Career Advice & Insights

By understanding how better security saves companies money, Al Ortiz got in on the ground floor of a new operation. When Al Ortiz was laid off from his position as a regional security director for Bank of America in February, he said he realized that big corporations were not seeing the value his skills could … Read More

Rick Joers knew his HR role at JP Morgan might disappear when he finished helping the company acquire Bear Stearns. When the ax fell, Joers had to find new networks in a shrinking industry. From the time Rick Joers got the news that his employer, JP Morgan, would be acquiring Bear Stearns, he sensed that … Read More

OpsLadder member Crista Stamper used her hobby as a runner to set the pace for her job search. For Crista Stamper, finding a new position after being laid off became a marathon rather than a sprint. That’s why she turned to her long-time running hobby as inspiration. Like many job seekers her age, 50-year-old Stamper, … Read More

How Air Force veteran-turned-fire-chief Sandy Sanders tailored his resume to land a hot new job. Sandy Sanders is a trained leader. After 20 years in the Air Force, the last 10 as a fire chief, and several more as a civilian fire chief, he was looking for a job that would use his skills managing … Read More

After two years in the Atlanta area, customer-service specialist Mike Walzak found a new job in the town he’d left. Two years ago, Mike Walzak and his wife relocated from Seattle to the Southeast to be closer to family. He used OpsLadder to find a new position as a customer-service director. But 18 months later, … Read More

Phillip Sambrooks found a new job in Chicago during the economic downturn Phillip Sambrooks’ company was in growth mode. He certainly wasn’t in danger of being laid off. But he was unhappy in his position as a plant manager for an aerospace parts manufacturer in Chicago. A new CEO had taken over, and the changes … Read More

Banker turned Army officer lands job in Department of Veterans Affairs. Jim Deimer faced a real challenge at the end of his active duty. A former human-resources professional in the financial sector, the Army reservist was coming up on the end of a long activation in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as a … Read More

Tips to avoid procrastination and its effects on your job search. People have devised a variety of ways to sabotage themselves on the job search. Few are more destructive or profound than procrastination. Whether you have elevated procrastination to an art form or address it only selectively, the habit can lead to stress, illness and … Read More

After being laid off, Detroit banker Jeff Ciochetto lands a job with M&T Bank in Pennsylvania in just six months. When Jeff Ciochetto’s entire department was laid off from their jobs at FlagStar Bank in metropolitan Detroit last October, he wasn’t going to let an economic downturn keep him down. So the former first vice … Read More