Last week, we highlighted Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates for his consistent split placement production during his tenure as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network.  We also promised to highlight more recruiters just like him.  Well, this week, we are!

Actually, this recruiter—Jim Strickland of BioSource International—basically forced us to highlight him, mainly because he’s the “Recruiter of the Month” for the month of November.  Not only did he win that award, but he also earned a share of the “Highest Split Placement Fee of the Month” award.

Strickland has made a total of 77 Network placements since he became a Preferred Member recruiter in 2003.  Once again, he’s one of those recruiters who “flies beneath the radar” in the Network, but one who continues to churn out placements year after year.  Everybody at Top Echelon would like to congratulate Strickland on his accomplishments and also wish him many more split placements in the years to come!

Remember, 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.  Peace.

— — —

Recruiter of the Month
Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Strickland was one of three recruiters who made two Network split placements during the month of November.  However, he edged out Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search and Carol Brinkman of Corporate Resources, LLC based upon his cash-in total for those placements, which was $33,722.50.  Although the other two recruiters also made two split placements during the month, Strickland boasted a greater cash-in total than they did.

— — —

Highest Split Placement Fee of the Month
Jim Strickland of BioSource International and Denise Milano Sprung of JA Pharma, Inc.

This hefty fee (which helped Strickland win the “Recruiter of the Month” award) was earned by placing a Lead Neurologist.  The catalyst for this placement was Strickland’s Hiring Hook website, since the candidate applied for Milano Sprung’s job on his website.

— — —

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 the basis of our criteria for these awards.  We determine the monthly and quarterly award winners based upon two factors, 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

In other words, the number of split placements that recruiters make is our first consideration.  In the event of a tie, the cash-in total earned from those split placements is the deciding factor and serves to break the tie.  Obviously, the recruiter with more cash-in dollars in the event of a tie is the recruiter who wins the award.

There are Preferred Member recruiters in Top Echelon Network who go diligently about their way, networking extensively with other recruiters and making split placements.  Not a ton of splits, but two or three or four a year—which MORE than pays for their monthly Membership fees.

Unfortunately, these recruiters don’t get as much press or publicity as some of the Top Producers do . . . but we’re going to change that this week.  That’s because we’re highlighting Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.  Radzely has been a steady producer in the Network, having made a total of 56 placements during his time as a Preferred Member.

This week, Radzley has TWO split placements in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  To illustrate his versatility as a Trading Partner, he was the job order recruiter for one of the placements and the candidate recruiter for the other placement.  We’d like to congratulate Radzely for those two placements, as well as everybody else who made a split placement this week!

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Tim Hopkins, CPC/CTS of Stephens International Recruiting, Inc.

Job title: BIOMEDICAL FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—15%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Christine Ramsay of Corporate Resources, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Larry Radzely of Adel-Lawrence Associates, Inc.

Job title: FIELD SERVICE ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: Reaching out to a recruiter I have not worked with who works with Field Service Engineers

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Janet Miller of Computer Management, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jeffrey Gilbert of Kingfish Technology, LLC

Job title: PROGRAM ANALYST

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Denise Milano Sprung of JA Pharma, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Job title: LEAD NEUROLOGIST

Fee Percentage—20%

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.

— — —

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MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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Once you make a split placement with another Preferred Member recruiter . . . you’re more likely to make MORE split placements with that recruiter in the future.  This installment of “Comments and Compliments” is further evidence of that.

That’s because the recruiters profiled in this week’s issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog have all made multiple split placements with one another.  They know each other well, they know how the other person likes to work during the recruiting process, and as a result, there’s no telling how many split placements they could make in the future.  Trading Partners in Top Echelon Network have made as many as 20 splits together during their career—and in some cases, even more than that.

If you’d like to compliment one of your Trading Partners for a recent split placement, send your comments to marketing@TopEchelon.com, and they’ll appear in a future issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

— — —

“Yeah!  We did it again!”

Submitted by Carol Brinkman, CPC of Corporate Resources, LLC regarding her split placement with Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

Position Title—JAVA SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: this is the fourth split placement that Brinkman and Napoles have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

“Mark Tappis rocks!  Thanks, Mark!”

Submitted by Alan Carty of Automationtechies.com regarding his split placement with Marc Tappis of Opportunity Search, Inc.

Position Title—SYSTEMS ENGINEER
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: This is the second split placement that Carty and Tappis have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

Remember, if you have compliments for a Trading Partner regarding a split placement, please email them to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

One of the indicators of how things are going for recruiters overall is their prevailing fee percentage.  Typically, that fee is 20% to 30% of the candidate’s starting salary.

Well, in this week’s breakdown of split placements within Top Echelon Network, there’s a placement with a fee of 35%.  The Preferred Member recruiters involved placed a Project Electrical Engineer, indicating that there’s a need for such candidates.

What about the other percentages for this week’s split placements?  The majority of them are 25% fees, and the others are 20% fees.  During the depth of the recession, it wasn’t unusual to see fees as low as 10%, but as the economy improves and grade-A candidates become more difficult to find (especially in high-demand industries like Information Technology), fees are beginning to rise.

What’s been YOUR experience?  Do you believe that companies are more willing to pay fees in the 25% to 30% range?  Or are they still attempting to keep fees as low as possible, no matter how badly they need the talent for which they’re looking?  Feel free to comment at the end of this blog post.

In the meantime, below are the split placements in Top Echelon Network for this week:

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Ron Magnusson of Norseman Recruiting Services

Candidate recruiter: David Wick of Career Center of Cincinnati

Job title: PROJECT ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—35%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Jim Smiarowski of Atlantic Systems Group

Candidate recruiter: Judy Kaplan of Prof’l Recruiting Consultants

Job title: SAP FUNCTION ANALYST

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Jan Burke of MetalJobs Network

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: INDUSTRIAL ELECTRICIAN

Fee Percentage—25%

Action causing split placement: The job seeker or client was found through Steve Kohn’s Hiring Hook Website.

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Larry Baker of Computer Careers

Candidate recruiter: Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group

Job title: MECHANICAL ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Eric V. Stearley, CPC of Eric V. Stearley, CPC & Associates

Candidate recruiter: Ed Chambers of Search Team One

Job title: MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Lisa DeBenedittis of Elite Recruiting Services, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Stephanie McGinty of Ives & Associates, Inc.

Job title: SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Debbi Reiger of Reiger Technical Search

Candidate recruiter: Melinda O’Neil of Enterprise Search Associates

Job title: .NET DEVELOPER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

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

Candidate recruiter: Rebecca Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: BIOSECURITY TECHNICAL SERVICES VETERINARIAN

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

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.

Yes, it’s another installment of one of our most popular Pinnacle Newsletter Blog features . . . and another first split placement for a new Preferred Member recruiter.

The recruiter in question is Rick Krumel of SearchWise, Inc., who joined Top Echelon Network in May of this year.  After just six months, Krumel has already made his first split placement and received a rather sizeable return on his investment.  Everybody here at Top Echelon Network would like to congratulate him for his first split and wish him good luck in the pursuit of many more!

However, that split placement isn’t the only one we’re highlighting this week.  There’s another one—and we’ll be highlighting even more in the future.  So if you’d like to comment one of your Trading Partners for a recent split placement, send your comments to marketing@TopEchelon.com, and they’ll appear in a future issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

— — —

“Cindy reviewed my job posting and referred her candidate, who was outstanding, on October 13.  We had offer acceptance in 15 days from the date of referral.”

Submitted by Rick Krumel of SearchWise, Inc. regarding his split placement with Cindy Andrew Cordell of Corporate Resources, LLC

Position Title—COMMODITY BUYER
Fee Percentage—25%

— — —

“Stepanie McGinty was delightful to work with.  Stephanie was extremely patient with a slow-moving client, offered great advice on some challenges we faced with the client, and brought a rock star candidate to the table who surpassed the competition—hands down.  THANK YOU, Stephanie!  I really enjoyed working with you.”

Submitted by Lisa De Benedittis of Elite Recruiting Services, Inc. regarding her split placement with Stephanie McGinty of Ives & Associates, Inc.

Position Title—SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
Fee Percentage—20%

— — —

Remember, if you have compliments for a Trading Partner regarding a split placement, please email them to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

The longer Top Echelon Network exists . . . the fewer Charter Members there are.  That’s just one of the unfortunate consequences of longevity.  However, there’s one Charter Member who’s still going strong in the Network, and that Preferred Member recruiter is Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems.

Brody has been an extremely consistent producer in Top Echelon Network since he joined back at the very beginning—March 8, 1988.  During his 20-plus years in the Network, Brody has now made a total of 93 placements, with five of those placements occurring this year.

In addition, three of his placements for 2011 were made recently, which is the reason that Brody is the “Recruiter of the Month” for the month of October.  That’s just one of the two award winners we’re announcing in this Pinnacle Newsletter Blog post (actually, one of three, since the other award includes a pair of recruiters).

Remember, 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.

— — —

Recruiter of the Month

Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems

Brody was one of two recruiters who made three Network split placements during the month of October.  However, he edged out Trey Cameron of the Cameron Craig Group based upon his cash-in total for those split placements.

Among the Preferred Member recruiters who made two split placements apiece during the month of October were Bob Small of Carroll Technology Services, Inc. and David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.  (In fact, the two spit placements that Small and Sgro made were with each other!)

— — —

Highest Split Placement Fee of the Month

Susan Ploeger of Ploeger Recruiting Services and Jim Brown of Galileo Search, LLC

This rather large fee was earned by placing a Director of Quality Resources.

The action causing this placement was listed as “Regular phone communication with another 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 the basis of our criteria for these awards.  We determine the monthly and quarterly award winners based upon two factors, 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

In other words, the number of split placements that recruiters make is our first consideration.  In the event of a tie, the cash-in total earned from those split placements is the deciding factor and serves to break the tie.  Obviously, the recruiter with more cash-in dollars in the event of a tie is the recruiter who wins the award.

Okay, I know . . . we’ve been singing the same song for so long that maybe it’s overkill.  But it’s not overkill for those Preferred Member recruiters who continue to make split placements with their Trading Partners (like the ones below, for instance).

It doesn’t matter HOW you communicate with them:

• Call them.
• Email them.
• Text them.
• Chat them.
• Visit them in person.
• Send them a singing telegram.

How you communicate isn’t nearly as important as making the decision to communicate.  Communicate about your hot job orders and candidates.  Those recruiters who make the most split placements in Top Echelon Network communicate with their Trading Partners nearly every day.

They’ve made the commitment to do it . . . and now they’re making the money to prove it.  You can, too.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Steve Moore of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

Job title: QA-SANITATION MANAGER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Carol Brinkman of Corporate Resources, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

Job title: JAVA SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Candidate recruiter: Carol Brinkman of Corporate Resources, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Joe Miglizzi of Perspective

Job title: JAVA SOFTWARE DEVELOPER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: David Kersey of Kersey & Associates, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Tim Hughes of Hughes & Associates

Job title: CHEMICAL PLANT MANAGER

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: David M. Sgro of True North Consultants, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Jim Strickland of BioSource International

Job title: JD EDWARDS BUSINESS SYSTEMS ANALYST

Fee Percentage—20%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Wendy Johnson of Professionals Incorporated

Candidate recruiter: Sean Napoles, CPC of Career Brokers, Inc.

Job title: QA/TESTER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

Job order recruiter: Rick Krumel of SearchWish, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Cindy Andrew Cordell of Corporate Resources, LLC

Job title: COMMODITY BUYER

Fee Percentage—25%

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

 — — —

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.

Question: “What’s the best kind of Trading Partner?”

Answer: “One who’s in it for the long haul and isn’t afraid to stick it out to make a deal happen.”

In this installment of”‘Comments’ and Compliments,”we look at just such a split placement situation.  As any recruiter can attest, some placements happen quickly, and others . . . do not.  That’s why when a Trading Partner is committed to a split placement, no matter how long it takes, that Trading Partner deserves kudos.  In this case, both recruiters were rewarded with a split placement fee, as well as the knowledge that they have a Trading Partner upon which they can fully count.

How you made a split placement with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter that took a lengthy amount of time?  Would you like to compliment that Trading Partner for their commitment and their investment of time and energy?  Then send your comments to marketing@TopEchelon.com, and they’ll appear in a future issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

— — —

“This placement was over 8 months in the making.  Location was a big drawback, and the client would not budge on the requirements.  Greg was my partner in this from the beginning.  He kept feeding me candidates until we found the one who was a perfect fit in all categories.  Hats off to Greg!”

Submitted by Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates regarding his split placement with Greg Downs of Downs Associates

Position Title—SAFETY MANAGER
Fee Percentage—25%

— — —

“Tim, thanks for your great assistance!  Let’s get another split!”

Submitted by David Kersey of Kersey & Associates, Inc. regarding his split placement with Tim Hughes of Hughes & Associates

Position Title—CHEMICAL PLANT MANAGER
Fee Percentage—25%

— — —

Remember, if you have compliments for a Trading Partner regarding a split placement, please email them to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

What does it take to make split placements in Top Echelon Network?  Besides adhering to The Four Pillars of the Network, that is?  Well, it takes two more things:

1. A split-placement mentality
2. The desire to embrace the “spirit of networking”

When recruiters embrace the “spirit of networking,” they actively seek out opportunities to make split placements with other recruiters, especially if the split placement situation would be the best one for the candidate, as well.  That’s the case with one of the split placements being highlighted in this week’s installment of “‘Comments’ and Compliments.”

If you want to be successful as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network, you can’t treat split placements as an afterthought.  You have to be split-minded . . . and you have to embrace the “spirit of networking.”  Then success will follow.

If you’d like to compliment your Trading Partner for a recent split placement (or placements), send your comments to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

— — —

“Michelle had a candidate scheduled for an interview already before she sent the candidate to me.  She could have held off sending him and [tried collecting] a full fee, but instead she sent him, anyway, and we made a split.  Thanks for thinking of the candidate first, Michelle.  You are awesome!  I hope we do many more splits!”

Submitted by Alan Daum of Alan N. Daum & Associates, Inc. regarding his split placement with Michelle Johnson of Automationtechies.com

Position Title—PROCESS AUTOMATION ENGINEER
Fee Percentage—25%

— — —

“This was a great candidate.  The company hired him for a different job than the original sendout.  Matt is great to work with.  I’m looking forward to many more splits with him and the J. Miles Company.  Thanks, Matt!”

Submitted by Steve Moore of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc. regarding his split placement with Matt Scheihing of J. Miles Personnel Services

Position Title—QA-SANITATION MANAGER
Recruiter Hourly Rate—25%

— — —

Remember, if you have compliments for a Trading Partner regarding a split placement, please email them to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

As many you know, our ‘Comments’ and Compliments feature is one of our more popular features in The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  We receive compliments every week from recruiters wanting to praise their Trading Partners for recent split placements.  However, we also have a “‘Comments’ and Compliments Extra” feature, one in which BOTH recruiters want to give each other public accolades.

That’s the case this week—except the accompanying compliments are a bit delayed.  That’s okay, though.  We’re nothing if not flexible.  Besides, it was this recruiter’s first split placement as a Preferred Member of Top Echelon Network.  That recruiter is DeAnna Metcalf of TeamLink Global.  Metcalf joined the Network in May of this year, meaning that she’s received a significant return on her Membership investment in just five months.

How has she done this?  She’s done it by embracing one of The Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network: Active Participation.  As of the writing of this blog post, Metcalf has six job orders and 46 candidates listed in the Network’s Split Databases.  She’s put herself in an excellent position to make more than one split placement during her first 12 months as a Preferred Member.

Metcalf made her first split placement in Top Echelon Network with Nick Stoia of ASAP Search and Recruiters.  Her comments regarding that split placement are below:

— — —

“It was a pleasure working with Nick on this placement, and I hope we have many more opportunities in the future.  I would not have filled this position without his help.  This was my first split placement [in Top Echelon Network], and it’s certainly made me feel good about my investment!”

Submitted by DeAnna Metcalf of TeamLink Global regarding her split placement with Nick Stoia of ASAP Search and Recruiters

Position Title—MAINTENANCE TECH (REFRIGERATION)
Fee Percentage—25%

— — —

Stoia offered his own comments about this split placement in the August 8 issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.  Click here to read those comments and bring this installment of “‘Comments’ and Compliments Extra” full circle.

Remember, if you have compliments for a Trading Partner regarding a split placement, please email them to marketing@TopEchelon.com.