Applying for Jobs on Craigslist

I have a bad habit of applying for jobs on Craigslist. I like it, because it is simple, but I do not like it quite so much, because I applied for a job and some 50 year old blonde haired woman sent me a risque picture of herself. I am flattered that I met her qualifications, but I was applying for a job, not soliciting.

There are few things to keep in mind if you are going to apply for work on Craigslist. Apply to jobs that actually inform of you of who the employer is actually going to be. Listings without any contact information another than that anonymous Craigslist email address are suspect. Apply to jobs that actually tell you how much you are going to get paid. Listings that have a huge range (one listing I looked at said anywhere between $16 to $24 an hour) are also suspect.

If you are into data entry work, which a lot of us are who doesn't like to type all day and get paid for it, make sure that data entry is one activity that the job is built upon, not the entire job. In other words, if the job is for a Word Processor, Proofreader, or a Medical Coder, chances are that is a real job. If it is for Data Entry, chances are it could be one of these "Work From Home" scams that require you to have active telephone service where you are taking calls from home. You might also need to pay for software or a course up front.

Another scam that goes on through Craigslist; the classic bait and switch. You apply for a job, you hear back from the company within 2 weeks that you have the qualifications for the job, but you have to go to another website to fill out an application. You go to that other website, and you find out that you need to pay for a credit report (or they want to know your credit score), before you can get an interview. Avoid that scenario at all costs; never, I repeat NEVER give information such as your social security number (or credit score), up front unless you are actually applying for credit.

If you find yourself in an actual office talking to a recruiter or human resources it is one thing to give out such information, but never do this online. One last thing about Craigslist; if you are writer and are looking to write do not waste your time with Craigslist. Legitimate writing jobs can be found elsewhere. What I have found, is that individuals will want you to write 10 or 20 articles (just to see how things go) before you ever get paid, if you ever get paid. Most times you find your work with some byline somewhere on the Internet, but you never recieved any compensation for that work. Do not work for free! Do not work for free!

Small, insignificant, websites go around and take a few articles from this one and that one, and before you know it they have a well rounded website full of work from various writers and none of those writers ever recieved a dime. In the early days of the Internet, when people were still figuring out search engine optimization everyone was working for free becuase they just wanted to see their work online. If you just have to be out there start up a blog or work with a content mill but do not waste your time with ads on Craigslist. Most times you can use Google Adsense yourself, study what articles people read and do not read (how much time do you spend reading an article, what articles do you read or do not read, which articles have compelled you to click on the ads) and make a hundred dollars yourself. The promise of getting $5, $10, $15 an article is enough to make the average writer salivate, but it is not anything they could not do on their own.

If you do decide to work with Craigslist, keep yourself safe. Use common sense; there are great job listings on Craigslist and there is a lot of junk. Do your research; you may find three jobs offering three different wages for the same work. Apply to the job listing that actually informs you of what you are getting into, even if it is only $8 an hour. Then again perhaps some of you want to party with some 50+ year old woman. Perhaps some of you do ...