What do you think of craigslist? It’s more entertaining than useful to me. When I search jobs I can count on the amusing calls for call girls and some outlandish part time gigs. A retired friend of my mother’s landed a chauffeur stint for some wealthy Dallas doctor by responding to an ad. A friend of mine met his future roommate and girlfriend through his craigslist curiosity. Another acquaintance has a plush sectional to vegetate on; thanks to some Georgetown yuppie who was just dumping rather than selling, because he had to vamoose.
I know it’s not a reputable place for serious job sleuthing; however, there are more jobs in my field (writing) than any other online employment site. So maybe it is reputable. I admit I get sidetracked by the garage sale items, but I earnestly apply to what seem like legitimate jobs (i.e. detailed and with a real email address not job3456@craigslist.org) to no avail.
But honestly, over the past 2 years the management team is getting much better at weeding out scams and shady posts. Though craiglist’s layout bores, no advertisements assail you at login, you don’t have to subscribe or feed information to anyone you don’t choose to, and often you aren’t whisked to some other site while applying to jobs. In other words it’s less stress than monster or careerbuilder.
All this makes me wonder where the revenues coming from, who owns the site, and why hasn’t some internet or media or internet media goliath snatched craigslist up?
Turns out job postings do cost in major U.S. cities, which discourages some bogus ads. In the startup’s hometown, San Francisco, craigslist want ads cost nearly triple their print predecessors, but at $75 a pop companies shell out anyway. There are 200 active San Fran posts dating from a month and a day ago to today on the writer/editor link alone. That’s $15,000, for you math wizards. And if you want your post to appear under two headings, it’ll cost ya double. More paydirt! Craig Newmark puts the Craig in craigslist and owns 75% of his internet namesake; eBay owns the rest. I knew there was a reason I spent so much time on both sites!
If you are reading this and have experienced the bewildering (or not so bewildering, depending on your take) world of craigslist please post!
I know it’s not a reputable place for serious job sleuthing; however, there are more jobs in my field (writing) than any other online employment site. So maybe it is reputable. I admit I get sidetracked by the garage sale items, but I earnestly apply to what seem like legitimate jobs (i.e. detailed and with a real email address not job3456@craigslist.org) to no avail.
But honestly, over the past 2 years the management team is getting much better at weeding out scams and shady posts. Though craiglist’s layout bores, no advertisements assail you at login, you don’t have to subscribe or feed information to anyone you don’t choose to, and often you aren’t whisked to some other site while applying to jobs. In other words it’s less stress than monster or careerbuilder.
All this makes me wonder where the revenues coming from, who owns the site, and why hasn’t some internet or media or internet media goliath snatched craigslist up?
Turns out job postings do cost in major U.S. cities, which discourages some bogus ads. In the startup’s hometown, San Francisco, craigslist want ads cost nearly triple their print predecessors, but at $75 a pop companies shell out anyway. There are 200 active San Fran posts dating from a month and a day ago to today on the writer/editor link alone. That’s $15,000, for you math wizards. And if you want your post to appear under two headings, it’ll cost ya double. More paydirt! Craig Newmark puts the Craig in craigslist and owns 75% of his internet namesake; eBay owns the rest. I knew there was a reason I spent so much time on both sites!
If you are reading this and have experienced the bewildering (or not so bewildering, depending on your take) world of craigslist please post!
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