Pitfalls to Watch Out for When Posting Jobs on Craigslist

So you’re thinking of posting jobs on Craigslist and want to know if there’s anything you should watch out for to avoid the unexpected. Here are some facts to understand before posting jobs on the site.

More blue-collar, less white-collar

If you’re looking to hire workers in the construction, retail, or construction industries, Craigslist is the job ads site for you. In case you’re hiring for technical or executive roles, you’re likely to come up short. White-collar and senior applicants predominantly use other employment sites, such as Glassdoor and Indeed. On Craigslist, you’ve far better chances of success in filling temporary, casual, and blue-collar vacancies.

Not many features or customization options

Craigslist has refused to modernize, so you won’t find tools to personalize your listings or integrations with sophisticated application tracking and HR systems. Practically, this means you’ll have to put in more work to keep track of your listings and their applicants. Everything will land in your inbox and managing them all can get pretty overwhelming. If you’re short on time, consider using a resume search service like Redwood Technology Solutions, which searches countless databases to find only relevant candidates for you.

No candidate filtering or screening options

When posting jobs on Craigslist, keep in mind that there are no options to filter or screen applicants. You can, however, communicate with applicants through the site. The better way to do it is through Craigslist – provide your contact information to the site and they will relay responses to your ad to your email. The alternative is adding your email address to your advertisement, but it could expose you to spam.

You can post on a local site only

While Craigslist is great if you want to narrow down your search for job-seekers to your town or city, it’s less suitable to attract applicants from outside your region. You can post ads on a location-specific site. To cast a wider net, you could post your ad in adjacent areas. For example, if you’re based in Manhattan, you can show your ad in Queens and Brooklyn.

You have to figure things out on your own

When you decide to look up how to post a job on Craigslist, you aren’t going to get more information than what’s there in the site’s FAQs. There isn’t much by way of articles or guides on using the site. You’re on your own to figure out posting and ad optimization. But, as the site itself is basic, you won’t have a tough time posting your first ad there. If you do get stuck, there are plenty of online articles and videos to guide you.

It has a vintage feel

This is a minor point but worth mentioning so your Craigslist job posting experience isn’t bewildering! The site is stuck in the 90s and is happy being its simple self. Don’t let that stop you from using the site in a limited way – it has more than 400 million monthly users in the U.S. alone!

Bonus Tip: For the best results, post at the right times

Data suggest that Craigslist job searches are higher early in the morning, peak late morning, and on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Once your ad has been up for a week, you’ll have a better idea of the popular job search times.