TheLadders Blog

Let’s just put in out there, the job search isn’t an easy one.

The questions one has during the search are endless. Should my resume be multiple pages long? How soon after applying should I follow up? How do I follow up? How do I go about finding job postings at a particular company? I’m fearful I may price myself right out of the running – how much should I ask for?

So while many of us have personal trainers or financial advisors, we really don’t have a place to turn for expert advice around the job search. That is, until now. TheLadders Signature program is a proven 6-month program that gives you one-to-one advice from one of our certified professional career coaches (CPCC).

I turned to one of the best Career Advisors here at TheLadders, John Scottaline. What qualifies John? Well, in addition to being a certified career professional, John has placed 5 $100K+ job seekers into new roles in the past 5 months (as this is a 6 month program, I would say John is doing extremely well). Here are some of John’s best tips:

Don’t be shy – network.

Networking is one of the BEST ways to find out about jobs. Whether it is through industry and professional events, alumni organizations or your local PTA, there are many contacts to be made. By going to events and meeting people, this gives you the ability to learn about a position not yet posted or ones you may have overlooked. It can also help you get your foot in the door and help you land an interview. So get out there and start filling up your contact list!

Your resume is your first round of interviewing.

John says that there are many common resume mistakes, like including an objective statement rather than an executive summary – not having a title, providing too much information or in some cases not enough. Having a professionally written resume is definitely an avenue to consider.

Some best practices include having a brief description of the each company you’ve worked for with size and scope of the business. Each title should have a few sentences of responsibilities and, after the brief description, it’s best to select the right achievements to add in bullet points.

Salary negotiations – know what your worth!

Many job seekers are afraid their previous or current salary will hurt their current negotiation. John’s advice: “Know what your worth!” Doing a little research on salaries of people with your skillset and experience is the way to start and there are many tools out there to use. Don’t just factor in salary. This should be inclusive of bonus, vacation time, 401K, medical benefits, etc. Then take that knowledge with your compensation goal and do a check to see if they are in line with one another. Finally, you must ask yourself what you are willing to compromise, such as less vacation for a larger base salary.

If you want to learn more about how TheLadders can help you advance your career, visit our Signature site.

Janelle Taylor is Marketing Manager, Consumer Services at TheLadders.com. Her great love for marketing knows no bounds—similar to her love for books and March Madness.

We’ve all heard the old adage that when your work is your passion, you’ll never work another day in your life.

I find this to be true.

With my creative drive, I discovered very early on that there was no other career for me than one in the marketing world. And as someone who is passionate about what I do day in and day out, I can quickly recognize when I see others who have the same fire about their job.

I see that in my Signature team members.

Now I know you’ve heard of TheLadders Signature program, right? It’s our (hopefully soon-to-be) famous (that’s my big goal!) systematic 6-month job search program tailored for each one of our clients. Yes, I said it, tailored and we guarantee you a job offer!

Can you feel my excitement through your screen?

Our certified Career Advisors work with job seekers from identification of their job goals, to resume re-write, to offer negotiation and even through onboarding into their new role. Wow! Knowing how hard the job search can be, this program provides a partner to ride along with you for this sometimes-wayward journey. That, to me, is double wow!

This leads me back to our Signature team. Quite simply, they are awesome. When one of our clients receives a job offer, you would swear the customers Career Advisor also got an offer. Our Career Advisors are vested in the success of our clients and they, along with the entire Signature team, receive great joy when someone is placed.

What were some of TheLadders Signature team placements in the past few weeks, you ask? Well, some of the placements include roles such as:

• Vice President of Sales in Texas
• Strategic Account Executive in California
• Solutions Design Architect in Illinois
• Project Manager in New York
• Vice President of Marketing in Boston
• Chief Operating Officer in Colorado

What fantastic work our team has achieved thus far and we are only at the beginning (famous, famous, famous; if I see it, I can achieve it)!

A job has the ability to change someone’s life. If we can get someone into their dream role—which at the end of the day benefits not only our job seekers, but also their families—we’ve done a great thing!

So to that end, I must go back to work and continue making this program (yes, you already guessed it) FAMOUS!

Janelle Taylor is Marketing Manager, Consumer Services at TheLadders.com. Her great love for marketing knows no bounds—similar to her love for books and March Madness.