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Best ShotBetsy Vincent gives everything her best shot. Oops - this time she landed on her face… |
 McKee Photo Featured on Jones Soda BottleMark McKee, Vice President of Food, Beverage, and Dairy for The Williams Company and an amateur photographer, submitted this sunrise picture on-line at the Jones Soda website in 2003. He was contacted in October 2004 by an official of the Jones Soda Co. and said his sunrise picture would be on their vanilla cola bottles in the U.S. and in Canada. Less than 1% of all pictures submitted to Jones Soda make it on a bottle. The sunrise picture was taken in southern Indiana in November 2002. |
He's Done it Again!Another of Mark's photos has been selected to appear on the label of a Jones Soda Co. bottle. |
Jay Laney: Talent Scout and Family ManBy Matt Deutsch (The following article was provided courtesy of Top Echelon Network. Click here to learn more about Top Echelon's tools and services for recruiters.) Quick quiz—what do the following current and former professional athletes have in common?
They were once represented by Jay Laney of The Williams Company (BR06) in Memphis, Tenn. Laney started recruiting nearly two years ago. Before joining the ranks of the recruiting industry and the Williams Company, though, Laney was a professional sports agent. So you might say that he’s been a talent scout for a lot longer than he’s been a recruiter. According to Laney, he spent about eight years working as a sports agent. When he became an agent, however, he didn’t have a family. Once he got married and his wife gave birth to the first of their two daughters, he decided that the profession just wasn’t for him. "I enjoyed it while I did it," said Laney. "We made some money, but there was a lot of traveling involved, especially on the weekends. Every Saturday, I’d be in a college town and every Sunday, I’d be in a pro town. That got to be hard. I didn’t want to be away from my family." Another aspect of being a professional sports agent that didn’t mix well with being a family man was the occasional phone call at all hours of the morning. "Guys would call at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. just wanting to shoot the breeze," said Laney. "I’d go to bed thinking, ‘Okay, is somebody going to call tonight?’ It got to be too much. I like what I do now much more. I come home and see my wife and two little girls, and I don’t have to worry about anything else." Top Echelon Network’s gain Laney’s decision to leave the sports agent profession was not only better for him, it’s also been great for the Williams Company and Top Echelon Network. That’s because he’s hit the ground running for both. Laney has made seven Network placements in a little less than two years, excellent production for somebody new to recruiting and also to a split placement network like Top Echelon. Six of Laney’s seven placements have been splits. He’s made two with Larry Gallin of Gallin Associates (FL80) and one apiece with M.J. Khalsa of MJK Associates (BG15); Jeff Oliver of Sherwood Lehman Massucco, Inc. (CA05); Doug Boyce of J.D. Cotter Search, Inc. (BC48); and Stacey Boyer of Total Employee Solutions (BT38). Laney, who works in Food and Beverage, made two placements in 2005 and has five so far this year. Laney attended the 2005 Top Echelon Network National Convention in Nashville, Tenn., and also the recent Fall Conference in Chicago. He attributes some of his success to those events, which provided an opportunity for him to meet other Preferred Members. "That helped a great deal," said Laney. "There were some people who kind of took me under their wing and helped me out, like Dan Simmons [of Continental Search & Outplacement, Inc. (MD28)] and Ernie Moreno [of NextLevel Executive Search (BT26)]. I also tried to find people who were in the same boat as me and were new the Network. Ernie and I have worked together and have come close to making some placements, and Larry Gallin and I have made a couple of placements." For Laney, being able to meet recruiters on a face-to-face basis has made a world of difference when it comes to dealing with other Members of the Network. "There’s no question that when you meet face-to-face, there’s much more credibility involved," said Laney. "You talk more openly, and the trust that you build is much stronger than if you were on the phone. The person you’re talking with isn’t just some voice out there; they’re a person sitting right in front of you. I feel I can talk about anything with my Trading Partners." Not only can they talk more easily about any topic, but they also work together better when they return to their offices. In other words, they interact more, and they learn how each other operates. "Once you get that going, you start looking at each other’s stuff on the Network," said Laney, "sometimes on a daily basis. You also talk on the phone more and communicate more. You take your relationship to a whole new level, and it’s all because of the trust that you built by meeting each other in person." Laney is also open to meeting and talking with recruiters who work outside of his specialty and niche. In fact, his first placement with Gallin is a perfect example of that. "We came across the resume of somebody who had experience in meat," said Laney. "We don’t do much with that, but I remember seeing a posting on the Discussion Forum by a Member who was looking for somebody with meat experience. That Member was Larry, so I contacted him and we got a placement out of it. Since then, we’ve made another placement together, and we’ve come close to a third. That’s a placement I never would have made without the help of Top Echelon and my Trading Partners." Laney indicated that the owner of the Williams Company, Dan Williams, has also been instrumental in his early success in the profession and in Top Echelon. (Williams has made 13 placements in the Network in a little more than three years.) "Daniel has been a huge help to me," said Laney. "He’s had great training tips and advice and has certainly helped me along. He’s a great person and easy to work with. I can’t think of a better person to develop a rookie in this business." According to Laney, the Food and Beverage industry is extremely busy at the moment. Business has really picked up, and he’s looking forward to a very productive fourth quarter of this year, not to mention a robust 2007. "It’s a candidate-driven market, and there’s a lot of movement right now," said Laney. "I’m not having any problem at all getting search assignments. I can make four or five phone calls to get a job order. Right now, I’m having a harder time finding candidates who want to relocate to the Northeast. There aren’t as many Food and Beverage candidates in that area." Now that Laney has dealt with both professional athletes and fickle candidates, which ones does he prefer to deal with? "Well, I think the candidates appreciate the money a little bit more," he said. "There are still four or five guys [I used to represent] who I talk with every week and really miss. But overall, I like recruiting better, and I love being able to come home and see my family." (Editor’s note: Below is a picture of Jay Laney and his family. Jay’s wife’s name is Tamara, and his girls are Evie, who’s seven years old, and Louise, who’s two.)
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