How to hire a worker through Craigslist.org

June 19, 2006 | Filed Under Services like Scriptlance and Getafreelancer, Outsourcing, Practical tips 

Craigslist, the internet heaven of classifieds ranging from prostitutes to rental apartments.

I was most interested in the jobs section.

Free to hire

Yes, I am a cheapo. I was going to hire a part time worker for 5-15 hours a week to do some html work and other basic things. Unfortunelately I discovered that ScriptLance & GetAFreelancer charged you $30-100 to search for employees throught their sites. Then I discovered Craigslist and their “jobs category.” There is no costs to publish a job ad in their system.

Where to post it?

Craigslist is a huge site divided into different cities or areas. Where should I put my job ad? On the New York part of the site? Well, since I am a cheapo and this work was something you could do from anywhere in the world I kind of looked into where my dollars could reach the furthest. I decided to try my luck by posting it in the Web design / HTML job category at the Buenos Aires part of the site.

How to write it?

I wrote an ad with detailed descriptions of the work involved. I also told applicants to attach their CV and the hourly wage they thought they were worth.

Responses?

After 14 days I had received 11 responses to the ad. By judging of what the different applicants wrote in their e-mail, all of them could do the work I offered. When it came to the requirements stated in the ad. I was a bit disappointed.

7 of 11 attached CVs.

5 of 11 mentioned a desired hourly wage in addition to attaching the CV.

It was also a bit surprising to discover that there were North Americans applying for the job even though it was listed on the Buenos Aires part of the site.

How did I choose?

In the end I had plenty of candidates to choose from, so I did it the easy way. The 5 applicants who listed a hourly wage requirement ranged from $5-15. I picked the one who wanted $5 an hour.

Things to do after you have selected your candidate

After I had found my man I replied to all the applicants telling them that the job opening was now filled. I also thanked them for their application.

I think this is the simplest thing in the world to do. Yet, when I was younger and applied for jobs I often did not hear back from the employers.

Update: How to get filthy rich this way?

Well, one thing that comes to mind is start ups. If you are launcing an online business and can use remote employees you can effectively have 10 workers working for you. If everybody is at $5 an hour and works 50 hours a week that gives you monthly wage costs of:

50 hours a week x 4 weeks a month = 200 hours

200 hours x 10 employees =  2000 hours a month.

2000 hours x $5 = $10 000 in monthly wages.

There you go. An easy and affordable way to get an armada of employees to eg, write Adsense content for you.

Comments