Anyone work at Lands End? (Madison, Salem: middle-class, to rent, house)

[cnahm]

I'm looking into working at Lands End as a designer. Anyone have input about the company... longevity, employee happiness, fairness as an employer, etc?

Also what about living in Dodgeville? ...or Mt. Herob, or Verona? Or should I just bypass all that and go right to the west side of Madison? I am involved in the arts, love coffee shops and good places to eat (esp. since I don't cook). I was also looking at the cell phone coverage for At&t, and it looks like the closer you get to Dodgeville the less coverage there is. I have my internet through an At&t wifi laptop card, so I need to be sure I have their coverage since I can't switch service for 2 yrs.

Thanks in advance!

[Berkeley]

Worked at the Lands End call center in Dodgeville for years. You could not ask for a better company to work for at that time and was rated top by a number of polls. Now is purchased by sears, do not know if corperate structure and policy has changed.

Verona is nice but would look at at least Mt Horeb as commuting to Dodgeville is a bit of a treck.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

Dodgeville is a very nice, friendly little town. Lands End is one of the pillars of this community. The other is agriculture. Compared to other small towns Dodgeville has a bit more going on, due largely to the presence of Lands End. It has a nice little Downtown with a few clothing stores, coffee shops, and restaurants.

The most "exotic" place to eat in Dodgeville is a Chinese restaurant called Golden Crown, which, in my opinion, is terrible. Other than that you have a few nice casual sit down places on the downtown Main Street, and your small town standards like Country Kitchen, Pizza Hut, and Culvers. Dodgeville is the seat of Iowa County, so it draws people from the surrounding small towns (even tinier than Dodgeville) and rural areas.

I have spent a lot of time in Dodgeville (my in laws live there), and for about a month I commuted into Madison for work while staying with the in-laws out there. Whatever traffic there is in the Madison area, which isn't much, looks like gridlock compared to the rural stretches of highway between Verona and Dodgeville. You're a lot more likely to tap your brakes out there to pass a tractor pulling a hay wagon than you are to tap your brakes to slow to traffic. One could probably commute from Verona to Dodgeville in about 30 minutes. But it would definately pile the mileage on your car.

Dodgeville holds a special place in my heart, due to the incredible friendliness and hospitality of the people I know there. In a lot of ways, it's my rural "home" away from the city. But I need to be in the city.

[cnahm]

Thanks for the replies... I think I would be a city guy too, and would maybe buy a beater car for the long commute, and leave the R for the weekend drives.

I spoke with a recruiter today who clued me in somewhat on the situation there, saying that the footwear group is in shambles, and they can't fill the open designer positions. People keep leaving because they're overworked and it is a vicious self-feeding cycle. I thought 'ugh! am I sure I want to look into this?' But I figure that I'll go and check out the company in person and try to get a feel first-hand. She did say that was limited to the footwear group because Lands End doesn't place too much emphasis on growing that product, unlike the apparel especially which is very much the focus and as such has mostly satisfied employees. Oh well... we'll see what happens.

I would love to come up and see the city of Madison! If not just for a weekend or something.

Thanks again!

[dianeski]

Originally Posted by cnahm

Thanks for the replies... I think I would be a city guy too, and would maybe buy a beater car for the long commute, and leave the R for the weekend drives.

I spoke with a recruiter today who clued me in somewhat on the situation there, saying that the footwear group is in shambles, and they can't fill the open designer positions. People keep leaving because they're overworked and it is a vicious self-feeding cycle. I thought 'ugh! am I sure I want to look into this?' But I figure that I'll go and check out the company in person and try to get a feel first-hand. She did say that was limited to the footwear group because Lands End doesn't place too much emphasis on growing that product, unlike the apparel especially which is very much the focus and as such has mostly satisfied employees. Oh well... we'll see what happens.

Hi, cnahm. Whatever happened with your inquiry into Lands' End?

I am **extremely** interested in knowing how things went.
I am slated to talk to a Lands' End recruiter on Monday, Jan. 7. I currently live in rural North Carolina (which I love--we have 18 wooded acres, and we love it!). I work as senior copywriter at a big apparel company. I love what I do, but I cannot stand working for my micro-managing boss. (I've been under the same boss for eight years, and I do not know if I can take it any more. Also, I am very uncertain about the direction my company is heading in. We've had wave after wave of layoffs, and rumor has it that another wave is imminent.)

I applied for an opening at Lands' End on a lark, never dreaming that they'd actually be interested in me (I'm 56, and advertising is notoriously a "young person's industry"). Now I'm in a tizzy. I had hoped to retire within the next five or six years, and I figured that our wooded property would be the perfect retirement spot. I don't want to give it up...but, on the other hand, Lands' End is my *dream job.* For any direct response copywriter in the apparel industry, Lands' End is the gold standard: They've got the perfect balance of sharp design and great copy, and they obviously appreciate the copywriter's craft (rare, in my experience).

Also, I have to say, I wouldn't mind the rural setting at all. I'm Bostonian born and bred, but I hate big cities. I wouldn't return to one on a bet, and my family and I would be perfectly happy in a small town. (We live in one now, just north of Winston-Salem.)

I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch--I haven't even been interviewed, let alone hired--but I do want to do my homework! I'm so reluctant to leave our wooded property, and I've become so accustomed to the temperate NC climate. So, I want to look before I leap.

Therefore, I'm dying to know: What's the culture like at Lands' End nowadays? How solid is the management? How nice are the employees? How meritocratic is the raise/promotion system? How good are the salaries? (I think I undersold myself in my application, salary-range-wise...but that was partly because I never expected to hear back from them!) How about the benefits? One thing that has soured me on my present employer is that the benefits package keeps shrinking--e.g., our pension plan has been frozen.

I don't want to move all that distance only to find that I'm in a back-stabbing corporate culture with inept upper management and the same pressures / problems I face in my current job. On the other hand, I think I'll go nuts if I don't escape from my present situation.

One option is to keep our NC property, rent in Dodgeville (or buy a modest home), stay at Lands' End until retirement, and then return to NC. But even that would be so disruptive to my family that I would only do it if it were really worth my while. (And I'm not talking only about money here; job satisfaction is extremely important to me.)

I love writing; I love the apparel industry (what woman doesn't?). What would y'all advise? Is Lands' End worth seriously looking into?

I would really appreciate any insights y'all can provide!

Dianeski

[dianeski]

BTW, cnahm: I'm very impressed by the fact that the Lands' End recruiter was candid with you. That in itself is a good sign, IMHO...and completely different from what I'm used to in my current situation!

[cnahm]

Dianeski-

Wow, I am really excited for you! I love when something unexpected comes along like that. I hope that it is obvious what you should do if/when an interview comes into the picture. I am still waiting for the interview date to be worked out, but my recruiter does say that I will be going up there at some point to meet with them. He keeps saying that it sounds good. Apparently there was a director level position open over footwear design that they had to fill first, which has is now done. I too look forward to checking them out more. I hope you find something dynamic there!

Also, regarding the point that a recruiter said some not terribly positive things about them as a company- that was from a different external recruiter that I work with, and talked with about the opportunity, not an internal recruiter at Lands End. Sorry if the way I worded that was confusing up in my earlier post.

-Cheers! Chris.

[femmefaetal]

This is too funny...

I have also been approached by a recruiter to interview for a design position at Lands End. (not in Footwear or copywrite)
I have been searching the web to find out about Madison and Dodgeville because it is of course a BIG risk for my boyfriend and I to drop everything here in NYC and move out there. (he is a Broadway lighting technician) I am also curious to know how Lands End treats their employees. I think we all want to find a company to grow with and to find our superiors enlightening, energetic, and inspiring...
cnahm and dianeski I am very curious what either of you two find out, can you keep me posted?

Thanks and good luck!

[dianeski]

Lands' End must be revving up their recruitment right now. I understand they had a really profitable year last year, so they're expanding.

I just talked to the recruiter. She was fantastic! It was a great conversation, even though I beebled on and on--I always talk too much when I'm nervous. I was very candid that my big concern was relocation. That, and salary range, but they seem flexible re that, plus they have a fantastic bonus program. (My current employer has bonuses only for director level and above.)

It might be culture shock moving from NYC to poky little Dodgeville. For me, relocation is a big issue, but not because Dodgeville is poky. I actually like poky. Last time I was in my hometown, Boston, I HATED it--stop-and-go traffic on 93, even hours after rush hour; thanks but no thanks. The country life for me! (We live in the North Carolina woods right now, and we love it. In fact, I would be very reluctant to give up our house here; it's a modest middle-class house, nothing special, but I love the wooded setting with its wintertime view of the Sauratown Mountains [foothills of the Blue Ridge]...would probably want to rent or buy something really modest if we moved to WI so we could keep our NC place as our retirement home....)

But if your boyfriend works in lighting on Broadway...what would he do in Wisconsin? There's probably professional theater in Madison, but it ain't Broadway!

But I'm not trying to dissuade you at all. Some people love NYC, I know, but I couldn't live there on a bet. Madison would be quite enough Big City for me. Plus, college towns are usually pretty cool. (We would live in Dodgeville, though. But listen to me--counting those chickens waaaay before they hatch! LOL!)

Well, I'll be talking to the creative director tomorrow, so I guess I'll get further details then.

Best wishes to both of you! Please let us know how things progress. Perhaps we'll all end up meeting in person at Lands' End. Stranger things have happened!

Diane

[noniwilli]

Diane,
Just wondering what happened with this....did you go to Dodgeville for an interview? I am interested because my husband is looking into a position with Lands End....and we have visited the area & interviewed..did you interview? If so, are you going to move, and to what town? I would love to hear how you made out!