Does it make sense to pony up for $100K-plus job sites?

Based on its multiple revenue streams, New York-based Ladders appears to be prospering. It rolled out its first national TV ad campaign in January 2008, expanded from 89 to 225 employees in a year, and is on track to double its revenue to $65 million from 2007 to 2008.

Explaining how members use the site, Marc Cenendella, CEO of Ladders, said: "Maybe only a quarter of our members are looking. Some people just sign up for newsletters, and some members are not actively looking." Its surveys reveal a 75 percent satisfaction rate, he said.

One member who was looking was John Kolchin, a vice president of planning and investor relations at the Nielsen Company in New York. He joined TheLadders and ExecuNet three years ago with the most obvious purpose in mind: to find a job. While he said most of ExecuNet's postings "were not of sufficient caliber" to fit his senior-level experience, TheLadders produced several follow-up interviews. However, he landed his current job through networking.

Dave Opton, president of Norwalk, Conn.-based ExecuNet, described it as a career and business networking site more than a job listings service. Its many free extras include a résumé review, subscriptions to two newsletters, three or four webinars a month and proprietary research, and its 40 local face-to-face meetings (members pay an admissions charge).

ExecuNet's 40,000 senior executive members earn $200,000 or more on average. Members pay $219 for six months or $399 for a year while executive recruiters spend $495 for three months or $1,495 a year to gain access to the site. Opton won't divulge its revenues, but the site has 55 full-time staff members.

Job-search experts have mixed views about the efficacy of these sites. "There are upsides and downsides to these 100K sites," noted Joyce Lain Kennedy, author of Hook Up, Get Hired! The Internet Job Search. Kennedy said that TheLadders is updated frequently, adding a constant influx of new jobs while ExecuNet has "informative local networking meetings," but, she noted, applicants face intense competition. "When you're unemployed and looking for an executive job, it's demoralizing. These sites offer community and support," she said. Yet she calls them "pricey" and questions whether they're worth the fees.