Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Craigslist.org: Job Listing 101

After about 2-3 months of job hunting mainly on Craigslist.org (I know it's not the best site for jobs but I feel most comfortable with it and it was where I found my last job), I've learned a few tricks:
  1. Any listing with salary that is above what is expected is a scam!!!! I can tell you for a fact that 20% to 40% of the job listings are not really job listings. For example:  They're offering $25 per hour for an Administrative Assistant position. It will be a dream come true.... if it were real..... 
  2. Ignore the job listings one the first page and the last page of each day. The reason is because those listings are posted during the A.Ms or non typical office hours. Majority are scams as well. 
  3. I tend to not click on job listings that are listed 3 times in three different categories. I'm unsure if they're scams, but I don't think companies are that desperate to pay for 3 listings 1 after another. I've never actually tested the theory. Perhaps they are job agencies. 
  4. When employers receive emails from applicants, they usually receive it in list which show the most recent email first. In the midst of tons of applicants applying for the same job, you'll want to be one of the first that they look at. So try to send it in the early A.M hours, so you'll be one of the first. I do it usually around 2-3 am because I'm unable to get up at 6:00am while jobless.
My goal is to ensure I use the least amount of time looking through jobs.
However, these are just the things I've learned. But I'm unsure if it is 100% true, so please don't take my word for it.

Also, what do I mean by scams? Usually, they are false job listings to get information from everyday people. You might receive an email that has about 5 paragraphs of information regarding the details of the job. Many of them are very detail with numbers and company names. But do not get tricked. If an employer is interested in you, they would contact you for an interview first through your email or phone. These emails will ask you for your name, address, phone number and sometimes it'll ask you for follow a link to do a credit report of some sort.

This is a copy of an email I got after emailing one of the scams. 



This is an email I received after applying for "File Clerk" As you can see, they ask for a credit report. Why would a job need your credit report?

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