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 I am starting my job search due to my inevitable layoff that will occur in 90 to 120 days.  My goal is to have a new position prior to that event.  In addition to utilizing my network, I was looking at theladders.com and some of the positions look very appealing.  Does anyone have direct experience in using theladders.com as a job search tool?  If you found a position you were interested in pursuing, what was the resume submission experience like?  How was it working with the recruiters that post positions?

When I did a search on manager tools for theladders.com, I saw some postings regarding resume review service.  Rest assured, I have no desire to use their resume review service. 

Thanks in advance and if you have any other job search websites to recommend please share those as well.

 

clembm's picture

DO NOT USE THELADDERS.COM

 

It's a scam.  All they do now is scrape job boards and corporate websites for jobs and make you pay $30/month for that priviledge.

 

Do a search on google for theladders.com sucks or theladders.com scam

 

I would suggest finding a good recruiter to work with and/or get out there and network.

 

 

jaydub's picture

Thanks for your response.  I am currently paying the $30/month but I don't have a problem with the monthly fee because they are saving me hours of time from having to do that myself and they are certainly scraping sites I would not even know exist.

So are you saying that the scraping in and of itself is a scam or is there something else I should know?  I have been hesitant to post a resume there until I could get some opinions.  Thank you for yours.  I am going to google the terms you suggested.

 

MattJBeckwith's picture
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While I would agree that the resume service offered by TheLadders isn't very valuable, especially given the price, I don't consider their search site to be a scam. The fact that most of their jobs are no longer "featured" might be a product of our current economy. I remember referring their service to colleagues a couple of years ago and at the time, more then half of the listings were featured only on TheLadders, if only for a couple of months. There are still jobs that show up there and no where else. A couple of weeks ago I noticed a position listed with a fortune 100 company. I did a quick search of that company's own website, as well as the usual suspects: Hot Jobs, Monster, etc., and was unable to find it.

I've made a habit out of always knowing what's out in the market so for me, it's worth the $180 a year.

jhack's picture

 There was a lengthy discussion of The Ladders on this thread: 

http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-2498

John Hack

jaydub's picture

John,

Thanks for the link to the thread.  I had seen that before and the thread focused on their resume service for which I have no interest.  My concerns deal mainly with the submission of a resume to the website and relations with the recruiters that post positions on the website (whether or not they were scraped from another website or not).  

Jason 

jhack's picture

 Mark Horstman has recommended ritesite.com (founded by John Luchte) for posting one's resume.   This is a recruiter network site.  

Does anyone out there have any experience with this site? 

John Hack

KS180's picture

A lot of the jobs on TheLadders is also on Indeed.com but they are free.  Indeed also gives you feedback about th companies and the interview methods they use.  Helps you to be a little more prepared.

ken_wills's picture

 

RiteSite

I was surprised that my experience with RiteSite.com was a dissapointment (I had really hoped for a lot, given the quality of his book).  For my money, what I got was:

  • distribution of my (M-T style!) resume to hundreds of RiteSite-endorsed resruiting firms.  Results: nothing.
  • job alerts based on my profile.  Results: maybe a dozen of them, over the course of nine months (I though it was broken, and double-checked!).

Ladders

I resisted spending the money for about six months.  Then I enrolled - and I'm glad I did.  I DID see a lot of opportunities that I didn't see on the consolidator sites like Indeed.  Results: for the maybe 200+ applications I submitted through the Ladders, I got maybe 10 screening calls that led to a couple of interviews.

Indeed

I LOVE the consolidator sites like Indeed.  With a little digging, you can find ones that specialize in your industry or job type.  Results: No better / no worse than Ladders.

 

I'd still use the Ladders (because there were lots of Ladders job that showed up on Indeed that I wouldn't have been able to apply to if I wasn't a Ladders member...).

And if I may suggest one more wrinkle on the online market:  make sure to cruise the jod boards on your target company's sites.  Some of them (like AMEX for example) allow you to create your own job-bot which will alert you by email when a job that matches your criteria is posted.  If your have 10 - 20 legitimate target companies, their boards are worth the time.

Here's the bottom line: NONE of these are very effective ways to find a job.  Sure, make them part of your job search.  But be cautious - online job searching is a time sink!

 

Good luck!

johnnieB_73's picture

Nice that you're starting your job search early, especially in today's market.  A couple of friends (PM's) have had success with the ladders.com and indeed.com, although nothing has been as valuable as connecting on LinkedIn or networking in their respective cities.  They were able to still command a good project manager salary, but @ken_willis is right about online job searching being a time sink.

Best of luck,

John

jaydub's picture

Thanks John and Ken,

You've provided wonderful insight and I really appreciate it.  I agree with you that networking is far and away the best method.  I plan on using these sites as a supplement to my networking.  Networking works!  I called a person in my network today (I had already sent him my resume) to congratulate him on a significant milestone.  He thanked me and said and opportunity might be opening up in the next two weeks and that I was at the top of the list.  While I firmly believe that "until you have something you have nothing", it was encouraging.

Thanks again,

jaydub

 

ken_wills's picture

Your last post nailed it.  Keep thinking (and behaving) that way!

-KW

nitsnitin's picture

Thanks for your tips, I am really impressed

nitsnitin's picture

Thanks for your tips, I am really impressed

http://www.resume-builder.net

blogalotzoe's picture

I'd like to recommend using http://jobs.trovit.com it's free and has over 3 million classifieds job listings. It does the "scrape" of the web and then you can apply filters to find what you want fast! Give it a try if you would like! and Good luck in your search!