Former HotJobs Executive Combines Industry Insight with Personal Touch; Conquers Last Frontier in Online Recruitment
seemingly never-ending news about the slow job market, one entrepreneur is delivering a hearty dose of optimism and insight to job seekers at the highest end of the market. Marc Cenedella, the former Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations, at HotJobs.com, who shepherded that companyís highly successful sale to Yahoo!, Inc. (NASD: YHOO) in 2002, has founded TheLadders.com, a job search Web site, e-mail newsletter and customer service blog, designed to streamline online recruitment in the $100k segment of the employment marketplace.
The $100k Jobs Dilemma
ìThe biggest irony in the job market is that the more successful you are, the tougher it is to get solid information about new job opportunities. Where do you go if youíre a VP of Finance? Or an SVP of Sales? Or a CFO?î said Cenedella. ìI designed TheLadders.com based on my experience in the Internet recruiting business to address the fundamental concerns of this underserved portion of the job market.î
Each month over 3,000 new sales, marketing and finance jobs are selected by TheLadders.com team of experts for inclusion in their weekly newsletters. The seven-month-old companyís personal touch has struck a chord in this exclusive slice of the market by addressing the central dilemma in the $100k job search process: recruiters posting high-wage jobs on traditional Web-based services routinely get inundated with hundreds of rsums from unqualified candidates. On the other side of the equation, high-end job seekers typically have privacy concerns that lead them to either not list their rsums online at all, or to create such non-descript profiles that they easily get lost in the pack. TheLadders.com has found a way to pre-qualify both job seekers and employers, enabling both to realize the benefits of online recruitment.
Unique Business Model
TheLadders.com addresses the specialized needs of the high-end market by turning the traditional recruitment business model upside down. The company searches the Internet for job postings, or, alternatively, employers can list them free of charge ñ a critical difference from traditional job boards because it enables TheLadders.com to list every appropriate $100k job opening on the market, not just paid listings. This distinction allows TheLadders.com to filter out any questionable job listings that do not meet the companyís standards for credibility. TheLadders.com also does not charge a fee for its basic job leads newsletter for job seekers. Instead, it generates revenues by offering a premium service to job seekers, which includes a greater number of job listings, more detail, early delivery, and more features for $25 per month. TheLadders.comís premium service fee keeps unqualified candidates out of the applicant pool and, thus, encourages employers to look at TheLadders.com applicants first.
ìThe fundamental difference between TheLadders.com and everything else out there is that we work for the job-seeker. TheLadders.com does not accept money from hiring firms, employers, or recruiters. We work for who pays us ñ the $100K job-seeker,î said Cenedella. ìFor high-end job-seekers, the ability to see quality, screened jobs right there in their inboxes every Monday morning is a godsend.î
The Right Voice for the Right Time
Bridging the gap between the far-reaching resources of the Internet and the personal attention of a job coach, TheLadders.com is resonating with $100k job seekers who find its tone to be perfectly in sync with the current market. Subscribers have been quick to profess their approval for the service on TheLadders.comís one-of-a-kind customer service blog, with comments such as: ìThis is the best service I have seenÖ Was wondering why someone hadnít done something like this just for sales professionals before now and [I] am so glad you didÖI appreciate the caliber and quality because time is money.î
Tailoring separate newsletters to job seekers in the sales, marketing and finance sectors, TheLadders.com team is able to speak candidly and directly in a voice that is consistent with the industry being served. The personalized format, along with the customer service blog, also allow Cenedella and his staff to provide regular updates on new job postings and intelligence gathered from recruiters and job seekers with whom they maintain daily contact.
TheLadders.com: A Job Search Service for the $100k Set
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