Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of participating in Mediabistro’s first-ever Career Breakfast, a Google + hangout where a small panel of HR professionals and career experts gave their insight into various aspects of the job search process. This week’s topic was “What Really Happens After You Submit Your Resume.”
There’s a lot of advice floating around about standing out from the crowd during the application process. I’ve always believed, and my fellow panelists agree, that the best ways are the simplest. First, be qualified. The fanciest song and dance routine won’t get you anywhere if you can’t do the job. Second, have an easy-to-read resume that quickly conveys your experience and skills. A study done at TheLadders revealed that your resume has about six seconds to make a good first impression.
Whether you submit your resume through an advanced applicant tracking system or directly to a human being, the goal is the same. You want to submit a resume that lays out why you’re right for the job. It should be clear and clean: as free of bells and whistles as possible. A great resume won’t guarantee you a job, but a solid, well-timed, customized resume will likely get you an interview, and that’s the first step.
According to the responses I received, our audience got real value from the conversation. I love the opportunity to give insight from the recruiter/hiring manager side. I look forward to participating in many more of these events and helping more job seekers navigate the often frightening and confusing realm of the job search.
David Gaspin is the Manager, Talent Acquisition at TheLadders. When he’s not busy hiring amazing people for TheLadders, he keeps busy by trying to sound important – whether to his team, job seekers, or (for a real challenge) his 5-year old son.
This past Saturday, the first Agile User Experience (AgileUX) conference, sponsored by TheLadders, was held at the SVA Theater in Manhattan. The conference brought together leading voices from within the New York City design and technology community to discuss strategy and tactics for delivering world class software products.
The conference was organized by Jeff Gothelf, formerly the Director of User Experience at TheLadders, and myself, current head of UX at TheLadders. Todd Hoza, who is the Creative Director for TheLadders, provided creative leadership for the conference.
The speakers we chose came from a cross-section of disciplines including product, venture capital, customer research, and consulting. Speakers representing TheLadders included Eric Burd, VP of Product, who discussed organization change to align the entire business — from sales, marketing, finance and customer support — to an agile mindset.
Eric Burd - VP Product at TheLadders
Also representing TheLadders was Jennifer Gergen, Associate Creative Director, who discussed strategies for better integrating design into an Agile process. I spoke about the importance of continuous, rapid-cadence customer research and usability testing and delved into the details of how to conduct that research and feed it back into product delivery. Finally, Jeff Gothelf argued for demystifying design and the importance of transparency for greater team collaboration.
Will Evans, Manager, User Experience Design at TheLadders
The event drew close to 400 attendees, some from as far away as Japan, who gathered to learn and share ideas for designing greater product experiences faster. The general consensus was that it was a great learning experience exploring the most recent thinking in product design, and many people left energized and excited to bring those ideas back to their organizations. TheLadders was proud to sponsor such an event and continues to be an active member of the New York City Technology and Design community.
Will Evans is Manager, Experience Design for TheLadders in New York City with 15 years industry experience in interaction design, information architecture, and user experience strategy.
“Employ Humanity.” It’s not just a phrase we throw around. It’s painted and posted on the walls in TheLadders’ SoHo offices. It’s a philosophy that lives in our genetic makeup. It’s why we do what we do. And this weekend, more than a dozen volunteers lived that philosophy at our first ever Career Boot Camp event hosted by StreetWise Partners.
StreetWise Partners provides job-skills training and career mentoring for highly-motivated candidates facing multiple employment barriers. Seventy StreetWise mentors and trainees took part in a half-day event, which supported talent and economic growth in New York City. TheLadders best-in-class job matching service and content is a perfect fit for StreetWise and their mission! The day kicked off with a panel presentation comprised of TheLadders executives Alex Douzet and Ware Sykes, and StreetWise board members Orlando Ashford and Singleton Beato. After the panel, career advisors and resume writers from TheLadders conducted workshops for StreetWise participants on personal branding, effective networking and job applications.
We’re looking forward to more events with StreetWise and continuing this important and inspiring partnership. We’re also especially proud to support StreetWise and their ongoing mission. Together, we hope to one day “Employ Humanity.”
You can learn more about StreetWise Partners and TheLadders here.
Lou Ciniglia is the Enterprise Sales Manager at TheLadders.com. He has seven years of experience in recruitment services. His wife is a recruiter. His friends are recruiters. He talks to recruiters all day, every day. Lou loves recruitment.
Learn how Ben, Carolina and Chuck found the jobs that were right for them through TheLadders Signature (previously known as our Job Search Consultation Program). TheLadders Signature is a systematic program that provides precise one-on-one guidance to help top-tier professionals find the next step in their careers.
If you’re interested in learning more about Signature, check out our site.
Ben talks about finding the structure and confidence to land his new job.
Carolina discusses how her advisor helped her stay positive and focused during every step of her job search.
Chuck explains how the program worked for him and why he recommends it to his friends.
Ware Sykes is Vice President of Sales and Services at TheLadders.
The Ladders Signature is a six-month program that is proven to help professionals find the next step in their career. Selected participants who actively engage in all components of the Signature program are guaranteed a job offer or their money back.
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.
The Internet has changed the way we do almost everything, and job hunting is no exception. The growth of online job boards and networking sites means many more opportunities for candidates – but also many more challenges in concealing a job search from colleagues. What do Americans think about privacy when searching for a job? How does this affect your ability as a recruiter to connect with the right candidate?
A recent study by Wakefield Research for TheLadders has some interesting answers.
And Mashable agreed. Mashable.com is the largest independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology. With more than 20 million unique monthly visitors, Mashable has one of the most engaged online news communities. They decided to use the study and info-graphic from TheLadders in their online article “The Job Search and Confidentiality” by Lauren Drell.
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.
At TheLadders, we’ve always believed strongly in the providing you with the right piece of career advice. After all, writing the perfect cover letter or asking the right questions in an interview can make all the difference in your job search.
You’ve always had access to our original and exclusive career advice on TheLadders.com, but in 2011, we decided to bring our advice right to you.
That meant Twitter, and @TheLadders.
It’s not just working, it’s crushing. We put a superstar copywriter, Kate Addicott, in charge, and @TheLadders now has over 20,000 followers! Not only have we been able to help our customers, but the relationships we’ve developed with job seekers, recruiters, employers and industry experts have been invaluable to us, too.
We hope you’re enjoying @TheLadders and all of our original career advice and job search content. You can check it out on our Twylah page.
Great work, Kate!
And if you’re not already, you should follow us on Twitter here.
Bill Beard is the Associate Creative Director of Copy for TheLadders. He (obviously) loves to travel, always has ESPN.com open, and always takes the cheese option when it’s offered.
“I have landed my dream job!!!! I am so grateful for your team and my resume writer! My resume and cover letter stood out among the crowd!"... "If you are out there virtually and have reached the glass ceiling at your company or you are out of work and looking for a job, make the investment in joining the Ladders.com and paying for the additional service to have their set of professional resume writers re-write your resume. You know you are amazing, so let their experts create a resume that showcases your expertise. Don't let your ho-hum resume cost you the opportunity to land your dream job.”
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.
