How to reply to a Craigslist job posting.

With most job-seekers using at least some sort of online resource these days, one would expect that many of the simple ’sins of omission’ from the good ‘ole typewriter days would be gone.

Nope.

I am in the process of hiring some additional IT staff and have posted a very simple job requirement to Craigslist. Why? A) The company I work at is cheap, and 2) Craigslist is FAST when it comes to applicants.

I want to hire people that can read, write, and comprehend written instructions, so I always include a couple of reply requirements in my online job postings that can tell me a great deal about the applicant.

Simple things, such as ‘don’t include web/tracking bugs in attachments.‘ A tracking bug (a logo, invisible pixel, or other artwork) creates a log, somewhere, that can show when I read a resume, opened an email message, or passed the document along to a colleague. I don’t play that, and I let people know, in simple english, in my job postings.

“Include salary history and/or requirements” isn’t too difficult to do, is it? I’m not going to pay person $80k/year if their last job was $40k/year (unless they are REALLY good, in which case I would). The salary requirement shows me an applicant’s skill progression.

Since I am writing this, you can imagine what did not happen. The job posting was put online yesterday, and today I checked all of the applications:

30 Applicants (typical after one day)
25 applicants did not include their salary history/requirements
3 applicants simply wrote “See Attached” in their email response to the job posting
1 applicant did not include his name in his resume. Anywhere in it.

I’d pull my hair out, but I don’t want to go bald.

PEOPLE! READ THE DAMN JOB POSTING! If you do not feel comfortable including your salary history, previous employers, blood type, tell me why, don’t just leave it off.

Did someone tell you to just ‘robo-reply’ to jobs? If they did, don’t take their advice anymore. Make a great first impression: understand what you are applying for, and at least LOOK LIKE YOU CARE.

Want some more common sense resume tips? Sure ya do! Click HERE

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