top Echelon Network, and we do so in a number of different categories.  For instance, we recently recognized the Top Ten Producers in the Network for 2011.  This week, we’re going to announce the Regional Award winners.

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 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 2012 National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., next month.

Pacific

142,868—Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems

105,715—Hani Mussa of KnowPeople, Inc.

83,956—David Wood of The David Wood Company

74,865—Kristen Jiles of eSearch Pro, Inc.

59,448—Gail Williams of Williams Recruiting, Inc.

West North Central

91,429—Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

87,905—Jim Crumpley of Jim Crumpley & Associates

84,692—Bob Wylan of R.A. Wylan & Company, Inc.

67,831—Alan Carty of Automationtechies.com

64,392—Thomas Windsor of Corporate Resources, Inc.

East North Central

193,887—Russell Schutt, CSP of Progressive Executive, Inc.

154,248—David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

141,078—Angela Marasco of A. Marasco Recruiting, LLC

136,577—Carol Brinkman of Corporate Resources, LLC

132,127—Jim Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick & Associates

New England

70,921—Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

61,788—Donna Carroll of Systems Personnel

38,928—Rob Spaulding of Spaulding Associates

37,269—Betsy Harper of Sales and Marketing Search, Inc.

23,950—Joe Miglizzi, CPC of Perspective

Middle Atlantic

195,865—Denise Milano Sprung of JA Pharma, Inc.

114,915—Wendy Johnson of Professionals Incorporated

91,558—Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.

85,027—Shari Skurnik of Omega Management Group

65,419—Joseph F. Papa, CPC/CTS of American Medical Personnel Services, Inc.

Be sure to check next week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for the rest of our Regional Award winners for 2011!

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330.455.1433, Ext. 172
MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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