Negotiating Severance Packages...

Negotiating Severance Packages... Negotiating Severance Packages... We’re listening!Many thanks to all of you who participated in our usability lab this past week (and apologies to those of you who received less-than-perfect customer service from our outside vendorâ€"boy, have they gotten an earful from us!)Of course, we love hearing about how much you like the product, but it is even more useful to hear about what we can do better for you!First the good stuff…You told us that you love and appreciate the fact that we collect all these $100K+ jobs for you in one place, screening out the garbage. You love the content, though it is a bit long; and you understand the advantage of “free for companies; cover charge for the job-seeker”.Fantastic!Now, there were also a lot of useful comments on making the product better: You’d like more control over geography â€" search by state, search by city, search by distance from your zipcode. You don’t like the jobs popping open in new windows. You want keyword search â€" my long-running diatribe against keyword search notwithstanding. So when you, the customer, demand keyword search, we will get you keyword search pronto! You also feel that daily updates would be better than weekly updates. And it would be quite useful to you if we could summarize the content up top. OK, Readers, you have spoken, and we are listening. So please stay tuned for your ever-improving Ladders.com!GETTING YOUR RESUME SEENYour fellow reader, Lisa, writes in with this great tip:I hate to give away my secrets because I always find great jobs and get them, but here is one secret I’ve used for the past two job hunts successfully. I do most of what you have suggested in your letter below for mass mailing and combing through the market. But once I have find tuned the search to the 4 or 5 companies I REALLY want to work for, I send my resume in a priority mail or express mail envelope. These larger, more impressive envelopes ALWAYS gets opened first when the mail arrives on someone’s desk. And of course by this time, I would have the name of the HR person who will be hiring for that job title. On these resumes with cover letters, I always print on nice paper and I reference someone in the hiring department who suggested I get my resume to the HR representative (them) as soon as possible. The trick here is that you have to really have fine tuned the search down already but I find this works particularly well in niche industries. And, if everyone started doing this, it would become less effective, of course, but in the ten years I have employed this tactic, I have yet [to find] it NOT to work at getting me noticed and ahead of the rest of the 400 resumes that came in at the same time. Lisa CullinaneWow! That’s a great advice Lisa, and one sure way to make your resume stand out from the crowd at the cost of few extra bucks. Thanks!Readers, let me know when Lisa’s gambit works for you!WHAT READERS ARE SAYINGWe get a lot of mail here at Ladders.com HQ. Landings. Product suggestions. Kudos and complaints.Here’s a sampling from the past week:“I did go on several interviews as a result of my participation with Ladders. I’ll definitely recommend your service, there is nothing else like it. I’m going to be Sales Controller in Houston. Thanks, A. Pike Houston, TX”“I am a new subscriber to UpLadder and recently took advantage of the resume critique service. I had to let you know what incredibly professional service I received from Ms. Debbie Ellis at Phoenix Career Group. It was certainly an eye-opener when I received her “grades” on my resume, but I am excited to construct a new resume and continuing moving forward looking for a challenging and exciting managerial position. My one-month subscription of $25 has easily paid for itself just with this critique. Howard Schmidt Newtown, PA”I couldn’t be more satisfied with the results I received by using Sales Ladder. I am still getting results even after accepting the position I have now. Thanks for providing such a useful tool to seek employment. I had tried other web sites but none could compare to yours. Thanks again Steve Brown Fallbrook, CA”“I have accepted a position as a right hand to the CEO of a travel/leisure and luxury goods venture…. two of the companies are Oriel Wines and Amanyara Resort. MktgLadder has certainly been a great resource. I submitted resumes to a number of positions only found through your service, with a solid response (interview) rate…. even had a couple of offers. I also recommend MktgLadder often. If I were to search for marketing specific positions again, I would most definitely re-subscribe. Cheers, Kelly Ford New York, NY”Thanks to MktgLadder.com. Within a few months I secured my new job with Pitney Bowes in the corporate PR department. Highly effective indeed.” CC Connecticutand here’s one from a recruiter friend who is happily posting his $100K+ jobs for free with us:So far, the response to my advertising has been excellent, not in quantity, but in quality. Most everyone to date fits the profile and is worthwhile. Dick McKnight The McKnight GroupThanks, Readers, for making the system great!