Boston Technical Recruiter

Cragislist.org is probably one of the most underused recruiting tools out there and it’s a good thing it is. I realized the usefulness of CL long before I became a recruiter, but most of the companies I have worked for have been painfully slow at adapting CL as a valuable recruiting tool. CL used to be free, so it was even easier for a new recruiter to reap enormous returns using a tool that no one else in the company used. Although in the Boston market, CL now charge $25/post, this is still insignificant to Monster’s $400/post.

 So how do you use craigslist most effectively? Let me show you:

1. Create an account. An account is free and will allow you to track your ads. This will also allow you to preserve your job descriptions and easily repost ads next time you have a similar position.
2. Edit the Job Description. If the job description given to you by your client is 5 pages long, cut it down to a paragraph or two. Most people won’t read the whole description, nor will most candidates have the whole skill set, you will be missing out on many candidates if you don’t edit the job postings.
3. Read the post. Make sure you are not giving away your client in the post. Good sales guys regularly comb through all job board posts searching for careless recruiters who will post information about their client; even a posting that mentions the industry and the city can mean a phone call to your client from competitors. If you mention the name, you let the wolf in the goat house.
4. Know your categories. Discover what jobs get the most replies in what categories. I know that posting a really obscure skill set on CL (Salaselogix, Tivoli) will probably not yield many results, while posting an ad for “Help Desk”, I will be inundated with qualified professionals.
5. Free Posts. Know where to post for free. Boston charges, but Worcester doesn’t. Most candidates will commute from the cities around Worcester to Boston.
6. Cross post. Even though CL looks down on this and you agree not to do it; you still ought to. Change small things about your ad and post to two or three categories. This is easier if it’s free. Also post in free categories such as Gig’s. You never know who is lurking there.
7. Search in the Resumes! There are some very talented people who post their resumes on CL and lot’s of recruiters who don’t know about them. Search other city sites for candidates who may be willing to relocate.
8. Managers! If you are a manager and your recruiters are not regularly using Craigslist, you are crippling their candidate pipelines. Promote Craigslist use!

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