LaddersReviews of theladders.com

I am extremely disappointed that The Ladders.com has become just another job board with entry level jobs, some starting at salaries of $30-40k. When I used it several years ago it was far more high-end and the promise was $100k and up. Now you need to weed through a lot of the chaff and chatter to get to the higher level opportunities. It has also gone very heavily towards the IT world. While I have found a few high end sales jobs for capital equipment I will probably try a different search engine like Execunet for higher level jobs.

The site works very well, but I am finding that there aren't as many opportunities showing for my industry as through other sources.

I have been a Ladders member for years. I've applied to hundreds of jobs. Being very qualified with a MBA I thought something would come my way. But alas, all these sites are the same. You need several good recruiters. Mark does put out encouraging posts.

I use The Ladders to gain intel on available opportunities for which I seek. I have not seen it as that much better than any other job aggregator. It claims to be a $100K+ website, but often positions are posted that are not. The recruiter aspect is nice; however, when I recruiter "searches" someone (which has happened often), there is no feedback. I know recruiters are busy and it is "not in their charter" to provide feedback to candidates, but it would be a nice professional act. Nothing fancy, just a couple lines ( I looked at you for this position, why, and feedback). Most employers and employment services do not segment the veteran population, which is extensive. As a veteran with a lot of managerial experience, it would be nice to have a separate channel. Many vets in my category have a lot of GM experience that the private sector does not understand. The Ladders has an opportunity to assist.

TheLadders is OK, but more reporting about job search status would make it better.

I use TheLadders to apply for executive marketing communications positions. For me, the greatest strength of TheLadders is in finding appropriate job openings for me to apply to. Secondly, TheLadders is also good at directing recruiters to ask if I am an appropriate candidate for their positions. Unfortunately, these strengths are offset by TheLadders' weakness in allowing me to manage the dozens of different job openings for which I might be a candidate. The site's dashboard for applicants to manage openings is primitive and of little help. Actually, it used to be better; a revision of the site dumbed down applicants' management tools and removed basic functions. I need a pool to hold the dozens of possible positions TheLadders sends me every week. I need to quickly and easily delete the 85-90% of openings which are not appropriate for me. TheLadders has never had a group deletion function, and it eliminated its single-position deletion function, so irrelevant openings stay in my pool of potential positions forever. When I want to thoroughly review open positions, I have to check the same irrelevant undeletable openings again and again. TheLadders provides job applicants is the ability to save a position; a "Track" tab shows the status of saved openings, but the statuses (if that is a word) of saved positions are not changeable by job applicants, but only automatically by TheLadders. Anything that happens outside TheLadders' system is not reflected in an opening's status. For example, when I have an in-person interview for a position, I have no way to indicate that on TheLadders. This forces me to manage my active openings with Post-It notes, not an optimal system. To sum up, I think the strengths of TheLadders outweigh its significant drawbacks. TheLadders matched me with good openings I would never have found otherwise, and enables recruiters to reach me. I recommend TheLadders, but with the reservations described above.

It seems with Ladders (and I got one job years ago), that you become a name on a screen, and they don't give you specifics to your background a lot. I have 20 years experience as a sales executive in Telecommunications and Data equipment sales, and financial solution selling in the mortgage industry. Two very different industries. It is very hard to leverage my experience while applying to jobs that I am qualified for...I get a LOT of ones either Im not...or too low level. I'm getting a lot more response and offers on Linked In..perhaps its a face with a name and more personal. Thanks

A job board is only as good as the recruiters who use it, this one is no better than any other.