How to Attract Top Talent on your Craigslist Job Posting

Craigslist is a top jobs website, but it does get its share of low-quality candidates. You may find yourself spending more time on identifying suitable profiles and struggling just a bit to shorten the recruiting process. To attract serious and worthy candidates, you need to create a job ad that drives your message home. Here are our Craigslist job posting tips.

Get specific about the requirements

Top talent will have done their homework and know their value in the job market. If your Craigslist job post confuses them, they’ll move on quickly. Paying attention to what you say in your job post is paramount.

When a job candidate reads your job description, they must instantly know the job is for them. State the exact nature of the job in the title. If you’re hiring for a freelance or part-time position, state it explicitly.

Spend time creating a concise and complete job description. If you miss out on a mandatory requirement or include anything that isn’t critical for the role, you may receive interest from unqualified candidates.

Keep it short

Ever read a wordy job description? Or one that went on and on? It can be a bore or even overwhelming, especially after a day of looking at tons of job ads.

Cut out superfluous words or statements. Avoid a lot of jargon; keep the language simple. Make the ad easy to read, using subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs to break blocks of text. Candidates will have an easier time understanding all your requirements and determining their suitability for the role.

Add a little something to your employer value proposition

The employer value proposition includes professional development, work-life balance, work flexibility, and the work environment. Candidates consider them on par with competitive pay and benefits, preferring companies that provide better overall value. Top candidates will want a culture where they can bring their talents and be valued.

Employees like being aligned with their employers’ values. With consciousness about gender equality, LGBTQ rights, disability rights, and other aspects of diversity and inclusion growing worldwide, employees are demanding more from companies. So, if you have diversity, equality, and inclusion (DE&I) or CSR programs, state them to showcase your employer brand. Short bullet points or a line or two will work just fine.

Request candidates to answer a question in their email

The purpose of adding a simple ask in the description is to get an early idea of a candidate’s ability. You could, for example, ask them a question that enables you to evaluate if they can follow directions.

Along with candidates’ resumes, you can consider their performance on the test task to decide who to clear for the interview. Give it a try and see if it helps you select candidates faster.

Spend more time on recruiting, less on posting job ads to Craigslist

Job ad posting is an administrative task that should be automated. Our fully automated Craigslist job posting service offers the benefits of speed, time savings, and a more streamlined and efficient recruiting process. Set up your job posting automation and see results quickly.