Craigslist

As I seek a new job, I am using the great resource known as Craigslist. Anyone who has looked for a job recently has done the same. That being said, I have come to the conclusion that about 45% of the job listings on Craigslist are useless. This means they are either an outright scam, a multi-level marketing scheme, or non existent positions posted by recruiters and head-hunters. The first sign is the title. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. “No experience necessary”, “Paid Training”, “Set your own schedule”, these are all dead giveaways that you probably don’t want this job and neither does anyone else which is why they seem to be advertising so often. Another warning sign is the grammar and spelling of the post itself. If there are multiple misspellings, no capitalization, and no punctuation, it’s a bad sign. Do you really think a legitimate employer is going to post something that says “Opurtunaty for sef-starter!!”? In today’s spell-check world there is only one excuse for misspelled words and that excuse is not caring. Someone who doesn’t care is probably a scammer who is trying to post as many ads as possible in the shortest amount of time. What about the all caps listing? “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!!!!!!” “FEELING LEFT OUT IN TODAY’S JOB BOOM, BLAH BLAH COMPANY IS…” You dont want to work in a place where either A) people are always shouting, or B) they don’t know how to turn off all caps. If the person responsible for posting jobs on the Internet doesn’t know how to use a computer keyboard than you don’t want to work at that company. Another listing to avoid has vague generic sounding descriptions with “Contact us for more details” at the bottom. This is a scammer who wants your information so they can sell it to spammers and telemarketers, or they are a recruiter who is going to inundate you with spam and telephone calls. (hmmmmmm …) What about multi-level marketers? Any ad that promises “Financial Freedom” has a good chance to be a pyramid scheme. Also be wary of phrases like “Be your own boss!”, “Unlimited income!”, and “Work when you want to!”. Notice the exclamation points which imply desperation. Yes, I know many people find jobs on Craigslist, my point with all this is that you need to be careful. Think of it as walking through a minefield. Watch where you step.