When you join a split placement network, split placements can happen in all sorts of ways . . . including ways you never even dreamed of.

Take the recent case of Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters Judy Kaplan of Prof’l Recruiting Consultants and Glenda Smith of Metaljobs Network.

Kaplan was at her local gym when one of the gym’s trainers overheard her talking about work.  The trainer asked Kaplan if she was a recruiter and then told her that her husband was looking for a new job.  Kaplan said she was a recruiter, and the trainer then asked if she could email her husband’s resume to her.  Kaplan said she could, and she gave the woman her email address.

According to Kaplan, when she heard the industry in which the trainer’s husband worked—which was outside of her niche—she automatically though of Smith.  And the reason she thought of Smith was because she met her face-to-face in the past.

“I met Glenda years ago at a [Top Echelon] conference, and I knew that she worked Metallurgy,” said Kaplan.  “I figured she probably had a job in the system that this guy might be interested in.”

Kaplan searched through the shared job orders that Smith had posted on Top Echelon and came across one that seemed to be a good fit for the candidate.  The position was for a Technical Manager, and Kaplan emailed the candidate’s resume and RDS (Resume Data Sheet) to Smith, and she also called her.

“Glenda said she recognized the name [of the candidate], but that it had been five years since she had talked with him,” said Kaplan.

Smith then presented the candidate to her client, setting off a chain of events that ultimately ended in a successful split placement.

“I received the job order on January 6, submitted Judy’s candidate on January 10, they interviewed him on January 14, made him an offer after that, and he started work on February 14,” said Smith.  “All because Judy talked with a trainer at her gym.  Now the trainer and her husband are happily settled in South Carolina, near the beach.”

February 14 . . . Valentine’s Day.  Because after all, who doesn’t love when these types of split placements occur?  They’re unexpected, but oh, so satisfying.

“You never know where you’ll find a placement,” said Smith.  “It’s a wonderful split time of year!”

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Top Echelon Network tools used to make this split placement:

1. Top Echelon Network conferences for networking and building a Trading Partner relationship
2. Big Biller recruiting software to send the resume and RDS and also to track the submission
3. Top Echelon Network Split Jobs Database to search for Glenda’s job

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.

Yes, it’s a rather blunt headline. But I got your attention, didn’t I?

Everybody who’s a Preferred Member recruiter in this Network wants to make more money and top placements. But how do you do it?  Well, we’re going to show you two recruiters who serve as a perfect model for building a Trading Partner relationship that produces placements.

Those two recruiters are Donna Carroll of Systems Personnel and Gary Silver of The Shay Group.  As I mentioned in last week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, Carroll recently made her 100th Network placement and Silver made his 200th.

Carroll deals in the placement of Management, Health IT, MEDITECH, and Sales professionals in the Healthcare industry, while Silver specializes in Healthcare and Information Technology.  So they work the same industry . . . that makes sense.  But what else has contributed to their success as Trading Partners?

They work well together AND they know how each other likes to work.

How did Carroll and Silver reach this point?  By investing time in the relationship, from the very beginning, over 15 years ago.

“Donna and I work very closely together,” said Silver.  “She knows my capabilities, and I know hers.  Her client development is excellent, some of the best in Top Echelon.”

“Gary and I share the same business philosophy,” added Carroll.  “And when we call one another, we don’t only discuss current deals in progress.  We talk about other issues, as well, and that’s helped us learn more about the way each other works.”

They communicate constantly.

Speaking of calling each other, Communication is one of The Four Pillars of the Network, and these two take it seriously.

“We don’t talk just every day, we talk several times a day,” said Silver.  “I’ll call Donna up and say, ‘What can I help you with today?’  Or if I have a job order, I’ll say, “Donna, can you help me with this?’  Wherever I can plug into her desk, I will.  She’s like a hotline on my desk.”

Is communicating every day enough?  Probably . . . but these two are communicating several times a day, and they are making placement after placement because of it.

They trust each other—completely.

Okay, this is the single most important factor in any successful Trading Partner relationship.  We’ve been researching this and writing about it for years.  Once you trust your Trading Partner completely, you are going to make multiple placements.  Carroll and Silver are just one example of that.

“As partners, we trust each other implicitly,” said Silver.  “After you trust somebody like that, the placements just happen, although some placements are harder than others.  Some of them took a month to find the right person, but one way or another, we get the job done.”

“Gary is one of those people who I’ve come to know and trust,” said Carroll.  “When you have a trusted relationship like that, you can build on that toward making more placements.”

They’ve developed not just a Trading Partner relationship, but a friendship which has developed over the course of 15+ years of sharing family stories with one another.

This is a crucial element that basically seals the deal on an incredibly productive Trading Partner relationship.  Carroll and Silver have a stellar business relationship and a great friendship.  They like to work with one another AND they like each other.  You can’t beat a combination like that.  Once you’ve reached this point in a Trading Partner relationship with another recruiter, you will make placements!

So there you have it.  Now you know how to make money as a Preferred Member recruiter in the Top Echelon recruiter network:

1. Find other recruiters who work your industry and/or niche.
2. Build a relationship with those recruiters you work well with and you like to work with.
3. Communicate on a constant basis to continue building those relationships.
4. Over time, reach the point where you trust these Trading Partners completely, with all of your information and in every way possible.
5. Make split placements!
6. Repeat as necessary.

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

If there’s one thing that we know about our conferences and conventions, it’s that they hold value for those Preferred Member recruiters who choose to attend.  And the recruiters who attend these events know that they hold value, as well.  In fact, a few of those recruiters agreed to talk about that value.  Incidentally, all of these recruiters are currently registered for the upcoming 2011 National Convention.  So, without further adieu . . .
“I would like to thank TE for their continuing efforts to host conferences that relevant, educational and fun!

After having worked for one of the top recruiting firms in the country for the first five years of my career; I took a chance on myself and started my own firm fifteen years ago.  I am not sure how far I would have gotten if I had not been lucky enough to have discovered TE.  My business is intricately connected with most of TE’s services but one of the most useful services TE has to offer is the yearly conferences.

In the fifteen years that  I have been attending TE conferences I have never failed to come away with valuable tools and a fresh insight into our industry.  The TE staff and TE membership are among the most helpful, honest and talented people in our industry today.   I highly recommend every one of the TE membership make the investment in themselves and attend the2011 National Conference this year.

Jill Kohler-Easley of the Easley Resource Group

“It’s always good to get away from the day to day  business grind and  meet Peers who you have worked with over the past year.I think these face discussions whether they are in a social or business setting go a long way to building better business relationships. It does help to recharge your batteries. The exchange of new ideas and approaches is another positive reason to attend. Looking at your business in a different way can be beneficial.”

Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

“Every time I go to a TE convention I meet someone new and as a result we have been able to make splits.  The most stupid example is  – Lloyd Shoemaker and I, he’s about an hour up I-75 from me, never even knew each other existed, sat at a TE Saturday night dinner together and now I am one of his  go-to person for IT and Accounting positions.  Whenever a  I have an ERP related IT position I will always make Sean Napoles aware of it and of course I have met Sean numerous times at conventions.  I have been a member of a number of networks over the 30+ years I have been recruiting and although this job might  be done by email and over the phone – I think we all know that face-to-face the only way we can make a placement!”

Cindy Andrew Cordell of Corporate Resources, LLC

As you can see, the value that Top Echelon conferences and conventions hold can take a number of different forms.  However, there is value in attending, and you can attend the National Convention at the low price of just $345 per person during the Early Bird Registration period.  Don’t let this opportunity pass you by.  Login to the Members’ Area today and sign up for the convention.  We hope to see you there!

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.

We picked a great location . . . we slashed the cost . . . we packed it with as much training and networking as we possibly could.  But in the end, what matters when it comes to the 2011 National Convention are the Trading Partners relationships and split placements that could result from attending.  After all, that’s why the recruiters who have already signed up made the decision to attend—placements, placements, and more placements.  But don’t take it from me.

“I am excited for the Ft. Lauderdale convention! I have directly attributed at lease one placement to each and every convention I have attended so I would  not miss one. The opportunity to get together with other recruiters I have good relationships with, as well as meeting recruiters I have not known previously, in a fun out of office environment, has proven to be of huge value when back in the office. Again, I have gotten a placement within weeks of each convention as a direct result of my attending the convention. It’s a no-brainer!”

David M. Sgro of True North Consultants

“The reason I attend TE conventions is that invariably I will meet, exchange JO information with another recruiter and make a split placement.  I would say that I average one split every two conventions.   Sometimes in that attempt is just the developing of a professional recruiting relationship that will lead maybe 1-2 split placements or more down the road.  It is about meeting, knowing and developing trust with these great folks.  In one case, I came back from a convention and told one of my recruiters and he pick it up from there and had the ideal candidate resulting in a split.  Some recruiters complain about the time lost and the cost.  For us, Cocventions just work.  It’s an investment in your business.”

Don Walker of Search Team One

“We have not missed a national or Chicago convention since joining the network in 2005.  We have successfully made placements with recruiters time after time again that we have met at these conferences.  We have formed strong bonds with partnering recruiters due to these meetings.  The result – we make more money every year by attending these conferences.”

Maria Hemminger of MJ Recruiters, LLC

These recruiters made split placements because they invested in their Network Membership and attended a Top Echelon convention.  You can, too.  Sign up for the 2011 National Convention at the Early Bird Registration price of $349 per person.  There could be split placement opportunities waiting for you in Fort Lauderdale.  It would be a shame if you weren’t there to greet them.

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.

Last month, we announced the winner of our “Craziest Recruiting Story of 2010” contest.  During the course of the contest, we received numerous submissions from recruiters, both inside and outside of the Network.  Some of these stories didn’t qualify for the contest because they didn’t occur in 2010, but we enjoyed them, nonetheless, and we plan to publish them in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog for the edification of our readership.  Because if it’s one thing that all recruiters have—and that they don’t mind sharing—it’s a crazy recruiting story.

This week’s story comes from a Top Echelon Network recruiter in Virginia Beach, Va.  If you’d like to submit your crazy recruiting story, email it to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

“Several years ago, I was in general recruiting here in [Mobile, Ala.]  I had a long-time client that I recruited sales people for.  I had set up an interview one afternoon for a candidate that I felt was a ‘shoo-in.’  I felt his background was excellent and also that he and the hiring manager, who I knew quite well, would hit it off.  They had the same interest, personality, etc.  Later, I found out just how much they had in common!  I was really feeling good about this one.
 
“The interview was at 3 p.m. and knowing the hiring manager as I did, I knew I would get a call after the interview.  I waited in my office for the call until almost five and since I had not heard from the hiring manager or the candidate I called the company to check on it.
 
“I was told that the hiring manager was out of the office and knowing him the way I did I could understand why he had not called me so I decided to speak with the office manager to see if I could get any information.  Since I had worked with the client for so long I also knew this person quite well and as we were talking I knew something odd was going on.  He finally spilled the beans . . .

“The hiring manager’s wife apparently was having a long term affair, and during the interview he some how discovered that the candidate that I sent was the person his wife was seeing!  He came over the desk and jumped him and the fight was on!  They both ended up in the emergency room – noting serious but apparently each of them got in some really good punches.
 
“My candidate was not hired—not a big surprise—but I managed to keep the client and that certainly WAS a surprise!  What I never understood was why the candidate took the interview.  He had to know who he was seeing.  I never spoke with him again . . .he did not return my call.
 
“And now you have ‘the rest of the story’ . . .”

We’ll be publishing more crazy recruiting solutions stories in the future, and one of them could be yours!  Remember, email your story to marketing@TopEchelon.com, and your might see it in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

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.

If you asked recruiters what they want to do in 2011, the answer “Make more money while working fewer hours” might just be a popular response.  And those recruiters who attend the 2011 Top Echelon Network National Convention are going to find out exactly how they can do that.

That’s because Jon Bartos of Jonathan Scott International will be the featured speaker at the National Convention.  Two of the themes running through all three of his presentations will be that of “working smarter, not harder” and “making more money in less time.”  Jon’s sessions are scheduled for the second day of the convention, which is Saturday, May 14.

Below are the titles and descriptions of those sessions:
“The Mechanics of Making More and Working Less”

Recruiters everywhere are working harder and harder for the same results (and in some cases, less results).  How can this be stopped?  In this session, Jon will show attendees how to work more efficiently and effectively in everything they do, hitting upon three key areas—1. Technique (process), 2. Time, and 3. Technology (including social media).

“Business Development in a Recovering Economy”

In this session, Jon will share the most effective business development techniques for recruiters—the methods that are working now in today’s economic environment.  He’ll tell attendees what they should be doing and what they shouldn’t be doing.  It all comes down to making the correct decisions, and Jon will help you make the business decisions that are right for you.

“Using Technology in Recruiting Effectively”

When it comes to recruiting, technology goes beyond social media, although Jon will touch upon social media and social networking in this session.  However, he’ll discuss all aspects of technology and how recruiters should implement these aspects into their desk and recruiting process.  Once again, Jon will recommend what to use and what not to use . . . and he’ll tell you why.

And not only can you make more money in less time by attending the National Convention, you can also save money by attending.  That’s because if you sign up before Friday, January 14, you can still take advantage of the “Super Early Bird” registration price of just $275 per person.  Once again, that’s the lowest price we’ve ever offered for a National Convention.

But that price is only good until the end of the business day on Friday.  After that, the price goes up to $349 per person, which is the “Regular Early Bird” price.  The dates of the National Convention are Thursday, May 12, through Saturday, May 14, and the location is The Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

I hope to see you there!

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

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