Believe it or not, two months of the year are already gone!  What the heck happened to them?  I have no idea, but I do know this: Early Bird Registration for the 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention ends on Friday, March 1!

What is that important?  It’s important because you can save money while signing up for our 25th anniversary event.  The price of Early Bird Registration is just $495 per person.

It’s also important because attending events like the National Convention is one of the best ways to enjoy more success as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network.  I know, I know, we sound like a broken record, don’t we?

Well, there’s a reason for that: because we’re telling the truth!

We have case study after case study and story after story illustrating the value that attending these events can bring you, your recruiting desk, and your recruiting firm.  We’re not making this stuff up.  We’re just reporting it, and below are a few examples:

Anjela Mangrum makes her first Network split placement with Joe Noto after meeting at the 2012 Fall Conference!

Top Producers Maria Hemminger and Suzanne Griffith also make a split placement after the 2012 Fall Conference!

Cindy Szajkovics and Peter Oettinger make a split placement after meeting at the 2012 National Convention!

We want YOU to be our next case study.  We want to use the story of one of YOUR placements to help convince other Preferred Members of the value that attending our conventions can provide.

But we need YOU to attend the National Convention first!  Attend the convention, meet other recruiters, find Trading Partners, and make placements that you wouldn’t have made otherwise.

And yes—that’s absolutely as much fun as it sounds.  We’ll see you in Florida!

Register for the 2013 National Convention!

— — —

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The forensic crime drama CSI and its spin-offs have enjoyed a long life on network television.  One of the most memorable lines from that series—its signature line, really—is “The evidence never lies.”

And so it is with the value associated with attending Top Echelon Network conferences and conventions: the evidence of that value never lies, and that evidence almost always takes the form of split placements between Preferred Member recruiters.

Take, for example, the two recruiters involved in our most recent case study.  One is a veteran of the recruiting industry who’s been a Member of the Network for 20 years.  The other became a Preferred Member in April of 2012.  Both attended the 2012 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference in Chicago.

While at the conference, they networked with one another, but more importantly, they continued to network after the conference was over.  What was the result (or perhaps more accurately, the evidence)?  It was a split placement mere months later, and not only that, it was the first Network split for the new Preferred Member.

If these two recruiters hadn’t attended the Fall Conference, they wouldn’t have met, they wouldn’t have networked, and they would NOT have made this split placement.

The evidence never lies . . .

This convention case study is a prime example of Network success, and it’s also a prime reason why you should attend the upcoming Top Echelon Network National Convention!

Want another reason?  Early Bird Registration for the convention ends on Friday, March 1.  You only have a few days left, so sign up now!

— — —

“I believe Anjela contacted me as a follow-up from the Chicago Fall Conference.  After our discussion, I contacted her with info about this search.  She subsequently provided me with two candidates, and both of them were right on target.  Of the three finalists for the position, two of them were Anjela’s.  I appreciate help from TE Trading Partners, but what I appreciate most is when the candidates are well qualified by recruiters and right on target.  Anjela did a great job with both.”

Submitted by Joe Noto of Regency Search Group regarding his split placement with Anjela Mangrum of Mangrum Career Solutions, LLC

Position Title—DIRECTOR OF PURCHASING
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Noto and Mangrum have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

The 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention is scheduled for Thursday, April 25, through Saturday, April 27, at the TradeWinds Resort Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Register for the 2013 National Convention!

— — —

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drea@topechelon.com
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With this week’s installment of split placements, we’re going to prove that you don’t have to make 20 placements a year in Top Echelon to be considered a Network success.

That’s because this week, we’re highlighting long-time Preferred Member Lloyd Shoemaker of Miami Professional Search, LLC, who has two placements listed in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog.

Shoemaker, a staunch advocate of the benefits of networking, has been unerringly consistent during his time in Top Echelon.  As an example, he made two split placements in 2009, two in 2010, two in 2011, and two in 2012.

Let’s do some math, shall we?  If dues in Top Echelon Network are $125 per month (and they are), then Shoemaker pays $1,500 per year to be a Preferred Member.

However, if he makes two split placements each year, and his share of each fee is approximately $7,500 (the average AFTER Top Echelon takes its 6% brokerage fee), then he earns $15,000 each year from his Network Membership.

Invest $1,500 . . . earn $15,000 on that investment.  That’s a 10-fold increase.

Sounds like a success to me.

If you have questions about how you can make two (or more) placements each and every year in Top Echelon Network, contact Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti at (330) 455-1433, Ext. 156.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Catherine Bateman

Job order recruiter: Chris Wellington of Bio-Partners Search Group, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Catherine Bateman of Woods & Paolino Recruiting Solutions

Job title: VP OF FRANCHISE SALES AND DEVELOPMENT

Fee percentage—20%

Action causing split placement: [Candidate] applied, and Catherine followed up with more information

— — —

Job order recruiter: Tom Heeney, CPC of Corporate Resources, LLC

Candidate recruiter: Lloyd Shoemaker of Miami Professional Search, LLC

Job title: SENIOR DESIGN ENGINEER

Fee percentage—15%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Jeff Ploeger of Ploeger Recruiting Services

Candidate recruiter: David Wick, CPC of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Job title: PRODUCT ENGINEER

Fee percentage—25%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Jeff Ploeger of Ploeger Recruiting Services

Candidate recruiter: Eric Berg of JN Adams & Associates, Inc.

Job title: SUPPLIER QUALITY ENGINEER

Fee percentage—25%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Debra L. Stitt, CPC of Quality Source Inc. of Ohio

Candidate recruiter: Lee Fierman of Gables Search Group, Inc.

Job title: PAYROLL/HUMAN RESOURCE REPRESENTATIVE

Fee percentage—25%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Laura J. Petraitis-Doll of LS Doll & Associates

Candidate recruiter:Greg Downs of Downs Associates

Job title: EHS SPECIALIST

Fee percentage—25%

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

— — —

Ron Sunshine

Job order recruiter:Ron Sunshine of Ron Sunshine Associates

Candidate recruiter: Lloyd Shoemaker of Miami Professional Search, LLC

Job title: QUALITY ENGINEER

Fee percentage—20%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Michael Stuck of Gables Search Group, Inc.

Candidate recruiter: Mario Linale of Atlas Consulting Group, LLC

Job title: SOFTWARE ENGINEER-PROGRESS

Fee percentage—20%

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

— — —

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mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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Last month, Valentine’s Day fell on one of Top Echelon Network’s Virtual Core Group (VCG) teleconference call days!

Unfortunately this month, St. Patrick’s Day does NOT fall on one of our VCG teleconference call days.  However, St. Patrick’s Day does fall on my birthday.  (Or perhaps my birthday falls on St. Patrick’s Day . . . I haven’t decided yet.)

So I thank you in advance for the birthday wishes.  And no, I’m not Irish.  That’s a common misconception.

Anyway, this doesn’t mean our Virtual Core Group schedule for March doesn’t have the “luck of the Irish.”  It does, and that’s because whenever you get like-minded recruiters together to network, good things happen.

Virtual Core Group meetings are regularly scheduled teleconference calls for Preferred Member recruiters who work in the same industry or niche.

During these calls, recruiters share information about the activity they’re seeing, they share hot job orders and candidates, and they also bounce ideas off one another.  These are the activities that lead most directly to making split placements.

Below is the Virtual Core Group teleconference call schedule for the month of March (all times listed are Eastern Standard Time).

Lately, the recruiters in our VCG meetings have been busy.  They have job openings and they need candidates.  There’s a lot of activity on these calls and between group members.  They’re sharing information, and they’re making placements.

And they want you to join the party!

So do it!  Don’t make me put a leprachaun curse on you.  Because I will.

— — —

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drea@topechelon.com
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In 1969, the band “The Turtles” released a song titled, “Happy Together,” which eventually reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Why bring that up?  I bring that up because the Trading Partners featured in this week’s installment of “Comments and Compliments,” are definitely “happy together.”  The numbers, which are located below, speak for themselves: 14 placements overall, nine by one pair of Trading Partners and five by the other pair.

These recruiters are making a bunch of money by choosing to work with each other again and again and again.  Heck, the quality of the candidates being presented in one of the Trading Partner relationships recently prompted the client company to create a new position where one hadn’t existed before.

That’s like an “extra bonus placement.”  Who wouldn’t LOVE that?  (I’d love it.)

These recruiters are prime examples of when relationships work well in Top Echelon recruiter network, they work really well.  The recruiters involved make multiple placements, and yes, they’re “happy together.”

Remember, if you’d like to compliment one of your split fee recruiting 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.

— — —

“This now makes several placements that Ram Kola and I have made together.  Ram targets the candidates very well to the job requirements and always sends candidates that I am able to present to my clients and know they will be seriously considered.  He is an excellent Trading Partner and we seem to make a great team.  Congrats, Ram!”

Submitted by Larry Baker of Computer Careers regarding his split placement with Ram Kola of Stewart Cooper & Coon

Position Title—AIX ADMINISTRATOR

Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: this is the ninth placement that Baker and Kola have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

“Mark’s candidate was so great the manager got approval to hire three people instead of the two that had been approved!  The candidate was a referral from the guy we placed with the client last month.”

Submitted by Carolyn Barcus of Barcus Associates regarding her split placement with Mark London of Command Consultants, Inc.

Position Title—SALES DEVELOPMENT DIGITAL MARKET
Fee Percentage—20%

(Editor’s note: this is the fifth split placement that Barcus and London have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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If you’re looking for two keys to enjoying success as a Preferred Member recruiter in Top Echelon Network, look no further.

That’s because we have them!

Well, not us specifically, but the two recruiters we’re featuring in this installment of “‘Comments’ and Compliments Extra.”  (We run “‘Comments’ and Compliments Extra” when two recruiters enjoyed a particular split placement experience so much that they both submit compliments about it.  In most cases, only one recruiter does so.)

In any event, as you can see by the comments below, “quick feedback” and “communication” throughout the process, but especially at the beginning, held the key to making this split placement happen.  Communication, of course, is one of the Four Pillars of Top Echelon Network.

That feedback and communication helped the process move more quickly, which means that the right candidate was found, presented, and hired more quickly . . . and that’s a happy ending for everybody!

If you’d like to compliment a Trading Partner in a more extensive manner regarding a split placement, email your comments and information to marketing@TopEchelon.com.

— — —

Catherine Bateman

“Chris had a good understanding of what the client wanted for this role.  He gave insight and quick feedback on the first candidates I sent.  This allowed me to really target the candidate he wanted.  I believe great communication at the beginning of a job saves a lot of work later.  Thanks, Chris!”

Position Title—VP of Franchise Sales and Development
Fee Percentage—20%

Submitted by Catherine Bateman of Woods & Paolino Recruiting Solutions regarding her split placement with Chris Wellington of Bio-Partners Search Group, LLC

— — —

“This was a great split.  We had a couple of TE partners helping to fill a very niche search with heavy requirements by the client.  Great job done by Catherine in finding several key candidates and assisting with an awesome placement!”

Position Title—VP of Franchise Sales and Development
Fee Percentage—20%

Submitted by Chris Wellington of Bio-Partners Search Group, LLC regarding his split placement with Catherine Bateman of Woods & Paolino Recruiting Solutions

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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At Top Echelon Network, we love it when two Network recruiters make their first split placement together!

Why?  First, it means that they’ve benefited from using the Top Echelon system and it works for them.  Second, it means that their second split placement together could be just around the corner . . . because in many cases, where there’s one, there’s many.

But that’s not all!  (Of course that’s not all.)

In this week’s installment of “Comments and Compliments,” we have two pairs of recruiters that have made their first recruiter split fee Network placement together.  One of those placements brought with it a 30% fee.

The only thing better than making your first split placement with another recruiter is making your first split placement with another recruiter for a 30% fee.  (Okay, 35% would be better, but quit splitting hairs, would ya?)

Remember, 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.

— — —

“I appreciated Bob’s hands-on support and involvement throughout the process.”

Submitted by Therese Eckhoff, CPC of Recruiting Pros of Chicagoland regarding her split placement with Bob Ferris of Ferris & Associates, LLC

Position Title—SAP BASIS ADMINISTRATOR
Fee Percentage—25%

(Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Eckhoff and Ferris have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

“Rob sent a solid candidate on the first go-round.  It had been tough filling the position, so great job and thanks for taking the initiative to see if we still needed candidates!”

Submitted by Maja Munoz of Human Technologies, Inc. regarding her split placement with Rob Spaulding of Spaulding Associates

Position Title—KEY ACCOUNT SALES

Fee Percentage—30%

(Editor’s note: this is the first split placement that Munoz and Spaulding have made together in Top Echelon Network.)

— — —

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mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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Sure, the 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention isn’t for another couple of months.  However, this is our 25th anniversary celebration!

With that in mind, we have to get a head start on the festivities.  We must generate “buzz,” so to speak, so that this will be one of our best networking events ever.  (No pressure, Deutsch . . . no pressure.)

Considering that Top Echelon Network is on Twitter (@tenetwork), we’ve had an official hashtag for our past few conferences and conventions.  This will once again be the case for the 2013 National Convention.

A hashtag is a tool within Twitter used to aggregate the conversation surrounding a topic, or in this case, an event.  You create a hashtag by combining the pound sign (#) with a word, acronym, or phrase.

As an example, below is the official hashtag of the 2013 National Convention:

#TENAT13

Include this hashtag with every one of your tweets regarding the National Convention.  Keep in mind that you don’t have to physically be at the convention to do it.  You can use the hashtag even while tweeting from anyplace at anytime about any aspect of the event.

When I tweet this blog post, I’ll insert #TENAT13 at the end of my tweet.  Later, if you conduct a search in Twitter using #TENAT13, Twitter will find and present all of the tweets that include that hashtag.

Oh, and one last thing: sign up for the National Convention now, before Early Bird Registration ends!

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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When it comes to making placements in Top Echelon Network, “communication” is king!

Communication, incidentally, is one of the Four Pillars of the Network.  It’s also the reason my often cited by recruiters when they submit their Completed Placement forms.

Take, for instance, this week’s completed placements, which are listed below.  The “action causing split placement” was the same for all of them: “Regular communication with another Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiter.”

Yes, Quality is important.  Yes, Trust is important . . . and so is Active Participation.  But if you want a starting point in Top Echelon, a place to begin your quest for greater Network success, then that starting point is Communication.

Communication “gets the ball rolling,” so to speak.  It makes things happen, and as you can see, it makes placements happen.

So pick up the phone!  Call another recruiter!  Talk shop and share job orders and candidates!  That’s what these recruiters did, and that’s why they recently cashed placement checks.

THIS WEEK’S COMPLETED SPLIT PLACEMENTS!

Job order recruiter: Mike Helffrich of Helffrich International

Candidate recruiter: Roy Cope of R. Cope & Associates, Inc.

Job title: HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR

Fee percentage—25%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Carolyn Barcus of Barcus Associates

Candidate recruiter: Mark London of Command Consultants, Inc.

Job title: SALES DEVELOPMENT DIGITAL MARKET

Fee percentage—20%

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

— — —

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

Candidate recruiter: Peter Oettinger of Front Line Solutions, LLC

Job title: LINEAR ACCELERATION EQUIPMENT SPECIALIST

Fee percentage—Flat

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Andrea Ploscowe of EXEK Recruiters, Ltd.

Candidate recruiter: Bob Wick of Career Center of Cincinnati, Inc.

Job title: ELECTRICAL ENGINEER

Fee percentage—25%

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

— — —

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

Candidate recruiter: Steve Kohn of Affinity Executive Search

Job title: PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS MANAGER

Fee percentage—20%

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

— — —

Job order recruiter: Larry Baker of Computer Careers

Candidate recruiter: Ram Kola of Stewart Cooper & Coon

Job title: AIX ADMINISTRATOR

Fee percentage—20%

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

— — —

330.455.1433, x125
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