I recently joined The Ladders to increase my exposure to the job market, but I am having second thoughts about its value. Its central purpose is to expose you to exclusive opportunities and recruiters for executive level jobs, but it seems to be a business seeking to monetize its users at every step by offering hard-sell services such as resume writing and other services beyond the monthly subscription. Moreover, the aggregated exposure you gain from paying for The Ladders service is far less robust than LinkedIn’s free account.
The bottom line is you need a strong active network of people to find work. Relationships are how you gain access to unadvertised opportunities. When it comes to posted jobs, sites like LinkedIn, Indeed and the various free job boards offer nearly all the information you pay for in The Ladders.
In the two months I have used The Ladders, I have not gotten a single strong lead that resulted in direct communication. In my search, 100% of the networking that resulted in direct communication derived from either me making calls to people I know or via LinkedIn. When it comes to results for my dollar, The Ladders is a non-performer. The only communication resulting from my subscription are very expensive up-sells trying to increase the amount of money they capture from me. I even get cold calls from time to time asking me if I am interested in buying their other products.
Others have had similar experiences with The Ladders, claiming their sales practices to be “crude and predatory.” Moreover, The Ladders shows up on various consumer complaint boards with customers complaining about having difficulty canceling their subscriptions. This seems to be a classic case of hoping for passive customers putting off canceling the service and getting recurring revenue from non-users.
A larger question of business ethics are at play here. Cashing in on the unemployed without delivering a quality product is sleazy. I have no issues paying for great services like Mobile Me, LinkedIn and other great subscription services, but cash is king when you are out of work and you need to ensure a return when you pay for services.
In the end, you might find The Ladders a useful service. But do your research before signing up.
I am rendering better results with my iPhone, great friends, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Happy job hunting!
~DK
Good to know! I won’t recommend it anymore. The times that we have used have been very short and jobs were secured through other means, so I never got to the point where I realized it wasn’t helping.