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Craigslist’s Fake Jobs

Posted December 22nd, 2008 at 12:04PM

When I started job hunting after graduation, Craigslist seemed like a decent place to check. It was slow, not much came up, but there were opportunities you didn’t see on other sites. Recently however it seems like everything on the site is garbage.

I check both the Albany and Vermont (Burlington) sites, and all of the postings in the writing / editing section now fall into two categories:

  • pyramid blogging schemes, where your “pay” is a “portion” of “ad revenue” (HA!),
  • fake listings that (should you inquire) send an automated e-mail telling you to register on some front website which, as far as I can tell, is just there to collect your personal information to sell later.

Meanwhile, the nightly news had a story about federal jobs with the Obama administration, where the ratio of applicants to jobs is 1,000:1, and my response was, “Hum, might want to check into that.”

sigh.

EDIT:

Change.gov took my name, e-mail address, phone number and previous employer. Afterwards:

“Thank you for your interest in joining the Obama-Biden Administration. Within a few days, you will receive an email with a link to the more complete on-line application. Please be patient, as we are trying to respond promptly to the large number of people who are interested in working in the Administration.”

Well, that was the quickest I was ever blown off for a job.

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Selling Self

Posted October 28th, 2008 at 5:00PM

So I’m really trying to renew my job search because I can’t let myself stay unemployed for much longer. It’s unhealthy, unproductive, and I’ve got bills to pay. It’s been a month since I quit, and I really wanted to have found something else by now.

What am I going to do differently?

  • Use RSS to my advantage -
    I’ve begun using Google Reader to collect RSS feeds of my most popular job searches across several job boards, saving me time and effort, and ensuring I catch every local opening.
  • Broaden the search -
    Because I wasn’t finding very many prospective job openings, I’m now searching farther away and for more terms. I’m now combing through Indeed, SimplyHired, Regional Help Wanted, JournalismJobs.com, Craigslist, Career Builder, and Monster daily, via RSS feeds, searching for any of the following terms: writer, writing, editor, editing, copy, proof. I’m also checking other places regularly, like the job sections at Tree Hugger and Idealist.org, and career services at Ithaca (which is pathetic, by the way).
  • Sell myself in earnest -
    If I want a job, I need to act like I want one. So I’m doing some major work to the dusty resume and making clean copies of all of my available clips. I’ll be uploading all of this to a website sometime in the immediate future for easy access by myself and prospective employers. Short-term, I’ll host them under the whitemaleconsumer.com banner, but will likely go with a more professional moniker as time allows.
  • Do something worthwhile –
    Even if steady full-time employment doesn’t present itself, I’m now reconsidering freelance work, both writing and editing, perhaps even unpaid. Bulking up the resume with recent work will have a good cost:benefit ratio.

    • Even though it’s a little skimpy, I feel like my resume works well, and I can write a good cover letter. My biggest failure is the follow through, particularly phone interviews. I had one and it tanked, big time. I’m a total introvert, and a poor interview performance can queer the deal quickly. With only a limited number of local employers, I’m now at the point of applying for jobs at companies I’ve already tried at before. I feel like that’s a bad place to be.

Tags: , , , , , , | Category: Life
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