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!

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mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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A couple of weeks ago, I invited everybody to check out our “25th Anniversary Facebook Photo Extravaganza.”  That’s because we’ve been posting photos of Top Echelon Network conferences and conventions from the past 25 years, and we love taking a “stroll down memory lane.”

Well, now I bring news of a new batch of photos.  These are from the recent Top Echelon Network Fall Conference in Chicago, and you guessed it—I’m inviting everybody to check these photos out, too!

Click here to access photos from the 2012 Fall Conference!

Keep in mind that these represent a “starter pack of pics” for the conference.  We’ll be posting even more in the future, so be on the lookout for them.

Oh, and if you have time, would you be so kind as to “like” Top Echelon Network on Facebook?  I mean, what’s NOT to like, right?.

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mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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The 2012 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference is upon us!

The 2013 Top Echelon Network National Convention is next April!  Why bring that up?  Because we’ll be celebrating the 25th anniversary of Top Echelon at that convention, that’s why!

Where am I going with this?  Potentially, it could be anywhere, but let me take a moment to narrow the focus just a bit.  Although the split fee recruiting Network won’t officially turn 25 years old until March, we’d like to celebrate our 25th anniversary BEFORE we celebrate our 25th anniversary.

Because the only thing better than celebrating once . . . is celebrating twice!

That being said, one of the ways we’re celebrating (or pre-celebrating, if you prefer) is by taking a “walk down memory lane.”  Specifically, this walk entails posting photos from past Top Echelon Network events on our Facebook fan page.

These recruiter networking events include the National Convention, the Fall Conference, and other regional conferences.  The events—and the photo albums on Facebook—go back as far as 1993.  (The first official Top Echelon Network event was held in 1990.)

What would we like you to do?  Visit our fan page, browse through the albums, and see if you recognize anybody.  Heck, you might recognize yourself!  And feel free to tag anybody that you would like.  Let’s have fun with this!

Click here to access our Facebook fan page photo albums!

Let’s also make plans to join us for next year’s National Convention, which is scheduled for Thursday, April 25, through Saturday, April 27.

Come to the convention, have fun, enjoy yourself, and then we’ll post photos of YOU on Facebook, too.

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mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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Are you in a “sourcing slump?”  Can you just not seem to find the candidates you need to find for your clients’ job orders?  Do company officials keep asking you for another candidate, over and over again, until you wonder what the point of it all is?

Well, then you’re in luck!

That’s because industry trainer Shally Steckerl is the main speaker for the 2012 Top Echelon Network Fall Conference, and the title of one of his sessions is “The Top Four Cures for Your Sourcing Slump.”

Below is the official description of that session:

Break through your LinkedIn barriers, speed up your sourcing with search shortcuts, and get social without wasting time!

Use tools such as Social CSE, Cloud Doc CSE, Wink, Pipl, peekyou, big-boards.com, and LinkedIn Hack to make the most of your social sourcing.

Quick and simple search shortcuts via numrange, intext, Gigablast, Blekko, DuckDuckGo, and filetype CSE allow you to be more efficient.

Want to know how to “pimp your profile”?  Keywords, meta tags, and adwords make the distinction.  Enhance your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and About.me profiles through differentiation.

Wondering how to break through those LinkedIn barriers?  Alumni search, skills beta, sperse, and Bing first name last intial, along with find members of ANY group will be sure to get you out of your sourcing slump!

The Fall Conference is scheduled for Thursday, October 11, and Friday, October 12, at the Sheraton Chicago O’Hare.  Early Bird Registration for the conference is currently underway. The price of Early Bird is just $210 per person.

However, this price won’t be around forever. Sign up now, save money, and plan to join us in Chicago for a great training and networking event!

View the preliminary agenda.
See who’s already signed up.
Register for the Fall Conference.

At Top Echelon, we want to make Membership in our split network as valuable as possible.

To that end, we’re pleased to announce a special deal that we’ve struck with LinkedIn for their “LinkedIn Recruiter” tool.

As part of this agreement, Preferred Members of Top Echelon Network can purchase “LinkedIn Recruiter” at 50% off!  That means the price for a whole year of LinkedIn Recruiter would be $2,500, as opposed to the regular price of $5,000.

However, it should be noted that at least 50 recruiters must sign up for this deal in order for this special pricing to be available. If between 25 and 50 participate, then the price will be $3,500 for one year.

Below are some other important details associated with this deal:

• Recruiters who participate will have to pay for LinkedIn Recruiter up front.
• Top Echelon Network will serve as the one point of contact for LinkedIn for this special offer, meaning that you’ll have to make your check for the appropriate amount out to “Top Echelon Network.” Then we’ll pay LinkedIn.  (You’ll still contact LinkedIn for other issues, including technical support.)

For those who don’t know, LinkedIn recruiter is a special package from the social media site created specifically for recruiters.  With LinkedIn Recruiter, you get the following:

• Full-name visibility
• Premium talent filters
• 50 InMails
• 1,000 profiles per search
• 50 alerts daily
• 200 folders, team sharing
• Collaboration tools

Click here for more information about LinkedIn Recruiter, including a short video and assorted White Papers regarding the software.

To maximize the benefits of this special offer, we need a commitment from those recruiters who are interested.  Specifically, we’ll need the $2,500 in the form of a check by Wednesday, July 25.  That will ensure that we’ll meet the August 1 deadline.

If you’re interested in taking advantage of this deal, please send us an email at info@topechelon.com.  In that email, be sure to include your name, your firm’s name, and your willingness to participate in this special deal.

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MDemaree@TopEchelon.com
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Okay, so you’re already a member of our “Split Placements for Recruiters” group on LinkedIn.

What’s that?  You’re not?  You should be ashamed of yourself.  Join immediately by clicking on this link.

Done?  Okay, where was I?  Ah, yes.  Okay, so you’re already a member of our “Split Placements for Recruiters” group on LinkedIn.

The fun doesn’t stop there.  We also happen to have two other groups on LinkedIn for recruiters.

One of them is called “Software Solutions for Recruiters” and the other one is called “Website Strategies for Recruiters.”  The nature of these groups mirrors their names.

“Software Solutions for Recruiters” includes topics pertaining to any and all software that recruiters use to run their desks more effectively and make more placements.

(Of course, our recruiting software Big Biller, might be discussed from time to time . . . but you probably already guessed that.)

Meanwhile, “Website Strategies for Recruiters” includes topics that pertain to ways in which recruiters can leverage the power of the Internet—and specifically their website—to secure more job orders, attract more qualified candidates, and make more placements.

Remember, you do NOT have to be a Big Biller customer or have a Hiring Hook website to be a member of these groups.  You just have to be a recruiter who wants to discuss these particular topics and share valuable information that could lead to more business for everybody involved.

Click here to join ‘Software Solutions for Recruiters.‘

Click here to join ‘Website Strategies for Recruiters.’

Click here to join ‘Split Placements for Recruiters.’

So join us . . . let’s have some fun and make some money!  I’m serious—join us.  Remember, we know where most of you live.  Let’s do this the easy way, shall we?

Don’t make me get Drea involved.

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mdeutsch@topechelon.com
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Well, maybe “mania” is a bit strong of a word to use.  Maybe.

But as Mark Demaree announced earlier, the site and the dates for the 2013 National Convention have been set.  Not only that, Drea Codispoti announced the site and dates for the 2012 Fall Conference earlier this month.

Sure, there are plenty of details to release, loose ends to tie up, etc., etc.  However, I’d like to focus on an important aspect of these two upcoming events:

The official hashtags for each.

As you may remember (or perhaps you don’t), the official hashtag for the 2012 National Convention was #TENAT12.

Many recruiters used that hashtag while tweeting at the National Convention in Nashville.  Consequently, we now have hashtags for the 2012 Fall Conference and 2013 National Convention.  Because fair is fair.

As you might imagine, the hashtag for this year’s Fall Conference is as follows:

#TEFALL12

That would mean the hashtag for the next year’s National Convention is this:

#TENAT13

As I’ve mentioned previously, all you have to do is include this hashtag with every one of your tweets regarding the Fall Conference and/or National Convention.  Here’s an example:

So far, this is the best Top Echelon Network event I have attended . . . this year . . . in Chicago. #TEFALL12

You don’t have to physically be at either of these events to tweet about them, either.  You can use the hashtag even if you’re just tweeting your thoughts from the comfort of your own home . . . in your pajamas . . . while you watch an episode of Glee.

The power is in your hands.

— — —

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MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn.
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We’re back!  From the Top Echelon Network National Convention, that is!

I might be biased, but this convention was one of the better ones we’ve held in recent memory.  In fact, we had several recruiters who expressed those same sentiments to us when the convention ended.  (So if I’m suffering from a delusion, it’s a GROUP delusion.)

That’s the good news.  Here’s the even better news: we documented the whole thing!

We documented the convention in the form of photos and videos, of course.  Membership Development Coordinator Drea Codispoti and I handled the documentation duties, employing two cameras (plus my iPhone) to capture all of the action.  I even posted a series of photos through my Twitter account while I was at the convention, sort of a blow-by-blow timeline of events.

You can still view the photos in question by visiting my Twitter profile.  Remember, you don’t have to “follow” me to view these photos.  All you have to do is look through my “recent images,” which are located on the left-hand side of my profile, about halfway down the page.

Although, if you do have a Twitter account, I would encourage you to “follow” me.  That way, you don’t have to visit my profile all the time to see my latest tweets, not to mention the fact that it would be a huge ego boost for me.

Anyway, these Twitter photos are going to be posted to the Top Echelon Network Fan Page eventually.  Not right away, but eventually.  That’s because I’m going to post the photos that I didn’t tweet during the convention to Facebook first.

In fact, I’ve already posted some photos!  They’re in the “2012 Top Echelon Network National Convention Photo Album” on the Network Fan Page.

Click here to visit the “2012 Top Echelon Network National Convention Photo Album.”

Now here’s the fun part—I’ll be updating the Fan Page with photos every day, three or four or more, from now throughout the month of April.  I’ll also be adding photo descriptions and tagging recruiters in the process.  I whole-heartedly encourage you to visit the page as often as you can, “like” the photos, and comment to your heart’s content.

In the meantime, if you attended the convention, took some photos, and wouldn’t mind seeing them added to the photo album, send them to me at marketing@TopEchelon.com.

The convention has ended . . . but the fun doesn’t have to!

— — —

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MDeutsch@TopEchelon.com
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Here at Top Echelon Network, we are ALL about networking, and that includes both traditional networking and social networking.

That’s why we’re doing our best to meld the best of both worlds.

Regional Core Groups within the Network have started to heat up again in recent months.  This is not too surprising, since economic conditions in the country seem to be getting better and companies appear more interested in hiring again. (In fact, the economy added over 200,000 jobs during the month of February.)

At one time, we had anywhere from six to eight Regional Core Groups operating within the Network.  While we don’t have that many groups at the moment, they’re making a comeback.  In other words, the recruiters in these Core Groups are meeting, and they’re making plans to meet again in the future.

With that in mind, we plan to create individual photo albums on the Top Echelon Network Facebook Fan Page dedicated to each of the Regional Core Groups within the Network.  That way, every time the group holds an event, we can post pictures of that event in the album for all to see.

By way of illustration, we’ve already started with two Core Groups that recently held meetings.

The Mo/Kan Regional Core Group:

This is short for the Missouri/Kansas City Regional Core Group.  Before, it was known only as the Kansas City Regional Core Group.  This group had a meeting last month in Leawood, Kan., and we have a couple of photos with more information.

Click here to access the Mo/Kan Regional Core Group photo album on Facebook.

The Maryland/D.C./Virginia Regional Core Group:

This group was once known only as the Maryland Regional Core Group before expanding its territory slightly.  What hasn’t changed, though, is the fact that the group holds a special after-holiday party every year, complete with annual awards.  The latest after-holiday party for this Core Group also took place last month.

Click here to access the Maryland/D.C./Virginia Regional Core Group photo album on Facebook.

There are, of course, other Regional Core Groups currently operating in the Network, chief among them the Fort Wayne Regional Core Group and the Central Ohio Regional Core Group.  Facebook photo albums will be created for those recruiters, as well, and the albums will be filled with photos from their events as they are provided.

Which brings me to my next point . . . please send us photos of your Regional Core Group events.  We can’t post photos of events that we don’t have.  So snap some pictures and send them our way, and if you’re interested in joining an existing Regional Core Group—or starting a new one—be sure to contact me.

Oh, and if you’re Facebook Friends with any of the recruiters in these photos . . . be sure to tag them for me, would you?  Thanks.

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Drea@TopEchelon.com
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The 2012 Top Echelon Network National Convention is next week!  Specifically, it’s scheduled for Thursday, March 22, through Saturday, March 24, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn.

As you probably know, Top Echelon Network is represented well on the various social media websites, including Twitter.  As such, it’s common not only for us to tweet during special events like the upcoming National Convention, but it’s also common for the Preferred Member recruiters who attend such an event to tweet during it, too.

This makes sense, since we all want to share what we’re learning and experiencing.  However, to facilitate a more organized tweeting environment (if that’s even possible), I’d like to present the “Official Hashtag of the 2012 National Convention.”

First, that sounds more important than it actually is, which was by design.  And second, it’s easier to use than it sounds.

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, this is the “Official Hashtag of the 2012 National Convention”:

#TENAT12

All you have to do is include this hashtag with every one of your tweets regarding the National Convention.  And you don’t have to actually be at the convention to do it.  You can use the hashtag even if you’re just tweeting your thoughts from the comfort of your own home . . . or while you’re at the office . . . or via your smartphone.

When I tweet this blog post, I’ll insert #TENAT12 at the end of my tweet.  Later, if you conduct a search in Twitter using #TENAT12, Twitter will find and present all the tweets that include that hashtag.  Once you do that, you can also view “Realtime” results for that hashtag.

So if you’re attending the convention, I look forward to seeing you there, and I encourage you to tweet heavily.  If you’re not attending the convention, shame on you, but I encourage you to tweet heavily, anyway.  (And as always, tweet responsibly.)

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