Hiring Hook websites from Top Echelon do a LOT for recruiters, but the most important thing they do is help recruiters make more placements—and there’s plenty of evidence to support that in this week’s Completed Placements post.

In fact, more than half of the placements highlighted in this blog post were the direct result of a Hiring Hook website, specifically the Job Board feature of Hiring Hook.  The Job Board feature allows you to post your jobs to your website for qualified candidates to see, and also offers the opportunity for them to apply for those jobs.

However, as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network, a Hiring Hook website will also afford you the chance to post other Member’s jobs on your site, which will lead to more split placements.  It certainly has for some of the recruiters below.  Click here for more information about Hiring Hook, or give us a call at (330) 455-1433.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Cindy Sommer of SearchStars, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT – HIGH-RISK OB

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook Website.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Daniel Simmons, CPC of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: DAIRY NUTRITION SPECIALIST

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member

 — — —

Candidate recruiter: Bill Quackenbush of QCI Technical Staffing

Candidate recruiter: Mario Fidanzi of MedTeam Staffing, Inc.

Job title: MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook Website.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Alan Daum of Alan N. Daum & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Michelle Johnson of Automationtechies.com

Job title: PROCESS AUTOMATION ENGINEERS

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Larry Barlow of Tax Advantage Personnel, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

Job title: INTERNATIONAL TAX MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook Website.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Dan Funke of Johnson Resource Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Bob Allen of The ManCom Team, Inc.

Job title: PRODUCTION MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member

 — — —

Completed Contract Placements

Job order recruiter: Bob Wylan of R.A. Wylan & Co., Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: PRODUCTION MANAGER

Candidate $ Per Hour—$40.00

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook Website.

 — — —

Remember, you can opt out of having your split placement highlighted.  All you have to do is send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com indicating your desire to be left out.  Once you do so, you won’t be included in future installments of this feature.

If you’d like to see the amount of the fees associated with each of the split placements listed above, login to the Members’ Area and click on the profiles of the recruiters involved.  The fee totals will be included along with those split placements.

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Where are the split placements being made in Top Echelon Network?  A glance at this week’s splits holds the answer to that question.

As you can see, the industries are wide ranging.  Represented this week are the following areas:

• Sales
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Animal Science/Animal Nutrition

Of course, you can view the Offers Accepted in the Members’ Area of the Top Echelon Network website.  Sure, those aren’t Completed Placements yet and money hasn’t changed hands, but they’ll still give you an idea of the industries that are experiencing the most activity in Top Echelon Network.

As you can see, included in the information below is the position title associated with each split placement, which provides an even better clue as to where the placements are being made.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Krista Bastianelli of Career/Contract Placement Associates

Candidate recruiter: Paul Van of Career/Contract Placement Associates

Job title: SENIOR ASSOCIATE

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Doug Boyce of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Joan Peterson King of Newman-Johnson-King, Inc. and A.H. Justice Search Consultants

Job title: FINANCIAL ANALYST

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member

 — — —

Candidate recruiter: David J. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems

Job title: SENIOR AUDIT

Action causing split placement: The job order or candidate was sent to me via the automated email alerts.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Bruce Widnes of The Recruiting Group, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Stephanie Jakubik of Bertram & Associates, Inc.

Job title: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through my Hiring Hook Website.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Stacy Pursell of The Pursell Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: POULTRY SALES REP

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Bernie Nutter, CPC of Hire Horizons

Candidate recruiter: Russell Schutt, CSP of Progressive Executive, Inc.

Job title: REGIONAL ACCOUNT MANAGER

Action causing split placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter

 — — —

Remember, you can opt out of having your split placement highlighted, if you so choose.  All you have to do is send an email to marketing@TopEchelon.com indicating your desire to be left out.  Once you do so, you won’t be included in future installments of this feature.

If you’d like to see the amount of the fees associated with each of the placements listed above, login to the Members’ Area and click on the profiles of the recruiters involved.  The fee totals will be included along with those placements.

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Let’s face it . . . when it comes to “Crazy Recruiting Stories,” candidates are usually at the center of the pandemonium.  In other words, they’re often the source of it—and whatever stress that it produces for the recruiter (or recruiters) involved.

This week’s installment of “Crazy Recruiting Stories” is no different.

In fact, we have a triple-header of such tales, all courtesy of Preferred Member recruiter Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search.  Kohn works in the Agriculture, Animal Science, and Food Processing industries, among others, and she’s encountered her fair share of pandemonium in regards to candidates.

She was good enough to share three uber-short stories with us that illustrate the integral role that candidates often play in the unpredictable world of recruiting.

— — —

“I once had a candidate who had an unusual request before agreeing to an interview.  She needed to make sure that she could park her trailer full of livestock for the interview.

“I once had a candidate who was rejected because he referred to somebody as a ‘knucklehead’ and a ‘good ol’ boy.’  That didn’t go well.

“I once had a candidate who had his license taken away for drunk driving.  He then went on a two-hour drive to interview with a company.  He drove there without a license, and then he outright told the company about it.  Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

Keep those “crazy” stories coming!  (We can never get enough.)

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

At Top Echelon Network, we’re all about networking . . . and that includes social networking (and by extension, social media).

This is why the Network—and many of its employees—have a LinkedIn account, a Twitter account, a Facebook page, etc.

That being said, you’ll notice that there’s a bar of images located directly below the title of this blog post (and all other posts in any of our blogs).  The bar contains the options for sharing this blog post via social media.  Those options are as follows:

Facebook “Like”—Not only can you “like” the blog post, but you can also comment on it and share it with your Facebook friends at the same time.

Email Article—Pretty much self-explanatory, this allows you to email the blog post to a friend or co-worker more easily.

Tweet—You can tweet the post to your followers (after you login to Twitter) with one click of your mouse.

Google+1—For those of you with Google+ accounts, all it takes is one click to “+1” the blog post (once again, if you’re already logged in).

LinkedIn Share—Last but not least, you can share the post with your professional contacts through LinkedIn.

I encourage you to share as much of the “social media love” in the Network as you can.  We’ve discovered that recruiters especially like to share news of placements that they’ve made, regardless of whether they’re split placements or full-fee placements.

If you’re one of those recruiters who have made split placements within the Network, and we highlight your placement in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, feel free to share your accomplishments via social media.  We want to celebrate your placements, so we definitely invite you to do the same.

Not only that, but you’ll notice that at the bottom of each blog post, there are additional social media options.  For example, at the bottom of this blog post, you can connect with me on LinkedIn or follow me on Twitter.  Similar options are available for the authors of other blog posts.

If you have any questions about social networking, social media, and Top Echelon Network, feel free to contact me.  In the meantime, “share the love” . . .

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

As I’ve mentioned previously in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, we’re going to be exploring split placements made in the Network more extensively.  The result is a new series of blog posts—“Split Placement Tales from the Trenches.”

In this series, we’ll get the “story behind the story” when it comes to split placements . . . what happened, how it happened, when it happened, etc., straight from the recruiters who made the split.

So let’s get down to it.  This week’s split placement information is listed below, followed by the placement’s tale, relayed by one of the recruiters involved.

The interesting part of this “Tale” is that it represents one of two split placements made by these recruiters recently.  One (this one) was a contract split placement, and the other was a direct-hire split.

Because of these recruiters’ willingness to communicate with one another, they’re now making multiple split placements and generating more revenue for their recruiting firms.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Larry Baker of Computer Careers

Candidate recruiter: James Compton of Compton & Associates

Job title: OUTDOOR LIGHTING DESIGN ENGINEER

Action causing placement: Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member

 — — —

“The Split Placement Tale from the Trenches,” courtesy of James Compton:

“I saw the jobs for Product Design Engineers posted in the Hot Jobs segment on TE.  I gave Larry a call, since I had some experience working in the Lighting field.

“Larry and I reviewed the specifics in detail and why a smaller, privately held company was offering a viable career alternative.  Larry was very open on the company, its history, product line, and why they were hiring for expansion of their product line.

“Over the last couple of months, we’ve had multiple interviews that have resulted in two placements so far.  Because of a unique tax situation in one of the states, the company would not hire our candidate.  We countered with the alternative of bringing the employee on as a contract employee.

“Thanks to Top Echelon Contracting, we had a solution that finally met the needs of the candidate and the company.  So Larry and I have two placements, and we are working on others.  It’s great to work with a Trading Partner who is open and informative.”

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

The crazy recruiting stories keep pouring in as part of our “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” contest . . . so we’re going to keep publishing them!  (After all, that’s what you want.)  And all of these stories are like snowflakes or fingerprints—none of them are exactly alike.  They all have their distinctly different shade of crazy, which makes perfect sense if you’re a recruiter.  You know exactly what can happen on a daily basis in this profession, so much so that what might seem crazy to the rest of the world is perfectly routine for you.

This week’s story was submitted by a Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter, and this is one of the few stories that ended with a recruiter actually placing the candidate.  He didn’t place the candidate once, either.  Schutt placed him three times!  That, perhaps more than anything, is what makes the story so “crazy.”

— — —

“I received a resume from a Case graduate—Master’s Degree, BSEE, Putnam Fellow honors, etc.  This was about 1986 or so, when I worked for another agency in Beachwood.  The interview rooms faced south with a window about 8’ x 8’.  The secretary said that there was somebody to see me, but that I should hold my nose.  I went into the room and shook the guy’s hand.

“He was about 6-4 and as skinny as you can get, with a button-down shirt that was buttoned all the way to the top with no tie and flood pants.  There were salt stains from his armpits to within about four inches of his pants.  I thought I was going to die from the smell.  By policy, we closed the door for an interview, but I did not do that because I wanted to live.

“It turns out that the candidate was a very brilliant engineer, so I decided to market the guy, knowing that I would get job orders and interviews.  Anyway, I got some interviews.  I asked my boss what I should do with this guy.  He said to send him out and tell him to take a shower, which I did over the phone.  He goes on the interview and gets the job.

“But wait, it gets better.  This guy becomes a bit of a cash machine.  I have the guy on six interviews, get him four offers, and place him three times.  It turns out he had a gland problem, and there wasn’t much he could do about his sweating.  He works at Cisco in California now, I believe.  The lesson here, at least in Engineering, is don’t let appearances stop you from setting up an interview!”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

Three months to go!  Keep those “crazy” stories coming!

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Everybody gather around the fire.  Uncle Steve is about to tell us some more stories of horror from the recruiting trenches.

Okay, so maybe it’s not quite like that, but Halloween is just around the corner, after all, and what better time to share recruiter horror stories than during the Halloween season.  More than one recruiter has been tricked out of a placement treat by a candidate, hiring authority, or both, and sharing such stories is very much cathartic.

Not to mention the fact that you might win the “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” award.  Not that it’s an actual award.  You see, it’s more about bragging rights and—never mind.  I’m ranting.  You came here for more tales of the crazy, and Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search just happens to have a couple of them . . .

— — —

“I had a client in the video distribution business (supplier to Blockbuster in the early days) who was seeking a Chief Financial Officer, and miraculously a video distribution CFO saw my ad and answered.  I asked him why he was available, and he explained this story to me.

He was CFO of an X-rated movie company, which was not obvious from his resume.  To quote him as exactly as I can recall, ‘The owner was banging some of the actresses, and his wife caught him.  She blew his brains out in his office and was charged with murder.  Her defense is draining the cash out of the company, and we’re in bankruptcy because of it.’

“I also had a candidate this past year who was being considered for a $150K job with one of Craig Chrest‘s clients.  A Google search revealed that the guy was being charged with his ex-wife’s recent murder.  That was the end of that one!”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

Send us your stories.  The more (crazy), the merrier.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Some of the crazy recruiting stories that we’ve relayed during the past month or so have involved animals, specifically those that dealt with jobs in the Animal Science and/or Animal Nutrition industries.  However, this week’s story deviates from that pattern—it’s a crazy recruiting story that involves an animal and doesn’t involve either of those industries.

A Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter submitted this story to us recently, and according to Jenkins, it happened approximately two years ago.  If you’re afraid of snakes, you might find this story to be as unsettling as it is “crazy.”  Enjoy!

— — —

“My client was a very large telecom company in need of an excellent software developer.  Many recruiting calls were made, and I felt that I found the perfect candidate.  He answered all of the ‘test’ questions very well, was available, and had wonderful references from his past three positions.  He admitted he was shy in a crowd, loved animals, was an excellent marksman, and had hockey tickets to the [Colorado] Avalanche pro hockey team.  He even offered to take me to their next game.  He also mentioned that he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome.  According to him, the effect was that he was very very good at discussing one topic at a time with people, but if he was in a crowd of people and had to jump from conversation to conversation, it was incredibly hard for him.

“Though his comment about being awkward in a crowd gave me pause, I did not feel it would be a problem, since the position would be dealing with people over the phone and not face-to-face.  I felt the position would fit him well and introduced his credentials to the client.  They loved his background and immediately asked me to set up a face-to-face interview for the very next day.  The candidate was kind enough to call me from his cell phone, saying he was en route to the interview and would was on schedule to arrive about five minutes before the appointed time.  Thoughts of invoicing the client before the end of the day entered my mind as I commenced making my routine phone calls.

“About five minutes before the interview was to begin, and right in the midst of a rather in-depth marketing call, up pops an instant message on my computer from the guy who had recommended our firm for the search.  All it said was, “What’s up with the freaking snake around his neck?”  As you can imagine, my attention was diverted to this issue, and I called my contact immediately.  It turns out that the candidate loved animals so well that he took his pet boa constrictor most everywhere—even to a job interview.  To make a long story short, he cleared out an entire floor of workers as he entered the building.  I did not get the placement.  The upside is that two days later he called as if nothing was wrong and asked if we were still on for the hockey game.”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and the Recruiter Training Blog.

Halloween is just around the corner, so send us your recruiting stories of the strange and unusual . . . and of course, the crazy.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

Many recruiters have submitted their craziest recruiting story ever—but some have gone so far as to submit more than one crazy recruiting story.  One such recruiter is Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search, who submitted three gems to us via email.  Rather than try to cram them all into one blog post, we’re going to space them out for your enjoyment.

So enjoy . . . and pray this doesn’t happen to you.

— — —

“I had a client who was seeking a National Sales Manager.  They are a timer manufacturer.  The VP said he wants someone who:

• had 10 years of sales management experience
• had knowledge of time clock distribution channels
• was married
• was in his 30s
• had children
• was Italian

I told him that I could only use the first two criteria and that was all I would use.

So, I conducted the search and found that the NSM of their main competitor was available.  He was also 32 years old, married with two children, local, and Italian!

I present the candidate.  Phone interview is great. He goes a face to face interview.  Comes out saying it went great.  I call the VP thinking we’re about to close, and he tells me “John was fantastic, and you did a great job.  It’s too bad we can’t hire him.”

Stupefied, I said “WHY NOT?”

He said “during the conversations we realized that we’re cousins.  I can’t him because he’s a relative.  That would be nepotism.  It’s unethical.”

— — —

Remember, there are three ways you can submit your “Craziest Recruiting Story”:

1. You can email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com.
2. You can post the story by including it in the comments section at the end of this blog.
3. You can give me a call and relay your story to me.

The deadline for submitting your “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2011” is midnight on Saturday, December 31.  We’ll announce the winner during the first part of January in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog and also on “Top Echelon TV.”

Bring on the “Crazy.”  We’re ready for it.

— — —

330.455.1433, Ext. 125
MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
Follow Matt on Twitter.

“Top Echelon TV” is back after its summer break.  No more leisurely walks along the beach and drinks with umbrellas sticking out of them . . . it’s time to get down to business!  (Editor’s note: he would never, ever drink anything with an umbrella in it, miniature or otherwise.  In case you were wondering.)

And “TV” returns with a hot topic for recruiters right now: background checks.  Checking a candidate’s background can mean the difference between making sure that you present quality candidates to your clients and quite possibly tainting your reputation and losing business.  (Click here for a “crazy recruiting story”) that illustrates this point perfectly.)

For this episode, we invited Jen Grimes of Top Echelon Contracting, the recruiter’s back-office solution, to join us.  Top Echelon Contracting has been conducting background checks on all of their contract candidates since 2004, and Grimes is responsible for coordinating all of the background issues for Top Echelon Contracting.

If you have any additional questions regarding background checks, you can contact TEC at 888.627.3678, or visit the Top Echelon contract staffing solutions website.