Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Thought For the Day: Job Applications

My organization just advertised for a part-time, contract postion (meaning no benefits). It's $13/hr, although we did say "hours are flexible" we're looking for someone who can work 2-3 days a week. In my head the kind of person who would want this job would be a college student or a grad student.

I put up one ad, in one spot, on Craiglist. For this job, which didn't have a whole lot of description about us, I got 40 applicants in the first day. There's another 20 that came in today. By three days I bet I have at least 75 applicants. By the end of the week I'll probably get another 25 applicants.

Something to think about when applying for even "crappy" jobs on CL.

UPDATE: It's Friday and the response rate slowed down tremendously. But so far I have about 84 applicants. However of that 84, only about 5-6 are really top candidates. Some over-qualified, many under-qualified, many are applying for everything on craiglist. Some clearly are searching for a full-time permenant job and I'm not sure how this job would work for them. But the biggest hurdle is that people who have no experience in this type of work. It's possible they could do the work and even be great at it. But you can understand why its easier to look for candidates with experience doing a similar type of work. A few I'm putting aside for another position we might hire for.

Another thing I realized, interviewing people is harder than it looks.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

...good to keep in mind, Newscat. Remember though, your "crappy" job is in "glamorous" field of journalism.

Dear Laurel, have a nice day. I'm guessing no one has told you that in a while. I hope things go better for you.

habladora said...

1. Wow, that's an amazing response - yet, I'm so in love with what I imagine your job to be that I have to say I understand the appeal. Work with amazing women and their smart op-eds three days a week, work on my novel for two... let me think... sure. Just move the whole operation to Atlanta and we'll talk.

2. I just realized I sorta love :-jon - in a completely cute, non-threatening 'I already have a partner, thanks' sort of way, naturally. How does it feel to have a fan?

Anonymous said...

Thanxies habladora, I am very excited to have a fan!

And I must say, I loved your response of:
"1. Roosters roost, not roasters...."
way back on Oct 6th.

habladora said...

Oh - you were the troll!

(I kid, I kid...)