I’m not an amazing career blogger, but I have applied for, and gotten, a lot of work on Craig’s. If you have a white-sounding, male name and aren’t getting responses, there is something wrong with your email. I give to my friends, but every time I use Craigslist, I improve my results. The first thing you need to know about Craigslist is that any posting is going to be overrun by spammers trying to drum up business. So, when replying to a job listing, your goal is to cut through the spam.
- Use spell check.
- Keep it short. After sorting through spammers, the poster doesn’t want your life story.
- Keep it local. In fact, bold the word local, include the name of your town, and always use a local area code phone number.
- Read the posting carefully and reference it to show the poster that you read it.
- Answer some questions, but leave them a reason to email you.
- Skip job postings that don’t give you a reason to apply.
- Use spell check, Most applications I get misspell!
If these tips fail you, start reading Penelope's blog, or have several friends review your resume and cover email.