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I got a job on CL - twice. The first boss was a small business owner and a real ass.
The second (my current) was from a major corporation. The hiring manager said he couldn't find anyone that was a good fit through the other sites. The CL ad was more personable - I wanted to work for a small business, local. My commute is much longer than I wanted, and as I said, it's a big corporation. But it's structured in a small business kind of way locally.
This is the BEST (and easiest) job I've ever had. Some ads are scams, most are small business owners, some are hiring managers desperate for the RIGHT applicant and trying new things.
It doesn't HURT to peruse and answer the CL ads, as long as you're savvy enough to decipher what is a scam and what is legitimate. EVERYONE told me both jobs were scams before I started... but as a former small business owner myself, I do know that sometimes "too good to be true" CAN be true. When we were hiring, the model we were told to hire with (family business) was percentages. But everyone thought that was a scam. No one could believe it was true that they'd get paid so much for doing so little... but we had very little overhead and we're not scammers. Eventually, we cut the pay in half (still VERY generous for 3-5 days of work a month) and a friend, who knew the original pay offered, said her brother would be willing to try it. He was grateful for the work, and we made more money, then 'bonused' him for completing the work early in the month, rather than late in the month. It upset my FIL, but in the end, he ended up burning us... and lost his business as well in the process.
The vast majority of my job interviews have been through Craigslist, and a good number of those have been through ads that did not give contact info [note that they also did not list some weird gmail or yahoo e-mail address either, you just had to respond through the craigslist e-mail.]
Locations vary, and it depends on the field, but I would say in a lot of places, you are not going to find job openings from a large number of employers if you don't use Craigslist. When I look for jobs at accounting firms there have only been one or two that didn't use Craigslist.
I gave up even trying to find a job deciding instead to concentrate on my business 100%.
I have been advertising my services on Craigslist and the results have been marginal at best. My best estimate is that roughly only 20% of the people that respond are worth talking to. I think it's the nature of Craigslist and that people have expectations of paying well below market rates.
I have learned that I need to discuss pricing within the first five minutes of the phone conversation. People that call me from other marketing efforts seem to be comfortable with my rates but as I said, 80% of the people that call from Craigslist think they can get my level of help at 12 bucks an hour.....
I am working on other marketing efforts and will likely stop using Criagslist altogether.
I agree that Craigslist can be a great job searching tool. Never feel that you are sinking to any low level using Craigslist.
I will say this however, Craigslist I think is best for more "survival" jobs. I certainly wouldn't use Craigslist for professional long term job in your field that you are qualified in. But for part time stuff to earn a little extra money on the side, or for more "job to pay the bills" while you do a job search for more long term, full time jobs in your profession is great.
In addition to using all the caution (make sure the company name is on the posting, with all their contact info, then google them, to make sure they have a good reputation, etc.)
Here is my experience:
My first experience ever was to part time work on a vegetable farm. I was teaching at communtiy colleges. Adjunct/per class but lots of classes. Summer I taught a couple classes, but wanted to make some extra money. Living in apartment but wishing I had a garden, it was a perfect idea.
In the seven months, I've been using craigslist. I wanted to just take a short hiatus from teaching to try out a different skill. Sales. Long story short, I'm not more focused on my teaching career than ever!!
I had three sales-type position. None were scams per se.
At least not for me. I got paid, I was treated fine, but I was uncomfortable with the high pressure sales techniques. I'm very social/outgoing, I can easily make 150+ phone calls a day, but since I figured "If I wouldn't give out my credit card info for an on the spot telesales call to someone over the phone, why should I expect someone else to?" So, now I am focusing on customer service jobs ( got two interviews for next week) while I work on my job search for teaching jobs for the fall.
Bottom line: I think if you use caution with Craigslist, it can be great. But don't use it to look for jobs in your field.
Hello my name is Pete Lindsey I am seeking for a apart-manager job or field supervisor. You can contact me on [email]bigpete007@sbcglobal.net[/email].
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Awwww cripes.
