TheLadders Blog

Andrea and I first began working together because she was looking to make a career change. After Andrea witnessed several companies go through layoffs and restructuring, she knew the traditional media industry was in trouble. Her entire advertising career up to this point was focused on print media and I knew this could be a problem for us since most advertising jobs were shifting to digital. Andrea would need to make that transition as well and we knew it could be difficult for her to get noticed without that direct experience.

I helped Andrea to map out her network and from there leverage her extensive contacts to secure a number of interviews. I was confident Andrea could get a position, but was a little worried when even her friends’ companies said she needed more digital experience. After this we began exploring start-ups and using her contacts, Andrea found Fashion Etc, a start-up that was quietly looking for someone to manage their entire advertising process. After no less than 2 face-to-face interviews and countless phone conversations, Andrea was offered the role. I was so excited to hear from Andrea that she had landed the position with Fashion, Etc. During the end of our partnership, Andrea had so many interviews and was doing so well, it was almost hard for me to keep up!  But Fashion, Etc was the right job for Andrea and I could hear it in her voice when she told me all about how it was this cross between luxury goods and digital media!

Moira Danaher is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC) at TheLadders. After working with a variety of clients in different industries, functions and locations, Moira’s specialty is the job search and helping clients to land their next positions. Moira loves helping clients and making a difference in their lives.

TheLadders blog is always sharing great stories about how our team helps our members, but we’re also proud of the accomplishments our team make out of the office. Today, I’d like to share with you a story about Michael Castro. Mike first started at TheLadders almost 2 years ago as a Job Search Advisor. It was his job to help TheLadders members use the site and to find the right jobs for the right person.

But Mike had a talent and passion that we didn’t know about.

Mike is an amazing and talented filmmaker. When he isn’t writing or performing his own music, he’s shooting videos and films on his Canon 5D. TheLadders first saw his talents come to life when Anita Samojednik, TheLadders VP of Customer Operations, had Mike make a film about his fellow Job Search Advisors for a QTF (Quarterly Talk Forum) meeting. Everyone was blown away by the quality and style of the video. I’ve personally worked in film and video with top commercial directors, and I was overwhelmed. TheLadders had a top director and editor in our midst. TheLadders CEO & Founder Marc Cenedella made it clear we needed to put his talents to good use. Mike moved over to TheLadders UX group, and over the past year has shot and edited over 15 videos. You can see all of his work for TheLadders on our YouTube channel – combined his TheLadders videos have almost 50,000 views.

Recently, Mike submitted a short film to the LA Comedy Shorts Festival. TheLadders is proud of our talented editor and producer, Michael Castro. Please watch and witness the talent we see everyday.

A short film by Mayfair Jollies.

“Love D.O.A.”

Written by Jason Resnikoff & Shalani Tripathi
Directed, shot and edited by Mike Castro
Produced by Joe O’Brien, Mike Castro and Jason Resnikoff

Starring:
Jason Resnikoff
Shalini Tripathi
Maegan Pachomski
Paolo Po
Joe O’Brien

Featuring the music of Steve Mahoney (“Ever the Optimist”) and The Lesser Ghost. Also featuring ambient sounds by Kevin MacLeod.

Todd Hoza is Creative Director of TheLadders. When he’s not busy helping build the brand from the inside out, he’s taking credit for all the great work his talented team creates.

Job seekers, recruiters and hiring executives have an increasing number of options to choose from when seeking their next great move/perfect candidate. We believe TheLadders is uniquely positioned to help both sides of the ecosystem achieve success. TheLadders invented the first job site for $100k+ job seekers 8 years ago. And, this year, TheLadders turned the industry on its head (again) by launching the first “job offer guarantee.”

So how did TheLadders invent an offering like Signature, our coach-led program proven so effective we guarantee the outcome? Eight years of data serving the $100k+ segment definitely helped. Latest technology and academic research didn’t hurt either. Our near-famous, unlimited snack area? Maybe.

I’d argue the differentiator is our people. People who are smart & incredibly passionate about careers. People who understand success occurs at the intersection of technology and people (yes, I’ve been reading the Steve Job biography). People who put job seekers success first. That’s what we mean with our new tagline, Your Career Is Our Job™.

We believe in our people so much, we looked internally when developing our new tagline and brand promise. Yes, we validated the heck out of it externally – but the important takeaway is the idea started right here. And when we had to showcase our new tagline at our 9/20 NYSE event, we again turned to our colleagues. Enjoy a video created in-house by the UX team’s Mike Castro (who was once a Job Search Advisor) with support from Todd Hoza (our creative director) and Kate Addicott (our copywriter and tweet-miser of @TheLadders).

We enjoyed making the video. Hope you enjoy watching it.

Nicholas Karrat is Vice President of Marketing for TheLadders.com. He’s passionate about building great brands (e.g., TheLadders), traveling with his family and October baseball. He’s been waiting ~20 years for “the call” from the Yankees…any minute…