Let’s start out by stating the obvious.
People find jobs through job boards. That’s true. They do.
But people who earn more than $100,000/year rarely find a job through a job board. They find work through employee referrals, recruiters, networking, and corporate websites.
So when I see the new commercials for The Ladders, I want to puke on my shoes. We are at the end of a recession and millions of people are out of work.
- If you are a recruiter or HR professional who cannot find talented workers without using a chump-ass job board like The Ladders — a site that monetizes both ends of the spectrum by charging HR to list the jobs already listed on your corporate website and charging job seekers to gain access to jobs that are out there on the internet — you are a lazy piece of crap and you don’t deserve to work in Human Resources or recruiting. Go get a job at the mall.
- If you are a job seeker and you want to earn $100,000 or more, don’t throw good money after bad. If you are willing to spend some cash to find a job, skip The Ladders and invest in a great job coach or career advisor. You need someone who can help you optimize your search. Email me and I will give you the names of my friends who will help. Also, don’t be a dumbass.
And know this: the jobs on The Ladders can be found on sites like LinkUp, Monster, and freakin Craigslist.
Sometimes I just want to punch this industry in the face.
114 comments ...wanna add one?
Now there is a nice rant if I have ever seen one!
Not a rant. That’s me being calm!
Those commercials are horrible. If their goal is to make me think about using them, they failed.
They are horrible AND offensive.
Here, here. Those commercials are the worse. Would never think about using them.
Good. Don’t!
I thought you were solely talking about people giving sexy poses in the workplace on that commercial, but yeah, the site is useless.
Those poses aren’t even all that sexy!
Yes and no…Even retained consultants know that a blind squirrel can find a nut from time to time so these squirrels DO post on the more “executive” sites. And it’s true that networking can get you to many of these jobs but Ladders and the better executive site Execunet have the potential to get you there “faster.”
Mark C. is a sales & marketing person who has never recruited so his line of thinking is not the same as ours. As reviled as some might find him, he serves a purpose.
You know what else serves a purpose? Syphilis.
Now, this is why I love Laurie so much. You go girl!
LOL, thanks Rita.
Totally agree. And in additional, The Ladders operates in a pretty fraudulent manner — Nick Corcodilos has done a good job documenting how The Ladders deceives job-seekers who use its services:
http://corcodilos.com/blog/1390/theladders-job-board-salary-fraud
Nick is awesome. He wrote a comment on Punk Rock HR, once, that fueled my most heavily viewed post. He is amazing. I also believe Joel Cheesman (back in the day) had some pretty honest & revealing things to say about The Ladders.
Nick Corcodilos has made TheLadders his personal ax to grind, and I can’t blame him. Here’s his latest. http://corcodilos.com/blog/2560/whorin-around-with-theladders
Crap, Nick is so awesome and this shows that I am so far behind on my google reader! Bah!
I was sucked in to The Ladders. All it got me was a lighter wallet. Job boards serve a good purpose, but to my experience to date, I have yet to get a call back on a single response to a job board posting. It has all been through personal contact/networking.
Keep making people be honest Laurie!
Thanks, Paul!
Excellent post by both you and Nick Corcodilos an abviouly fradulant site.
I have to wonder if you are mellowing out, you didn’t even drop the F-Bomb once on these losers.
Bah. I’ll drop it sooner or later. It didn’t fit with the post.
BINGO! I thought I was the only one turned off by the ladders. I hate their marketing and the premise of their board. It seems to promise people $100K, but most people don’t realize that their really not worth $100K. Getting seen on any job board is tough. I can only imagine how tough it is on an exclusively $100K+ site. Ahhh dreams…
I am a penny pincher. And, I don’t even like paying the typical fees to job boards for “special placements”. Really, what is the difference in what Monster or CareerBuilder are doing versus recruiters on the ladders? I mean, they are all taking money from both ends, right?!? I suppose it is a little better w/CareerBuilder & Monster whereby you can apply to positions without paying. But, sure seems like racketeering.
It’s scummy. That’s how I would describe this model.
Urgh…..we have them over here too now….
Them, “Can you tell me why you don’t want to try us….we’ll do it for free?”
Me, “Because I don’t like your business model, it is essentially illegal (in the UK) and you suck”
“You suck.”
That should be the answer to most questions.
Since writing this comment, The Ladders have been in contact with me to apologise for any bad experience I’ve had. Got to say that I respect them for that at least.
TheHRD is not the only UK-based company to point out that TheLadders’ model (charging for jobs) is illegal in the UK. They apparently get around this by having a teensy-weensy notice somewhere on their site that you can actually access everything for free. According to my source. I haven’t checked it.
Add to this –
1) recruiters who take their fees from candidates (of course, almost as bad as the people who actually DO this, are we companies who, by clearly stating we DON’T charge candidates, perpetuate the idea of recruiters who do – thankfully, just about dead breed)
2) resume writing services
3) “coaches” who read enough the same 3/5/21/47 things to do / not do blog posts and columns we all have to repackage and sell it to the gullible (not discounting that there are some legitimate coaches out there, but wow!)
Anyone else making a living bilking the unwary in the job search/HR/recruiting space? Other than software vendors, of course.
DG makes an interesting point, especially in #3. We job seekers want feedback, and unfortunately due to the biz climate today, the very people who can offer the best, are the ones that do not have the time/ability to give it. The Hiring Managers. It’s tough to get even a “No thank you” these days due to the overwhelming number of submissions.
That said, the time one can get feedback from a hiring manager for a posting, those moments are golden. Most applicants will appreciate it. Some will take it as an attack on their very person.
The lack of contact from direct postings and corporate websites, and the endless pestering voicemails to hiring managers can drive desperation deep.
Desperation never results in good actions.
Wait, some resume writing services are helpful. I have two in mind that are actually good & not scammy.
If it’s a matter of, say, paying someone else to do something I could do myself but don’t necessarily have the time/desire to do so… I don’t see a major problem with that. We all pay little convenience premiums for different things.
What will REALLY help most people, prior to applying for a given job, is intel about the job/company/manager/department that a given resume service is unlikely to have (I suppose a service that offers a full research and writing package for X jobs might make some kind of sense).
If you’re talking about writing less targetted resumes, just applying general good practices and learning what those are, then okay, I get that this can be a useful service to some people (though again, what the hell are our career services departments, our job fairs, our state unemployment offices, doing, if not exactly this?!?).
But how does that work as a business model? Never help the people your customers enough that they become self-sufficient? Rely on the hope that there will always be a fresh stream of customers who have no clue how to write a decent resume OR how to research this on their own (it’s not like there are deep dark trade secrets here)?
Does this qualify as a focus group?
We need more input. BRB.
Couldn’t have said it better.
When I was in job search mode, I was stunned by the amount of spam I received from The Ladders. A quick search of their DB (during a free trial offered) found at least three jobs also available on Indeed–one of which I knew paid a good $25k/year less than their “only $100k” false advertising. That was enough for me to know it was fraud.
In this economy, people should be pay for for real, useful information and strategy about how to find their next career opportunity. Not for false promises and redundant ads that are often available through other channels.
Thanks, Jon. Totally agree.
So to sum up then, the Ladder is for chump-asses, dumbasses and lazy pieces of crap.
Or, as we might say in the UK, plonkers, numpties and bone-idle shit-bags.
I know how much you love Brit-speak.
As long as you don’t say twat, I’m good with it.
I’d never seen their commercials before- quite tacky and slightly offensive. I am not sure who thought that would be appealing to job-seekers. Who sees themselves that way?
I mostly know The Ladders because they are everywhere in the NYC HR Community- it seems they sponsor every event I attend. Their CEO did a presentation at a Meetup I was at in November and it felt like he was talking down to the audience of experienced recruiters so I wasn’t impressed. That being said, I am curious about the quality of the job advisors and resume critiques. It seems that you’re paying for that more than the job postings, no?
I’ve never met the CEO or had contact with anyone at The Ladders, but they throw money at the recruiting community and at advertisement — and I’m not sure what you’re paying for when you use The Ladders. Hm. Wish someone would tell me.
gawd I love this blog
Thx, martin.
Hurp! That’s me puking. Like you say, horrible and offensive. Badass too.
Let me get you a bucket!
I”m not typically too politically correct – though there are so many levels of wrong with the current commercials – outside of the general skankyness of them. Aside from what has already been discussed, most of the job seekers in the ad seem to be in their 20′s, typically not the 100,000+ executive market. Maybe they were hoping they could prey on the professionally naive to sell some new memberships.
Another Ladders branding faux pas.
Ya know, I think the commercials are clever in a sense that they grab your attention. I remember talking to MBA students in the midwest who had horrible compensation expectations and I don’t doubt that sites like The Ladders fuel those expectations.
Wow, I agree that those commercials are unsettling to watch. However, I find it hard to believe that everyone weighs in on the same side here in the comments.
I’ll relay a personal experience I had with the Ladders back in 2007. I was laid off as part of a mass (over 220 person) layoff of HR pros. We were given outplacement assistance by DBM and it was awful. I thought my resume was pretty good and that I could do it all on my own. Well, I quickly learned that it was not going to be so easy. Without an incredibly robust job market in St. Louis and without a huge network (since I had 2 babies at home and no time to network), I turned to the Ladders. I found several jobs to interview for that I hadn’t found elsewhere and I had my resume completely revamped. All for $30. For me, it was money well spent and I had a new job in short order.
So, just chalk my story up as me being the only dumb ass in the comments section. But, I did get a job. Thanks to the Ladders.
@Trish …lol
Hey, everyone has a good experience from time-to-time. I value the perspective!
That’s a nice experience, Trish. Thanks for sharing!
Trish,
I appreciate that you had success with the Ladders, though unfortunately their business model now is drastically different than it was in 2007.
Well said Laurie. Thanks for putting it out there.
Thanks, jay!
If this blog post were a movie starring Debra Winger and Harrison Ford, someone would stand and begin clapping, very slowly at first, as others join in and clapping would build to a crescendo, (plenty of fist pumping, shouts and Wooo’s!) until Harry strides in and sweeps you off your feet and out of the cube farm.
Kick-ass post.
I had a friend – an MBA – who insisted that it was important to sign up for the Ladders because he was an *MBA*. The Ladders set him apart from other jobseekers, he explained. It was hard to convince him that, as a recruiter, I didn’t view the Ladders as some special vault where the good candidates could be found. In fact, my view of the Ladders is that the average profile is some unsuspecting, out-of-touch sucker who has no idea of how business works.
I want to make 0ut in slow-mo.
The Ladders occupies an interesting space between inept recruiters/HR teams and overwhelmed job seekers. It’s sad to watch.
@Hell and Oates
That Debby/Harry movie sounds promising. Who knew that The Ladders could possibly inspire a cheezy screenplay! Get started on it right away before Marc Cendella starts a $100k screenwriters board…
And who the fuck is this marc cendella dude? i mean, really? who is he? christ.
So, I’m a friend of the girl who runs this site… That said, I’m going to pitch in with Trish and Steve, who by my count are the only ones not prepared to proceed to Manhattan with pitchforks….
“If you are a recruiter or HR professional who cannot find talented workers without using a chump-ass job board like The Ladders… you are a lazy piece of crap and you don’t deserve to work in Human Resources or recruiting. Go get a job at the mall.”
It’s good writing but the truth never lies at the extremes. I’ve covered the ladders a couple of times, and to Steve and Trish’s point, they have a place. I’ve never used them as a candidate, but I have as a recruiter/HR pro. I know one thing I can get from the Ladders – pretty solid executive candidate flow with great, high level experience – IF I’m willing to relo someone. It’s just the truth – if my search is national, the ladders works well to give me candidate flow, but it’s never a single source – I know how to source and dig on my own…
I’m good enough and gosh darn it… I know Laurie believes I can recruit…
My perspective related to effectiveness won’t change until that changes – or until the ladders builds up a database to the point where they can deliver local candidates specific to any top 50 metro – not just the top 10.
Thanks to Trish for giving an alternative POV on the candidate side. I suspect there are many more stories like that, but I wish the Ladders would take on some of the issues raised here related to job scraping other sites, etc….
Good perspective. No worries. And listen — very few things in this world deserve a pitchfork. The Ladders just deserves disdain. I’ll shake my head and move on to bigger subjects. Like Baby Doc Duvalier and his return to Haiti. That makes me sick and I wonder why the UN isn’t prosecuting him in The Hague. Anyone? Anyone?
Um, you can get better candidate flow from sources like LinkedIn.
@KD: I think the truth lies at the extremes, and I think TheLadders lies extremely. Let’s look at the claims and at the numbers. This is not difficult math — probably the sort of productivity analysis a manager in your own company would do.
Let’s take a look at TheLadders’ “business model.” Cenedella claims in his e-mail that, “We have at least two human beings screen every job before we let it onto our site to ensure it pays over $100,000 per year in salary and bonus.”
On TheLadders website it says they have “More than 50,000, high-level 100K+ executive positions.”
At 10 minutes per job (We’ll cut them some slack, but could you vet a candidate or a job in 10 minutes?), that’s 16,667 man-hours spent screening jobs. Or over 8 years’ time if those two worked 8 hours per day. Just to vet the jobs that Ladders claims are already in the database.
And that’s assuming they don’t take a lunch break.
Fancy that. Has TheLadders been in business for 8+ years?
Would you hire Cenedella to advertise YOUR products?
I can’t speak to whether or not The Ladders is effective, but I’d argue that it hardly matters. A company that’s effective but systematically defrauding people we should care about — job-seekers, many of them in vulnerable positions — isn’t one we should defend, recommend, work with, or support in any way.
Well said & thanks for the comment!
Uhm, yeah, no one is stupid. No one is gaining any major SEO from this lowly blog post. But thanks for the comment.
@Cynical Boss:
Your limsult (lame insult) sounds forced & unnecessary, almost like SEO baiting too.
+The closeness in appearance of your blog’s header, font, title & tone to that of Laurie’s is a bit troubling.
#JustSaying
I’ve never paid to use a job board as a candidate, and doing a search on snippets of requirements text from jobs on TheLadders as a trial member and finding those jobs on free boards totally convinced me it was a scam. Almost got suckered into it back then (a few years ago) though.
The funny thing about job boards is that I’ve never gotten hired for a position I applied to on them, but twice I’ve gotten jobs from recruiters having found my resume on them from the last search I’d done. I never take my resume down, just update it on all the ‘usual suspects’ when I’m in active search mode.
Yeah Marc C., two “the ladders” level jobs from having left up an old resume on Monster…sheesh, one came with a 35% raise and double the vacation of where I was at the time, better health insurance at half the cost (talk about an offer you can’t refuse) and right before where I was at started to tank.
MONSTER, yes, MONSTER as a passive candidate has done more for me than anyone I’ve heard of having gotten out of the ladders. Of course those two recruiters really knew how to keyword search in the best possible way you could spin that, knew the industry and weren’t just blindly matching those keywords, and could tell a good fit from a mile away. One of them during the dot-crash.
Hey Laurie, you are oh so right! Unfortuantely, they have recently started a new TV advert campaign in the UK, which show cases their “way,” but forgets to mention that they have downgraded the level from £70k to £50k jobs. Same model here that you well know from the USA, same old jobs sourced from the same free internet sources, and still taking money from both ends of the market. I got a free trial as a recruiter into The Ladders, and seeing as most of their candidates come from LinkedIn (2million UK peple on LI, presently the second biggest community after USA), there was no difference from using a good and free boolean search string. I thought Nick’s blog post would have done it for them, but we need to get the word out about these people – they are trashing our market!
You’re behind in your Google Reader, Laurie? I’m so far behind in my e-mail after two weeks, I may just have to delete it all! Sorry for this late comment. I think your job-seeking readers should know about a new FREE service that I think does them a good turn, for a change. It’s called StartWire, a start-up just launched from the two guys who built AIRS, and they can read about it here: http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=533328336
bill we have had a number of customers/prospects over the years coming up with a similar concept- tracking software for a job search- including some outplacement firms who were serious about it. the rub always was that candidate uptake was minimal-a combo of intertia to use a new tool and no real need to track dead applications/contacts (unlike recruiters, who need to account for their work etc.)
Seems it could be a good ipad/iphone/droid app or a browser/outlook plug-in rather than a website. I’m no product name guru, but StartWire is awfully generic….. but those guys have a pretty good track record, will be interesting to see if they break out.
Laurie, I think you’re wrong.
The ladders doesn’t fly back – duvalier-style – to countries they destroyed, or put bulls-eyes on districts to add one more straw to the deranged homicidal maniac’s back. It doesn’t release addresses and phone numbers on 500 million of its members to “developers.” It doesn’t threaten world wars by leaking in wiki format… It doesn’t wear horrible dresses to award shows or puke on beaches. (well, maybe its worse than those things…)
So – in recent news, the ladders is only probably the fourth or fifth biggest piece of crap. Nice that they have some improvement to shoot for.
Your blog-article on it is a thing of beauty.
Kudos to ya, Laurie, for calling out TheLadders. My readers wonder out loud on my blog whether there’s a state attorney general somewhere compiling a case for fraudulent advertising. I can’t believe there isn’t.
But more fun than that is a CFO/CEO who got fleeced by TheLadders for over a year — He sat down and ran the numbers and shared them with me. MBA’s please take note: I presented his analysis to 600 MBA’s/EMBA’s who signed up for a webinar I did for Harvard Biz School a few months ago. And I published it here: http://corcodilos.com/blog/2378/theladders-a-long-shot-powerball-lottery-tucked-inside-a-well-oiled-pr-machine
No topic has generated more user comments on my blog than TheLadders misrepresentation of its services: http://corcodilos.com/blog/1390/theladders-job-board-salary-fraud
Go, Girl! There are not a lot of bloggers who will talk truth about TheLadders, and all the other crooked crap that passes for “advice” and “career services” out there. Until lazy, naive HR departments stop feeding cash to these n’er do wells, job hunters will keep believing they have to use them.
Wow, my machine is STILL smoking from that diatribe! ATTICA!
AND – You know what would make those poses better? Hoodie/footie pjs in lots of different colors!!
I’ve been advising people on my mailing list [whether they purchased anything or not] to sign up for the free ladders service, and then using the “abbreviated” job listings to do a targeted google search for the advertised position [which normally you can't "see" on the ladders unless you subscribe to the paid service].
I find this works well – the ladders does find some interesting jobs that would be hard to dig for otherwise, and they provide “enough” context to then find the job on a corporate web site or other free job board.
So while I’d never recommend the paid service to my readers, I do encourage the free service as a data feed to then inform more free research!
Yup, as I mention in my diatribe against them above, that’s how I found out how much of a scam they were, but I have also used them for that from time to time also. The whole art of it is to find the bit of the job req on theladders that isn’t likely to be generic to any other position, then plop it into google in quotes, and if that doesn’t give you a hit try monster, careeerbuilder or industry specific boards if you can tell what field it’s actually in (dice, etc for IT, you know the drill).
‘Bout all they are good for. Reminds me though, I have a couple of add requests to respond to or make on linkedIn and some recommendations to make there too. Gotta give the love to get it (helps when it’s true too…keep forgetting to put one up for the best software project manager I’ve ever dealt with).
Too darn funny! Well said!
I am so turned off by this vulgar, non professional and sexist advertisement I must ask those executive recruiters who use Ladder to steer away from such sites.
I am not sure what the Management Team and the Board of Directors at Ladder were thinking? Such callousness in the Recruitment world is an affront to all executives.
I and all my associates and their network will definitely not use Ladder until they retract such offensive ads.
Great post/rant Laurie! Well put. I think a lot of people wished they had the balls to say how much they hate TheLadders…and other job sites for that matter. I’m still trying to figure out how I got on the stupid e-mail list from that site.
I did subscribe to The Ladders for a while, and found that most of the jobs (as you say) were not exclusive to the site. To their credit, I missed the deadline to cancel my subscription and when I contacted customer service they were very helpful and refunded me promptly. I did hear from one recruiter about a position that I probably wouldn’t have been considered for otherwise, but that was about it.
A co-worker did catch our (former) employer posting a job they had not yet posted internally on The Ladders. Of course that company couldn’t find or keep talent if they had a map and compass so that figures.
I can tell you, as a user of TheLadders, that what you’re saying is total bull. Sure, they charge you a resubscription fee (which you agree to) when they probably shouldn’t… but on the whole they deliver what they promise. I got a phonecall from an actual person (!) who helped me walk through my resume and the job search process. Sure, they tried to upsell me on a bunch of shit I didn’t need, but at the same time I felt like I was actually connecting with someone who cared about whether or not I was able to get a job at the end of the process.
Your blog post sounds way too balze in its dismissal of the ladders. I think they’re providing a pretty good service.
Oh, you crack me up! I’ve been preaching this for years to my job-hunting friends…. you’re not likely to find a job in an ad. NETWORK, dammit! Network!
I know I am late to the game, but I am not a fan of them either. First they steal job postings and then charge seekers to apply for them. What a crock!
I smiled from the headline alllll the way through this one.
* what she said *
times infinity.
Love this!
Laurie, I just want to say “thanks.” I’ve been looking for work for almost 20 months now. In my view TheLadders has become the poster-child for those of us unfortunate enough to need help badly enough to consider taking the chance they aren’t what they appear to be. Luckily I was not sucked in.
Thanks for giving me the first real laugh since 2009 (your comment on what serves purpose).
But seriously, TheLadders does have a good purpose: an example for what job search vampires look like.
Folks, just remember this: In an arms race, the only clear winners are the arms dealers.
Think about the business model for a minute:
1. You pay a regular fee for access to their content.
2. Should you actually succeed in finding work, your subscription will be canceled.
3. They lose revenue from your subscription.
So, what motivation does TheLadders really have toward making your search successful? The longer you’re in the game, the longer you’ll be paying. That is, until you can’t anymore.
If they’re promising higher quality job listings, why offer a year subscription?
Here’s another question: what sense does it make in extracting profit from limited resources? The only real answer is that it’s easy to sell help to those who desperately need it.
Thar oughtta be a law.
Bump ^^
Laurie,
Thanks for the great post! The commercial for The Ladders was offensive and sexist in my opinion. While The Ladders is one on the top of my list of sleazy bloodsucking job sites, have you looked at Jobfox? For a long time I thought they were the same company because their practices are almost identical.
Want a resume critique?
Sure, I want to read your critique and crawl into a corner in the fetal position… and then spend $400 for a sparkling new resume.
Want your resume to bring the jobs to you?
Of course I do, silly. But why hasn’t my $400 found me the job that 73% more people have found jobs? Apparently I am one of the 27% you don’t talk about.
Want to PAY to find your job?
YES!! Of course I do. Calling your services an “investment” does make sense. After all I don’t have any money because, well, I’m unemployed. Can you wait until I get my stimulus check?
Laurie
Laurie,
Thanks for the great post! The commercial for The Ladders was offensive and sexist in my opinion. I can hear their ad agency now: “Marc, you need something sexy!”, Marc, cool, let’s do something offensive. $100K job seekers like sexy”….
While The Ladders is one on the top of my list of sleazy bloodsucking job sites, have you looked at Jobfox? For a long time I thought they were the same company because their practices are almost identical.
Want a resume critique?
Sure, I want to read your critique and crawl into a corner in the fetal position… and then spend $400 for a sparkling new resume.
Want your resume to bring the jobs to you?
Of course I do, silly. But why hasn’t my $400 found me the job that 73% more people have found jobs? Apparently I am one of the 27% you don’t talk about.
Want to PAY to find your job?
YES!! Of course I do. Calling your services an “investment” does make sense. After all I don’t have any money because, well, I’m unemployed. Can you wait until I get my stimulus check?
Laurie
Whew, Girl, you’ve touched off a firestorm!
Last year I did an expose on “Free Resume Critiques” and now I’m working on an update. As part of my research, I’m collecting as many “free resume critiques” as people are willing to send me. Doesn’t matter whether you got your “critique” from TheLadders, JobFox or anywhere else — I’d like to see it. Here’s the link to send it to me: http://corcodilos.com/blog/2695/did-you-get-a-free-resume-critique-from-a-resume-company-recently
Thanks for helping out!
Hmm Nick, maybe I should send in my resume that got me one of those 6-figure jobs and see what the free resume critique places say about it, just to send it to you if nothing else.
Dave, You won’t be the first who’s done that. In fact, folks on my blog have bought resumes from TheLadders, then submitted them for critique. Turns out they need a new resume…!
If the Ladders were a stock, I’d short it… The world is on linkedin…
Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!! How did I _not_ see this until today?
Thanks Laurie. Say, when you punch (certain people in) the industry in the face, can I get a few kicks in the ribs after they hit the bricks? I could be the Joe Pesci to your DeNiro, maybe get stabby with a pen or something.
Laurie,
You say your from St. Louis? You sound like you’re from New York. I love the way you answered my query on google as to whether it’s worth paying The Ladders. To the point. I get it. Now I can proceed accordingly. I need to work with more people like you. Rick
Sorry Laurie, I misread. Raleigh, NC. But still. You sound like me. Time is money. Again, I appreciate the great response. Rick
I now live in Raleigh. I’ve lived everywhere.
I was nearly led astray back in the Fall of 2009 to use The Ladders when I became laid off with my freshly accomplished MBA (which my company kindly paid 100% for and then the dumbasses cut me loose). Fortunately I found out before investing a dime.
What gets me after reading about this “Summit” is this…who in their friggin’ right mind (and with ANY business reputability) would name a summit to clean up your shitty repuatation the “Position Accomplished Summit”…it sounds like a bunch of frat boy wannabe’s carving their accomplishments in the headboard of their bed. Douchebags.
I am 98% in agreement with you, Laurie. We are no where near the end of the recession, at least as far as the 25% of the work force under and un-employed are concerned. We probably will not see the end of it until those worshipers of the twin heathen gods of Globalization and Shareholder Value are dead and in the ground.
Expect an entire “lost generation” or so of people from late boomer to early millennials who will never ever be able to realize a decent job, a decent career or any real prosperity during their lifetimes.
Other than that, have a nice day!
Here’s the (lengthy) update:
http://corcodilos.com/blog/3219/theladders-how-the-scam-works-2
Lengthy because I had more notes than I had time to edit…! (Sorry, but like they say, “It’s all in there…”) But the stories in that column quoted from from employers… there’s the revelation of TheLadders’ scam. It’s now clear why job hunters using Ladders encounter so many sub-$100k jobs, after paying to access $100k+. Ladders is making up salaries for jobs it posts, without knowledge or authorization of employers. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried…
Holy..
Typically, I find good candidates via the Ladders. I have a “free” job posting that nets good candidates as a recruiter. This is more of a diatribe on salary disparities?
The real rant on the Ladders would be the marketing of $100,000+ only jobs / candidates, since both slip through (meaning, some unethical chumps post $70k jobs with ‘bonus / other’ comp MAYBE at 100k, and, many candidates are not worth $100k).
I won’t argue the equity of some positions compensation over others, to be fair, if you want to rant on CEO compensation, CEO’s are NOT trolling the Ladders. Sr Directors, VP’s and more ARE, however, since the market is rough for everyone, including Sr folks.
A better argument / rant should be wage / salary compensation for the 90% of folks in the US not rising (in Real terms (also HIGHLY argumentative)) for 30 years (which I believe, is due to easy credit).
Cheers, regardless.
I took that rant the wrong way, HAHA! Definately many problems on the Ladders re: compensation and the horrific resume assistance..I’ve corrected many a resumes in 5 minutes (well, quick tuning ups) vs the junk they’ve put out. 2+ years tech recruiter here, so I’m no uber-guru.
Cheers, subscribed.
Nice words! You couldnt have said it any better
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