Archive for the 'We all need a laugh' Category


Pissing on the applicant

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

In a private response to HR’s #1 job: Poisoning the well?, a reader sent me this question: Is there any point in attempting to negotiate with thug companies that agree on a rate, say they’re going to extend an offer, then the offer comes in at 66% of what you thought was a done deal? [...]


Stupid interview animals: No soap, RADIO!

Monday, August 9th, 2010

MediaBistro led me to the latest career advice in Fortune.com’s Ask Annie column: Employer’s Wacky Interview Questions. I don’t know what’s wackier: the questions, or that Annie Fisher really believes that the mission of career advisors is to come up with clever answers for them. Get this question from an Ask Annie reader: Yesterday an interviewer [...]


TheLadders: Would DaVinci buy a resume from Marc Cenedella?

Monday, February 15th, 2010

When is TheLadders’ CEO Marc Cenedella gonna give it up? This latter-day P.T. Barnum knows no shame. On January 21, 2010 I posted How to apply for a job: The Working Resume, highlighting a job application Leonardo DaVinci sent to the Duke of Milan. (DaVinci’s letter was brought to my attention by reader Phil Hey.) I [...]


An open question to Robert McGovern, CEO Jobfox

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Dear Robert, I just went to the Jobfox web site to send you an e-mail, but your profile page doesn’t provide an e-mail link. I wasted only about two minutes searching elsewhere on the site but gave up. Figured I’d just post a note to you here on my own blog. (You are welcome to [...]


TheLadders’ Marc Cenedella makes a phone call

Sunday, October 25th, 2009

Paying members of TheLadders often shoot off angry e-mails to CEO Marc Cenedella and complain he never responds. Ask The Headhunter readers sometimes send me copies of these e-mail exchanges (along with their rants about Ladders). Here’s a typical response that Ladders customers receive from customer service, when they complain that Cenedella is not replying to [...]


Overqualified Applicants: We are terrified of you

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

I don’t know whether the New York Times is trying to shed light on the growing unemployment situation or to poke fun at job hunters and employers. In a story yesterday ($13 an Hour? 500 Sign Up, 1 Wins a Job) the Times tells about a trucking company that ran a job posting on CareerBuilder… [...]


Marc Cenedella sells e-mails, $30/month!

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

A reader (“Michael”) who is fed up with TheLadders sent along a copy of an e-mail he received a couple of days ago from Marc Cenedella, CEO of TheLadders. Cenedella sends these pep talks to his “members” several times a week. For those of you who are scratching your heads, this e-mail is the product. This [...]


H-1B: Offshoring bites back (or just bites?)

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

So what’s new with offshoring IT work nowadays? Have overseas costs begun to outstrip the value of offshoring? Has the U.S. economy triggered re-thinking the offshore strategy? I’ve contended for a long time that as technical “stars” start to develop their careers in India and elsewhere, they’re not gonna be very happy staying on the farm… [...]


Jobs, jobs everywhere

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Toby Dayton nails the problem: Jobs, jobs everywhere, but not an offer to be had. Twitter is the new channel — companies are paying to tweet their jobs? Coke oughta get into the act: Post them under bottletops or on can lids. (Who cares if the job gets filled by the time you flip the [...]


TheLadders wins a Webby!

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

A reader just called my attention to this, and by gawd, he’s right! The Webby Awards has awarded the Webby for Best Employment Web Site to… TheLadders! Thought I’d celebrate by highlighting one of the recent posts (April 28) on this blog about TheLadders! The Ladders posted a job in February for an IT Management job [...]