To the pantheon of teams like Martin and Lewis, Ben and Jerry and (Ted) Kennedy and (John) McCain, add Ramer and Steckerl. Today the two announced the merger of Arbita (profile; site) and JobMachine , their respective companies.

Shally Steckerl, perhaps the best known sourcer in the world, built JobMachine into a leading consultancy for the training and development of recruiters. Don Ramer, a 35 year recruiting veteran, founded RecruitUSA, possibly the first online posting service company, which has since become Arbita.

Now the two companies will join forces, offering their clients products that span what Ramer calls “two magnetic poles.” “We’re combining the two poles of thought.”

Arbita provides job posting distribution services, enabling companies to select the most productive places to post job openings from among thousands of different job boards around the world. The 30-person company tracks the results, providing recruiters data to help them maximize the ROI of their ad spending.

Job Machine works at the other end of the pole, teaching recruiters how to find and qualify candidates who might not even consider looking at a job board, let alone search for another job. Steckerl’s five-person firm also consults with companies that want to develop a stronger sourcing component to their overall recruitment strategy.

Though Steckerl - and Ramer - disdain the “passive / active” terminology (”I don’t believe in the term,” Steckerl tells us.), it’s a good way to distinguish the two companies. Arbita focuses on active candidates; Job Machine on passives.

So what brought the two companies together in a deal both insist is not a sale?

“”We’re brothers of a different mother,” says Steckerl, explaining that a strategic recruiting program needs to encompass both passive and active candidates. “When Don and I started talking I knew I was talking to a brother. Both of us know a good talent pipeline gets fed from different places.”

Combining the two companies means their clients can tap into broad expertise with the assurance that the solutions are the best fit. As Ramer explains the synergy, “It’s really possible to serve the customers by offering a spectrum of solutions.”

It was Steckerl who went shopping for a partner, after doing some soul-searching about the future of JobMachine. His choices boiled down to “grow the company organically, or join forces with an organization or not grow at all,” Steckerl told us.

To grow, he needed help with the administrative and sales functions. Not growing would be to stagnate, he says. However, he didn’t want to sell the company or take in investors who could end up running things.

“I won’t be told what to do,” he told us as he jokingly said he wanted to “continue to be the rogue mercenary.”

Arbita’s business emphasis meant the two companies didn’t compete and each would benefit from the knowledge of the other, Steckerl says. Plus, he adds, “Don’s the only one who didn’t want to buy me out.”

Even before the merger is complete, which is expected early in the summer, the two companies have begun to work together. Eventually, Arbita will handle JobMachine’s accounting and related administrative details. Both companies will offer the other’s services and products. The name JobMachine will continue and Steckerl will continue to run it as a separate unit.