December 22, 2005

We Won!

Over at Recruiting.com's Best Recruiting Blogs of 2005 vote, Stone has been named a winner!

It's a very nice victory in a string of nice victories for us here at TheLadders.com: we soft-launched our next generation product this past weekend and we are getting raves from customers on it; and we'll be announcing a major partnership on January 4th that will knock the world's socks off.

So congratulations to us, and congratulations to all our fellow winners!

December 15, 2005

Strike!

We're completing our next generation product at TheLadders.com - code-named Opal - and the MTA seems to be trying to stop us!

But, nothing, my friends, NOTHING, will keep TheLadders.com down!

:)

I love WIkipeida

Wikipedia, the community-generated free encyclopedia has a great homepage. I've made it my homepage because of fun, featured articles, like this one on Shoe polish.

ExcelTip

If you're an Excel geek, ExcelTIp.com gives a little hint on using Excel more effectively each week. Today's was Calculating the Number of Business Days in a Specified Period. You can sign up for their weekly newsletter / spam. Enjoy!

December 14, 2005

Play Like A Champion Today

My brother scrawled this on my office whiteboard during his Turkey Day visit, so I thought I'd link to the photo:

Rally sons of Notre Dame,

Sing her glory, and sound her fame.

Raise her Gold and Blue,

And cheer with voices true,

Rah! Rah! For Notre Dame.

We will fight in every game

Strong of heart and true to her name.

We will ne'er forget her

And we'll cheer her ever,

Loyal to Notre Dame.

Chorus

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame

Wake up the echoes cheering her name,

Send the volley cheer on high,

Shake down the thunder from the sky,

What tho the odds be great or small

Old Notre Dame will win over all,

While her loyal sons are marching Onward to Victory.

Horrific

A rare-these-days political post here at Stone, but this article: Iran's President Dismisses Nazi Holocaust as `Myth' simply flabberglasts. A dangerous, disingenuous, evil man.

December 13, 2005

Amazon opens its index

Very interesting news from John Battelle on Amazon's Alexa division opening its entire index to all-comers.

As all good investors should know, competitive advantage, and thus returns, regress to the mean. I'd be worried to own GOOG at $400+.

December 12, 2005

Am I Wearing the Right Shoes?

Your government responds.

The Horror

A very disturbing accident.

Louise is always right

I was reading the Wikipedia entry on Animal Farm the other day and was reminded of the late Stalinist catchphrase in that novel "Napoleon is always right."

Though I have no idea why it popped into my head on reading this great post "It's Just A Brochure" on Louise Fletcher's blog, other than the fact that in her case, it's true....

Louise's resume advice is the best in the business, and the point she's making here -- that a resume is a sales brochure, not the entire catalog -- is so spot on, that I'm going to crib it for my newsletter at TheLadders.com!

Record for a Touchdown-less Game

Over at AndrewKoch.com theyre asking:

[What is] the record for the most field goals in a game (by both teams) without a touchdown?

Anybody know?

The Biggest Loser

In Paramount's acquisition of DreamWorks is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, according to this pair of New York Times articles:

Investor to Put $500 Million In New Studio

By GERALDINE FABRIKANT (NYT) 1146 words
Published: March 20, 1995

Paul G. Allen, a co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation, has agreed to invest about $500 million to acquire 18.3 percent of Dreamworks SKG, the entertainment company that is controlled by David Geffen, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.

Mr. Allen's investment puts a value on the fledgling company of $2.7 billion. "It is very impressive because it is a great deal of money for a modest stake," said David Londoner, who follows entertainment for Wertheim Schroder & Company.

Messrs. Geffen, Katzenberg and Spielberg will retain two-thirds of Dreamworks, giving them stakes valued at about $600 million each. The remaining third, valued at about $900 million, is to be split among Mr. Allen and other investors. Mr. Geffen said the company planned to announce some, if not all, of the other investors within the next several weeks.

For Mr. Allen, a 42-year-old billionaire who has become involved in a wide range of computer, interactive and other businesses in the last 12 years, the Dreamworks deal represents his largest single financial commitment to date.

In a telephone interview yesterday from his home on Mercer Island, Wash., Mr. Allen explained his reasoning: "I am on the board of directors, I have a chance to work with three incredibly talented individuals who have a track record of producing. Based on the business plan and everything that is part of it, I am very optimistic about the returns."

Dreamworks will be in the film, television and music business. Mr. Allen talked enthusiastically about the possibilities in marrying such entertainment programming with increasingly sophisticated computer capability.

Take a $500 mm investment, add 10 years, and turn it into.... $258 mm?

Paramount paid a total of $1.6 billion, which included more than $500 million in outstanding debt, $775 million to the DreamWorks principals and $225 million to repay additional loans that had been made to DreamWorks by Universal, Technicolor and HBO, according to a Paramount executive involved in the deal...

For Mr. Geffen, Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Katzenberg, two-third owners of DreamWorks, the deal is a rich one. Each is to receive about $172 million. Paul G. Allen, the Microsoft billionaire who was the principal investor in the studio and, with other investors, owned the other third of the company, will receive about $258 million.

I suppose it's nice to be able to lose $242 mm over a decade without breaking a sweat, but this doesn't really reinforce Allen's investment track record. Perhaps he should stick to Blazers and psychedelic boondoggles?

December 11, 2005

Thanks Heather!

Our good friend at Microsfot, Heather Hamilton, has some awfully nice things to say about us on her blog.

We get kinda jaszzed here at TheLadders when we read recruiter feedback like this:

We just did a deal with TheLadders to have all of our $100k + potential jobs in marketing and finance (through Director level) posted there (and don't be surprised if you see similar agreements with Microsoft recruiting groups outside of marketing and finance). Just another option for you to stay current on what we are hiring for and navigate the postings with ease. Part of their service is free, part involves a fee. Kind of turns the whole jobs site thing on it's side.

From a recruiting perspective, the quality of resumes I have received is high. As a candidate, being in the company of other high-quality candidates is a competitive advantage (attracts recruiter eyeballs).

Thanks, Heather!

And, please remember, I am always fishing for an invitation to come out and make my first visit to your fine city of Seattle! :)

December 09, 2005

Hey Mr. Chairman

Mark Lanigan, who was my boss during my b-school summer internship at DLJ Los Angeles, has been named Chairman of Virgin Air America.

Congratulations, Mark!

December 08, 2005

John Legend Eight Grammy Nominations

John Legend, who is a friend of a friend, recevied eight Grammy nominations this morning.

It's the great thing about New York City -- watching folks you meet at parties end up with their name in lights. John Legend, a UPenn grad, was hired by friend Susan Munoz at BCG. I used to go to parties at his place and he'd explain how he was consulting by day and playing the keys at night.

Well, he eventually dropped out of BCG to do music full-time (imagine what his mother must have said!) And my understanding is that when Alicia Keyes called him a legend-in-the-making during one of her recording sessions, the name stuck and he became John Legend.

Congratulations John, you've earned your success!

December 06, 2005

Thank you!

At TheLadders.com, we have just two rules:

1. Love the customer
2. Our team wins

I love this post from recruiter The White Rhino because it very neatly encapsulates how each of us here try to live by both rules every day: the job-seeker got found, our recruiter friends are happy, and another huzzah! goes up here at TheLadders.com Global Headquarters.

Congratulations on your placement Al, kudos to TJ, and Scott -- get back to work, you've got 93,000 more recruiters to turn on to our calling!

;)

December 05, 2005

Vote for Pedro

Recruiting.com is hosting the Recruiting.com 2005 Recruiting Blog Awards.

It's a great idea from Jason and the gang at Recruiting.com and you should feel free to vote early and often! ;)