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Were There Mass Layoffs at TheLadders Today?
We’ve heard several unconfirmed reports today that there have been mass firings at TheLadders in NYC. There are also several comments on Twitter including from one employee who posted some comments from the actual conference room where the notices were given.
Product Manager Derek Tumolo noted on Twitter that at least 8 people were fired and what we’ve heard is that the total number is much higher. Many were visibly angry out on the street. We are also hearing that there are security guards stationed outside their headquarters building.
I have calls and emails into as many of the staff at TheLadders as I could find. I have not heard back yet but will update this story once I do.
If you are new to TheLadders, they offer a job board exclusively for jobs over $100,000/year. They earn revenue by charging employers for job postings and applicants for searching and applying. Here’s a video demo I captured with CEO Marc Cendella.
Update: Peter Kafka from AllThingsD was able to get the following quote from 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.”
Either they’re lying or they’re losers:
If “demand for our service remains strong and we continue to grow” is true, then they are complete jerks for dropping a big chunk of their workforce right now. These preemptive strike are self-fulfilling prophecies that are dropping the economy into the toilet.
On the other hand, if it’s true that they let go half of their workforce, it’s extremely unlikely that “demand is strong” and “we continue to grow.” This is just too drastic a move to support that kind of statement.
Wierd. How does this jibe with last week’s news they were adding 14,400 square feet of space:
http://www.crainsnewyork.com/apps/pbcs.dll/dcce?Site=CN&Date=20090407&Module=12&Kategori=redeals&Class=121&Type=red_featured&ID=2208329&Selected=1
TheLadders.com steps up presence
Employment site takes more space in Hudson Square.
April 7, 2009
TheLadders.com, an employment site dedicated to $100,000-a-year-plus jobs, leased an additional 14,400 square feet in the Hudson Square neighborhood, bringing its total office space to roughly 60,000 square feet in three buildings owned by Trinity Real Estate.
The company is slated to move into about half of the seventh floor of 304 Hudson St., between Spring and Vandam streets, in May. The rent for the deal, which runs for two and a half years, is in the high $20-a-square-foot range.
The company needs additional space to allow for growth, said David Carvajal, whose title at TheLadders.com is vice president of people. Executives wanted the flexibility provided by a short-term lease, he added, because they plan to eventually house all their employees in one office. TheLadders.com also rents space at 137 Varick St. and 205 Hudson St. “
It was 75. What genius signed the new lease for a third office space over there? I hope he/she was part of the mass firing today.
Their 30-second spots are absolutely brutal. Second worst to Capital One.
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).
ha! as an addendum to my post:
http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/multiple-layoffs-more-income
On top of that, their reputation is very low, what they advertise $100k jobs is not what they deliver. Check the web and you will see that theladders and scam show up in a growing number of links.
I don’t see how that would help considering that most of the employees didn’t make much in the first place. Esp when they went to hourly workweeks making some of their employees work over 55hours just to make the same salary they were already making.
I suggest guys, please do not subscribe this web site’s service. It is total waste of money..they say it is 100k plus jobs. I have tried it..it is total shock..one of my friend still work there.. He survived yesterday’s lay offs. He is insider..he told me that..It is all lie. Most of they jobs they still from craigslist and all other sites…Real job are very very less. Who will pay for job hunting while there are free good sites available.
Firday forum..they have this meeting for last week’s update every monday..it is nothing but all false thing they talk about..That guy call michael shaffir is very very cunning guy.
I do not belive this people. Guy if you are a professional with good skills, do not join ladders.com in your whole life.
Love it, stupid tards. Cendela is arrogant fuck that thinks he’s smart but is really just a dumbass. Caravhole is dumb as shit and weird – i have a black box what;s in it. yeah great interview question, your genitals. Douzet is often called douchbag; it just works. Marc is a pussy and has a small dick and only dates asian women. So hopefullly you read this and understand what goes on there or just ask the number of 12+ directors who helped build it and were fired. I cannot believe that Matrix partners, a reputable VC and others are on the board and approve of thier operations.
Guys,
This ladders is a big scam, like bernie madeoff. They played with the emotion of their employees. They hired bunch of “A+” grade people from top colleges just before 4-6 weeks ago and on wednesday they fired mosf of them. I hate to see faces of management team. I wish that big $hitter Dave Carvajal will fire in coming week. He is big stupid person. After all the interviews, he will talk with you and explain about company, all false things he will tell you to trap you in the company. he came in black suit on that lay off day. I hate to see his face. I saw his profile, just very ordinary profile and he is VP of people team their and hiring people from top colleges. What a shame. Marc if you have some symphothy, hire all these people back and prove that you are a winner.
Good saying,
Marc, Show that you are a winner and answer all these allegations. I know you are just going down but you have to come up. I will suggest you, please give some more money to these laid off employees because couple of weeks money is just not enough in this economy. Send atlease one more month of money to these employees so that they can forgive you, otherwise their pain will hurt you.
Hey.. Sorry to hear the news! This reminds me of Lehman Brothers. Better start working on Cobra. It takes Human Resources at least six weeks to get things moving. How many weeks severence was given to whoever is on this blog? It was exactly 86
employees let go.
In fairness to Marc and the team, EVERY high profile start up is going through some growing pains in the current economy.
It’s easy to take shots at someone in this situation. But if Marc and co. can deliver the same level of service to their customers with however many less employees they are, then it was a good business move.
Marc is a good guy. It is IMPOSSIBLE to take the next step right now for companies like TheLadders because there is simply no liquidity market. (and they are at that level)
They still have a solid revenue stream. They will be ok.
Most start ups would gladly trade places.
You sure 86 were laid off? Were there any more leading up to this? Severance was a joke. Too embarrasing to even mention.
This is extremely strange. If the numbers are true (50% / 75-100 employees) then TheLadders appears to possibly have violated the Federal WARN Act which generally requires 60 days notice or 60 days pay when executing a “mass layoff” (see http://www.doleta.gov/programs/factsht/warn.htm for details on the Act). If in fact TheLadders did violate the Act they are going to pay huge fines and backpay too.
I am truely puzzled what is going on in that company. The lease of larger office space and the fact that they are still hiring people is very strange if this is all true. Could this all be some kind of hoax / publicity stunt ?
PS: I tend to discount any comments made by those folks (BoucottLadders, AngryYoungMan, theladdersblows.com, etc) who do not have strong writing skills, pretty much a “must have” for executive positions. Of course those folks would be unhappy if they spent money trying to get a job through TheLadders. The best headhunter service in the world will not help if you are missing key skills.
Everybody,
I worked for theladders.com for about 6 months and I will say that theladders.com is the one of the best company to work for. Unfortunately this downturn bring them down. It is nobody’s fault. Not even management’s fault. They are good people. Yes, I agree they would have given little more severance. I hope they will do good.
It was actually more than 86. Close to 100 people. My original data was wrong. Either way, the lawyer on this blog is on to something regarding the WARN act. I hope the ex employees get more severence. They deserve it! How come the company is advertising for sales executives when they just let go of a large number of sales executives with pipelines and relationships with their clients?
Marc is a prick, so is Dave Carvajal. Douzet? A bunch of 2-faced shitbags. Fired a bunch of really solid, and most importantly, loyal employees. They don’t pay well… probably because they kept sending employees to Japan for some freaking reason.
Let’s face it, everyone is having a hard time right now. The real question here is if Marc and Douzet are really capable of running a company. yes, they got it off the ground but now it’s time to bring in seasoned executives who know what they are doing. It’s things like this that happen and the company can never turn around. Marc is fucked.. he should sell it.
Yes, They failed. They do not know now what to do. Even existing people are looking for work. They will be small headhunter firm..But cannot be close to monster or careerbuilder.
I used to work at TheLadders over a year ago.
My understanding is that they have an open Lawsuit and that they are in Violation of the WARN Act. The firing did not stop after the 75 or so that were let go. A source on the inside has informed me that David Carvahal and some other VPs are getting canned as well.
The culture there is arrogant, cut throat, and based on Nepotism. Marc Cenedella is unfortunately blind and arrogant. He has allowed what they call at TheLadders.Com the “Golden Children” of the company to make irresponsible and emotional decisions that have impacted its business which led to the massive layoff. Yet the people responsible for spending money irresponsibly like the Golden Children where never let go.
The Golden children at the Ladders.Com are Twenty somethings who started in the early years. These golden children think they are untouchable, they are spoiled rotten, and are making rookie decisions for the company which is leading to their decline. Those Golden Children are Leslie Semegran (Director of Online Marketing), Ware Sykes (Director of Resume), David Cohen (Geek), and host of many more. These folks have worked there for years and never worked anywhere else. They are clueless!
The Ladders will unfortunately fail because of their culture, arrogance, and their service and product really sucks. Out of 2 million job seekers who subscribed to the site, less than 1% of them got jobs through TheLadders.Com.
well… the reality is Marc or Douzet def do not have the experience either!!!!
How many times has Marc missed a meeting because he was out binge drinking the night before! He will get what he deserves.. I wonder how long it will be before his soon to be wife realizes that she should not be treated like crap anymore!! That marriage will not last if she has any respect for herself.
Well boys, It’s about time.
It’s so true what they say. What goes around comes around. Tim Callery, Matt Karp, I spit on you. Martha you are truly a devil covered in sheep’s wool. Amanda, sucking up to Marc all these years got you to an untouchable place.
But there’s no stopping the fall when there’s no floor, there’s only one place to go.
TheLadders.com was shady, when I used to work there. Before they started recording calls, I used to speak to customers and told them beware of TheLadders.com and there fowl practices. I told them to use there networks and not pay. I’d refund certain people all of there money back . There were customers on auto charge and they didn’t realize there card would be charged over and over. 1000’s of dollars and they told us not to remove the charges. I did anyway.
When we started refunding money they told us we couldn’t any more. They treated my dept like crap, besides the food. I must say office conditions and food were good. But what good is that if you are threatened all day.
It was a company that was run like a progressive private school, sending people to Japan and executives of off sites to sun shine and pleasure.
Well, it was great in the beginning. Marc was on track, then the $ signs got in his way. We’ve known Marc from scratch, when the Ladders.com was a company here you knew every new employees first name, when you’d thank them for working with you. for using there smarts to work with you and for the greater good of the company. It’s a shame, Douzet, umm, Rosetta Stone English Maybe? So someone can understand you when you speak. You’ll never go cause you we’re a founding father, but you’ll go down as the captain of the ship.
Sales team, so sorry.
When a company starts to fall, it’s always the top talent that gets out quickly.
The “golden children of the ladders” are the ones who will stay and sink with the ship.
These “ex-Ladders employees” have a pretty funny way of taking the high road in a situation that isn’t unique to them – this seems to include calling out former co-workers and whining anonymously over the Internet (I’m no better for putting in my own two cents).
“Fowl practices” indeed, Ex-Ladder Rebel.
I hope the next or current coworkers of these people don’t do anything to incur their venomous wrath, lest they hear about it (or not) on a random web site after the fact.
I am looking to network with ex-Account Executives from theladders.com. If you were recently laid off from theladders, or know someone who is looking for Sales AE work in NYC, please contact me 917 289 3979, hlansang@mimeo.com.
Thanks,
Henry Lansang
I have heard that Mimeo is an awful place to work!! They too have had massive layoff’s and their revenue is tanking!! Don’t want to be in sales in that kind of environment.
theladders.com is just not a good company to work for. Their office building is like a warehouse in industrial area. Working condition on 3rd floor on varick st is just not good. Bathrooms, pantry is not hygienic. Their Friday form is just a fake forum, management people just talk all false things..just one week before they laid off 150 people in april, marc (ceo) was saying that, we are in solid financial condition and meeting our goals.
Every Monday they publish their revenue data in the fake forum, and they always says that they achieved 99% of targeted revenue. They were hiring just week before they fired many people, what kind of reporting, management it is. How can marc was not involved in all revenue meeting and all of sudden he came to know about it.
Simply if you smart enough, it is not right place for you.
I have to add commenter “ExLadders” (see comment dated June 27, also note a simple text analysis shows this is obviously not the same person as “exLadder” who commented April 15) to my list of commenters to disbelieve. With writing skills like that if I was a paid client of TheLadders and this was the person I was communicating with I would demand my money back. No qualified corporate executive is going to do business with a “placement agency” (that is what TheLadders is ultimately) using staff that can’t communicate professionally.
Frankly I doubt ExLadders ever worked there, but if he/she did then the failure of TheLadders is more understandable as that would demonstrate a serious weakness in their management practices.
I lost around $180 in theladders.com subscription. Useless website for professionals.
I want to see this company out of business soon.
Marc, You are fired. Wasted 3 months in theladders.com. Very much happy now.
They just pulled their Google affiiliate program very suddenly on Monday (at least from my
site). It was very sudden-got an email in the afternoon saying it had to be off by midnight.
i heard 100 people were fired
I heard about 100 too – which I think would mean nearly half of their staff
we sure they were fired? or were they sent to japan for vacation?
It’s true. Not quite sure if it was 100, but it was a significant number. 100k jobs for 100 less people I guess?
That’s what happens when you are greedy and arrogant to the point of blindness. I feel bad for the employees, but happy that the greedy dumb folks are losing. Haha!
Hey Allen. Here’s the statement I got from 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.”
Thanks Peter!
Horrible site. my credit card was charged month after month until i had to call and cancel. They should fire the advertising company that made those stupid commercials or the management that approved them.
If you turn off auto-renew, you don’t get charged month after month. Very simple, really. You’d think people who make 100k would be capable of reading the billing page where it says so.
Is that you Robert Turtledove? I would’ve expected you to be the first of the 100 to get forced out by security. Or were you hiding behind security with Marc?
Apparently Cenedela offered a free annual membership to everyone who was laid off today but none of the accepted since they know how bad the service is. Not even the security guards wanted to sign-up….