Find a Job – Post a Job – on Craigslist

If you were looking for places to work in your home business in your community, where would you go to check out the jobs offered?

What if you were looking for someone for a short-term job or contract work for your home business?  Would you look in the newspaper?  Online? Where?  Next time you are looking for work or for someone to do some work for you, consider Craigslist.org.

A friend said she was looking for a receptionist after her receptionist quit.  She used to put ads in the local newspaper, but she decided she would try Craistlist.  She was amazed at the response she got, and how quickly.  The current receptionist quit on Monday, and by Thursday, she had found and hired the replacement.  If she had put the ad in the newspaper, she would have been waiting for the ad to appear this weekend, for people to read it and respond.  Much faster this way!

Craigslist runs by city.  Postings in large U.S. cities are higher; many smaller cities have free ads. You can post a job offer or look for a job. There are many categories of jobs.  You can also post a resume, and you can post a short-term job (called a “gig”) or you can look for a gig too. Gig categories include: computer creative crew domestic event labor writing talent adult.

Suggestions if you are looking for work:

• Follow directions. If someone says they want an introduction letter and a resume, send them an introduction letter and a resume.  Nothing else.  If they want reference, send references.  Don’t say “I’ll send these later.”
• Stick to the job. Don’t include extra information, particularly personal info.  It’s not relevant and people are not going to appreciate it.
• Be professional. Just because you’re online doesn’t mean you get to engage in unprofessional conduct.  Act as if this is a real job – it is!
• Check your submission. If you aren’t sure about grammar and spelling, have someone check it for you.  Make sure your submission is letter-perfect.

Suggestions for hiring:

• Post jobs anonymously. Don’t give out your email address.  You can post anonymously to a craiglist email and they will forward to your real email.  Stay safe.
• Match your requirements to the job. For most jobs, require a resume of some kind.  For some gigs, you can’t expect a resume.  But the person should be able to write a coherent sentence and provide a correct phone number or email.
• Weed out quickly. You will probably get a lot of responses.  If someone doesn’t meet your requirements or doesn’t follow directions, reject them.  You can’t hire everyone.
• Be critical. If someone sounds like an idiot, they probably are.
• Ask for and check references. Trust but verify.

If you post a job or reply to an ad on Craigslist, I’d be interested in your experience.