TheLadders Blog

I had the privilege of participating in an event called Straight from the Source: Employer Representatives Mentor Women, hosted by Women@Work in Westport, Connecticut, yesterday.

Women@Work, co-founded by Eliza Shanley, is a great organization that is “dedicated to Keeping Women at Work Through All of Life’s Ages and Stages.” They offer a wide range of services which help mid- to senior-level women professionals advance their careers and find jobs. Often times these women took time off to raise their families and are now faced with reentering the workforce in a tight job market.

Every month or so, Women@Work holds an event where they ask individuals from various corporations to meet with its members to discuss two major topics: where they see opportunity in the marketplace, and what key advice they’d give professionals looking to reenter the job market.

I was very excited to attend this event because I could offer a unique perspective – not only could I talk about how I see the job market in the internet space, but I could discuss what job trends TheLadders sees across multiple industries and functions, as well as provide some practical tips to make every person at the event a more effective job seeker.

Eliza opened the event by moderating a short panel discussion with me and representatives from home furnishings retailer Pottery Barn and financial services firm Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Although we all came from very different industries and company cultures, a few themes seemed universal:

A positive attitude goes a long way. When you’re going in for an interview or even an initial phone screen, you need to be in a good mood and show the interviewers that you want the job. No one wants to work with a Negative Nancy!

Research is key. Employers want to know you took the time to read their website, recent news articles about the organization, etc., and that you have a good understanding of how they work and what’s going on in their world. Prove in your cover letter and during the interview that you’ve done your homework. Whenever possible, find someone you know who works at the company and grab a cup of coffee with them to learn more about the organization and its culture.

It’s more than just skill set. When a hiring manager gets a job requisition approved, they want someone who can not only do the job, but also fit in with the company and team culture. Assume that a portion of every screening and interview is devoted to determining how well you will fit in with the company’s culture and the make-up of your specific team.

After the panel discussion, we broke out into smaller groups where the attendees could sit with each panelist and ask and every question they had about the job market and the search. A lot of this time was devoted to going over the dos and don’ts of resume writing and networking.

This was a really great event. The attendees were very enthusiastic and each speaker brought something different to the table.  Thanks again to Eliza Shanley and Women@Work for putting together such a polished event! I look forward to working with this group again.

Amanda Augustine is the Job Search Expert at TheLadders. Always on the go at work and away, Amanda trains and competes in races and triathlons in her spare time.

Recently, when I was asked to speak at Women’s Career Strategy Conference, I was very excited for the opportunity. After all, I’ve worked at TheLadders for eight years, and I’ve spent the last two primarily on our Signature program, which helps job seekers land a job in six months.

The Women’s Career Strategy Conference, presented by career-intelligence.com, was designed for professional women considering a career change, a new job hunt, or simply looking to advance within their current organizations. Approximately 75 top-notch career thought-leaders and candidates gathered in Stamford, CT yesterday to discuss everything and anything related to career development, from managing your professional image to using social media for career success.

I was given the opportunity to speak on a panel entitled, “Why You Didn’t Get the Job”, where I talked about getting your application past the various gatekeepers (both human and technology-driven) in an organization and some of the major Dos and Don’ts of resumes. I also spoke about the eye-tracking study TheLadders conducted, which revealed that the average recruiter spends 6 seconds screening a resume before deciding if the candidate is a fit or not for the position.

Right before lunch (I had to captivate a hungry crowd!) I gave a presentation about the Signature program and touched upon a few of the topics our Career Advisors cover with their clients: taking inventory of your strengths and passions to develop a concrete set of job goals; assessing each job posting to determine if the application is worth your time; and growing a strong, balanced network to mine for unpublished job leads.

It was a great day! I met a number of very talented, dedicated professional women and got to compare notes with my peers on the latest job hunting tools and strategies. And rest assured, we will incorporate any new tidbits into our program to keep it relevant to our clients!  Thanks again to career-intelligence.com for putting together such a valuable conference.

Amanda Augustine is the Job Search Expert atTheLadders. Always on the go at work and away, Amanda trains and competes in races and triathlons in her spare time.

When our VP of Public Relations, Lisa Hagendorf, first asked me if I wanted to work with AMC’s The Pitch, I broke out in a cold sweat. It wasn’t the show’s fault — it was that simple phrase: The Pitch.

See, before I started my successful career here at TheLadders, I was an agency guy. I’ve worked at some of the biggest and best advertising agencies — Ogilvy, Euro RSCG, Draft and McGarryBowen. Throughout my agency days, I’ve worked on over 50 pitches. They can be exhilarating and they are always exhausting. Late nights. Bad take-out dinners. Intense discussions. Strategies. Concepts. More intense discussions. New strategies. New concepts. Arguments. Sometimes there was crying. Too many calls home, saying you’re still working. Finally, we’d finalize the concepts and send them off to production. There would be a light at the end of the tunnel.

But wait! Emergency meeting!

The new Executive Creative Director took a shower and now has a new strategy and creative idea. Swearing. Lots of swearing.

As soon as I became a Creative Director, I vowed to respect my teams and make sure I understood how they felt. But that goes out the door after a few late nights and the pressure you feel to win. No other professional business gets close to the insanity and pressure of “the pitch.” You have to be willing to put everything you have into it. No one wins because they brought in work they could do in one day. They might have done the work in one day but that’s because they only had a day to do it.

As I watched The Pitch, I felt the pain and excitement of the teams. A part of me wanted in. The competition showcased is really addictive and brought up old competitive feelings. The rush.

And it’s on AMC. Who doesn’t love AMC right now? They’re the most Emmy-recognized network on basic cable. Many of you know it as home to your favorite shows, including Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Killing and The Walking Dead.

TheLadders is happy to collaborate with The Pitch. How do we fit in? We’re experts on the elevator pitch, one of the key aspects of career advancement, and an essential part of a strong personal brand. The Pitch reached out to us because they know we can help professionals give the perfect Elevator Pitch and move their careers forward.

Learn more about perfecting your elevator pitch ›

Todd Hoza is Director of Creative & UX at 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.

Chad and I first began working together because he was looking to make a career transition. After several successful years in sales at his former company, Chad’s position was eliminated in a downsizing. Chad was ready to go from the start and immediately began interviewing for positions. Interviewing was one of Chad’s strong points and this proved to be true since in October he received two job offers. However both companies that offered Chad positions were very vague about commission structure and had a very low base salary. After much back and forth, neither company could provide the commission structure he wanted, and Chad ended up turning down these opportunities.

I helped Chad to focus on positions where his strengths could shine. With all of his background in consumer technology, I pointed out to Chad that this was not only his passion, but also his expertise in the eyes of a recruiter. My search with Chad focused on consumer technology, but we also wanted to focus on companies with strong morale and quality products. After living in Japan for a number of years after college, Chad really respected the culture’s high regard for the customer. I immediately agreed with Chad on this and mentioned how here at TheLadders we have signs in Japanese recognizing the importance of the customer and doing the best business possible.

I discovered the Account Executive position online and Chad immediately recognized it as a position he had already applied to. We were both excited because this seemed like the perfect fit! Soon after, Chad was phone screened and began the interview process. The business and sales model was a little different than Chad’s past employers and there would need to be extensive training to get Chad up to speed. He worried this might eliminate him from moving forward in the interview process.

After Chad was brought in for the in-person interview, it took almost two and a half weeks to hear back. At one point the recruiter called Chad to see if he had heard anything. Finally, on December 23, Chad was extended the offer and he accepted.

I was very excited when Chad got the offer. He put in the effort on his end and we worked hard to ensure the offer was not only a quality company, but also had a definitive compensation structure in place. I was so happy to have worked with such a hard working client and assist him in getting this offer.

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.

 Learn more about TheLadders Signature.

Wow! We have come a long way. This week, TheLadders surpassed five million members. That’s five million people that we are helping with their job search. We work to help these members find their next calling in life however we can, whether it’s through our job matching expertise, our personalized products and services or our world class career advice.

We’ve been working for nine years to learn the science of the job search and share that insight with our members. More importantly, we’re happy that we can deliver results for our customers. In 2010 alone, a Harris Interactive study* showed that over 500,000 $100K+ professionals credited TheLadders with helping them find a new job. Most recently, we launched our Signature program, which offers members personalized help navigating their job search and a guaranteed job offer within six months or their money back. That’s how strongly we believe in the program.

We certainly have come a long way as a company and have a lot to be proud of. When I started at TheLadders in 2004, we had just reached 9,000 members. Since then, not only have we grown our member base to 5 million, we’ve expanded to all professional level jobs and have grown our jobs onsite by 3x just in the last 6 months alone. We’ve attracted over 17,000 new recruiters to our site to connect with job seekers and launched countless products and features for users to take advantage of during their job search.

I’m proud to be part of a company committed to finding the right person for the right job – and helping so many members move their careers forward. Great job, team!

Leslie Semegran is Vice President of Marketing and Engagement and has been with TheLadders since 2004, in various capacities across Marketing and Sales. When she’s not endlessly searching for ways to engage and help members, she’s at home running around after her nine-month-old daughter.