Word has been spreading that there were mass layoffs at TheLadders today.
CenterNetworks has the story, saying they’ve received several unconfirmed reports that there have been mass firings at the company’s New York City offices. The story also points to several comments on Twitter, including some from an employee who posted comments from the conference room where the layoff notices were given.
Product Manager Derek Tumolo also posted on Twitter that at least eight people were fired, but rumors are suggesting the total is much higher. There also are reports of visibly angry people on the street and security guards stationed outside the company’s headquarters.
Further, a comment from “Tucker” left on Cheezhead’s own article notes, “Not sure if this story still holds true. Heard that TheLadders had massive layoffs just this morning. Seems really contradictory to what they say in the Crain’s piece.”
We’re keeping our ears open for more official information and will update this post accordingly.
UPDATE: After requesting a confirmation or denial of the mass layoffs, we received the following statement from Lou Casale at TheLadders:
While demand for our service remains strong and we continue to grow, we regularly assess our business and the economic environment around us to ensure we remain a healthy, strong growing company. Given the current economic environment, we have made some adjustments, which includes a reduction in workforce. TheLadders.com is taking these steps to position the company for long term success.
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April 15th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
up until the middle of Q1, i worked at the the ladders on the enterprise team and boy did i see this coming from a mile a way. a new sales director, new higher ups, getting our “unlimited vacation” yanked and the sudden change from being paid base salary to going hourly definitely smelled fishy. i pulled the rip cord because there’s no way in hell i could have made quota with what we were working with.
i’m sad for my fellow exLadders who are now looking for work in this economy. the only thing i can say about theLadders right now is that i’m glad they fed me greek yogurt and organic burritos the entire time i worked there. the money i saved on lunches eclipsed the balance of what my very last ladders paycheck was supposed to be (after they went hourly).
April 16th, 2009 at 4:47 am
Seems to me like that is simply another way of saying layoffs. If the growth was stronger and the economic environment more positive – would this re-assessment have taken place? Has there been an assessment of this nature and magnitude previously?
April 16th, 2009 at 10:59 am
On the positive side Rafael at RealMatch is hiring! That is starting to crack me up.
April 16th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Joel – Someone else opened the door this time, I am just walking through.
http://www.realmatch.com/PLanding/3780603
April 16th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
If you were recently laid off from TheLadders, previously worked as a Sales Account Executive, please contact me. I am interested in speaking with anyone from TheLadders Sales team regarding a Sales Account Executive job opportunity.
Thanks,
Henry Lansang
hlansang@mimeo.com
April 16th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Thanks Henry — I’ll do my best to get your info to as many of my former sales colleagues as possible. Much appreciated.
April 16th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
the ladders was a terrible place to work and have terrible product.
there was no unique traffic and the sales reps charged different amounts for the same product. it was pretty ridiculous.
if you are a recruiter, use linked in. or monster or careerbuilder. enough said.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Everyone is in downsizing mode right now. So no surprises here.
April 17th, 2009 at 12:35 am
to add to anonymous from april 16th, 8:39…
SO TRUE! oh my god. it was ridiculous. i’d be calling on these accounts that were once called by 5 (FIVE) other sales people at theLadders. theese contacts would say, “hey, i was told $1,700 from so-and-so and then $2,500 from so-and-so, what are YOU going to do for me?” it was horrible! in my 7+ years as a sales professional, i’d never seen such a sloppily run sales organization. for a company who is adamant for charging both the jobseekers AND the job posters, you’d think they’d keep it all STRAIGHT ACROSS THE BOARD. the so-called eco-system is bullcrap. they’re charging the same thing across the board for the job seekers, yet they’re not even regulating how much it costs for the recruiters and companys to post and search for jobseekers.
attrition rate and negotiating of the rate card … this is THE ONE THING us smart sales professionals watch out for when we interview for a new job. i was told that nobody EVER leaves unless it’s outside circumstances and that we “always stick to our rate card.”
and i say this because … folks … nothing is worse for a sales professional than walking into a “database” full of contacts who have already been quoted sixteen-hundred different variations of what a 3-month search license costs. try back-peddling through hundreds of contacts a week with this. it’s IMPOSSIBLE.
also: when i say “sales professional” i mean it in the most respectful of ways. they’d either hire kids RIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE or people who were WAY over qualified for the job (but looked young enough to fit the bill, because young looking = naive enough to jump into this BS). and those who were WAY over qualified for the job eventually got smart and realized how bunk of a sales job it ended up being.
anyway, sad news for my fellow friends and ex-co-workers.
it’s sad they lost a paycheck. a PAYCHECK. not a job. because hey … (and i’m addressing every exLadder our there) remember the smoke and mirrors that theladders were able to fart out every monday at “friday forum”? we can all agree that it was total joke. it was almost an insult to every hard working employee there because hey … the higher-ups would introduce frat house-style introduce (on average three new employees a week) your inevitable replacement.
so sad. and yes, this comment is devolving in grammar and general sentence structure. thanks to myLadders issues mug filled with WHISKEY. my third of the night for all of my fallen brothers.
“love the customer! our team wins!”
April 17th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Here’s a nice little tidbit that any recruiter would like to know about TheLadders. So TheLadders claims to have the largest database of 100K+ professionals at close to 3 Million!!! What they dont tell you is that if you sign up for a free trial as a job seeker, you do not have to pay a dime but you also do not come up in search results and can not apply to jobs. These are called “Basic Members”.
For your resume to be searchable and allow you to apply to job posts, you must pay $30 a month. These paying members are called “Premium Members”. Can anyone venture a guess as to what percentage of the 3 million jobseekers are premium? About 10%. Yes, maybe a little over 200,000 out of 3 million can apply and come up in search results. Enjoy.
April 17th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Rafael – Does Realmatch have any offices on the west coast like LA? Or are you looking for a rep in LA with many employment contacts?
email me at recruitmentadsales@gmail.com
April 17th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I have some close ties within TheLadders.com and I’ve even visited the offices in Tribeca/Soho area of NYC. From outside looking in, I have seen over the past year or so a few inefficiencies in this company.
Being a young company and especially a dot com, why on earth are you spending $9 Million+ on TV commercials last quarter Marc Cenedella? Have you not learned the many mistakes made in the dot bomb days by many of those sites? TV does NOT work for dot com…why did you not invest in SEO – TheLadders.com has NO visibility for tens of thousands of highly relevant keyword searches monthly?
Why not implement a “community” into the site – maybe something like: “the personal growth” ladder? Supply great information, videos, etc. that anyone can learn and grow from…would it be worth $10-15 a month? I think so…I can buy one less bottle of wine a month if it will provide great info, help me find a dream job, network with other professionals…plus, TheLadders.com would get TONS more in ad revenues.
And, yes, the “eco-system”, once briefly explained, I knew it was a mess, many craigslist.org posted jobs on there…especially when this was almost a year ago, and jobs were on the down in the US. Soon enough, you’ll only have people looking for jobs that can’t be filled. So why spend all this money to be put in a pool of people, when you can network for free on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc? Funny how those companies are valued $1.5 and $4+billion each.
35% of the workforce cut in one day…based on “formulas” from an outside consulting agency…upper management has already admitted to mistakes being made with the “wrong” people getting fired (high performers)
So, now TheLadders.com is left with a group of employees who will need to pick up the slack for those who are gone…spreading them out on work. There are going to be NO raises, many may be “hourly” now, and they need to fear for their jobs. Do you actually think you will get “quality work” out of these employees? Hardly.
Guaranteed that 98% of all in that company are looking/interviewing elsewhere right now. TheLadders.com – good concept – terrible management and decision making. It’s sad to see, but it was a long time coming.
If you would of saved $9 million on commercials, which were just “okay” – you could of spent $1 million on your site infrastructure, and SEM and would be growing your site/database/ad revenues, retain your employees and still have cash on reserve.
Bye Bye TheLadders.com
April 18th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Hey HR pros…do these former Ladders folks a favor and explain to them the WARN Act. If the numbers are right, sounds like this meets the test under both Federal and New York state law for 60 days advance notice for a mass layoff. So hopefully these folks are still collecting paychecks for another two months, or they got paid 60 days pay in lieu of notice. Again remind them they are entitled to this without having to sign a release.
April 18th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Massive Lay offs no doubt. We were in the middle of the entire thing. I”ve been with TheLadders since the inception of the Sales team almost 2 years ago, and up until September of 2008 it was the best place to work. Thanks for hiring the VP of Sales who did absolutely nothing except fudge numbers and inflate sales all for the sake of show. Not our faults you couldn’t catch on fast enough and put a stop to the sh**show it became.
Lets call it what it was. Close to 100 people were simutaneously let go on Wed Morning. 6 Security Guards which we dubbed (The A Team) were roaming around the building, we never got to retrieve our personal belongings and were given BS severance packages which reflected 2 weeks pay. Please, dont insult me like that.
April 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Mr ExLadders
Assuming your number 200k paying members is correct, then 200k times $30/mo is $6 million a month in revenue for running a website? And that’s bad? Sour grapes? I’m confused – are you back-door promoting Ladders or criticizing it?
My company Tempworks uses the same freemium model. Get staffing software for free, but pay for premium features like funding, payroll processing, support, marketing services etc. I’m much less concerned with the conversion rate from free to premium than with the total revenue stream. The cost of maintaining free users is a magnitude of order less than traditional marketing like print media and trade shows.
Can anyone confirm these numbers from Ladders?
April 19th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
TheLadders.com is all smoke and mirrors…Spammers and the founder needs an attitude adjustment.
April 20th, 2009 at 10:45 am
@anonymousobserver: How right you are! I’m glad I’m not the only one dumbfounded at The Ladders expensive advertising campaign.
April 20th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Though I cannot speak for the Sales team, I can say that working in the core team that delivered the site was an absolute day-to-day pleasure. I am not fresh out of college, and I have been through enough job experiences to see things for what they are. The quality of the individuals I worked alongside at The Ladders is something I believe to be extremely rare, and I will always think fondly on my time there. I learned a lot and ate plenty of free food. :)
Negative slander, no matter how well written, only reflects poorly on and hurts the source. If you think you’re hurting someone at Marc’s level with these comments, you’re naive indeed. Looks like there are a few embittered ex-employees on this thread, and I wish them the closure they seek…a blog comment thread is not the place to come to grips with what’s already happened.
I can attest that not everyone is angry for being laid off by The Ladders last week. These are people who really believe in their own professional value and are ready to move on constructively.
By the way, the security guards were at the layoff meeting to contain the small percentage of people who deal with stress in wacky ways, a whiff of which you can smell on this very thread. It did look ridiculous, but in the end is it that significant?
April 20th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Can anyone give me an idea what Marc et al spent on that rather weak, IMHO, advertisng campaign? My guess is that if they scaled back on those silly ads even by some 10% they could have kept all the employees they let go recently. I swear I saw the silly Ladders ads as much as I did the “FreeCreditReport.com ads!” Shoot me if I ever see another.
That said, yes, Marc has a chip on his shoulder and tends to act like an upset 8 year old if he doesn’t get his way at times. Too few Harvard alums have the right people skills to run a good business. Marc, it’s not just about the numbers. Me thinks you opend up a huge can of worms and created a virus that will impact your remaining employees attitudes toward the company going forward. People on the inside can really “muck” things up for you as payback for the treatment of their friends. You have to treat people better and maybe, just maybe spend a little less advertising dollars on the telly.
Cheers.
April 20th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Very interesting model Gregg- If we value a sales lead at a certain dollar amount (which we do) we can index to how long free service could go before exceedig current lead generation costs, then multiply that by our conversion rate. Its about 12 months or so- after that, we would be paying more on a freemium model if a user did not select billable features- assuming that we did not already pay for that lead. Good to see you trying something like that.
April 21st, 2009 at 9:22 am
How many people work at the Ladders?
April 24th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Budget cuts during this time in our economy are a real fact of life, but there is a wrong way and a right way to trim the so called “fat.” Changes must be perceived as fair! If pay cuts need to be made, they must start at the top and then filter down. If layoffs are to be made, they should be performance based and employers must do everything they can to help there employees find other jobs and also provide as much severance as you can be afforded. You never know, you may turn back to these same people during good times and it always good to do the right thing!
August 26th, 2009 at 7:03 am
If you were part of the sales team at The Ladders and are still looking for work in NY, please contact me at jas@myworkster.com
September 4th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Ladders.com sucks. If you are smart this place is not for you. Only “F” grade people are there. Do not believe any of these management people’s story. Nothing but false information they provide.