How to Not Hire Someone Via Craigslist

After reading my posting about how to get a job on Craigslist, my buddy Danny Kay sent me a link to illustrate what employers do wrong. I was amazed by the example that he sent me from the New York edition of Craigslist:

---

We seek a talented, highly motivated & resourceful individual skilled/experienced in web and print design. Minimum 1-2 years professional experience and examples of work done are mandatory for all applicants.

Requirements:

• Degree in Graphic/Web Design with minimum 2 years of Web/Graphic design experience with both print materials and web site design/development.

• Exceptional portfolio that showcases solid conceptual, color, layout graphic design skills as well as fully functional web projects.

• Proficiency in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe ImageReady and Macromedia Dreamweaver.

• Solid experience with hand-coding HTML, CSS and basic JavaScript knowledge required.

• Experience in InDesign and/or QuarkXPress and good understanding of requirements, specifications and concept of the print production design.

• Experience with Macromedia Flash and action scripting is a plus.

• Must be a highly self-motivated team player, able to work independently and with direction as part of a team.

• Work on PC based platform.

• Supervisory experience.

Compensation: Commensurate with experience.

---

First, let’s analyze the compensation. I bet it pays $15-20/hour based on the line, “Compensation: Commensurate with experience.” This is recruit-speak for “we think we can hire someone great for peanuts, and we’d rather hire cheap, lousy people than expensive, good ones and risk screwing up our out-of-touch pay ranges.”

Second, let’s examine the desired qualifications. I don’t think that even The Russell Brown of Adobe would qualify for this position:

1. Proficiency with Photoshop, Illustrator, ImageReady, Dreamweaver, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, InDesign “and/or” QuarkExpress, and Flash. Only the kids of John Warnock who were suckled at the breast of Adobe could know all these applications.

2. “Exceptional portfolio,” experience with graphic and web design plus familiarity with print production. Sounds like someone who’s been in the business for twenty years to me. But how hard could it be to master these skills?

3. “Supervisory experience”—so in one to two years the successful candidate has learned those applications and processes as well as supervised people? In my first two years at Apple, all I did was carry Mike Boich's (the first Macintosh software evangelist) bags.

Oh I almost forgot, the candidate should have gained all this expertise while using the PC-version of applications. What self-respecting candidate is going to admit that? What candidate is going to want to do this kind of work on a PC?

This job posting is fundamentally flawed. It casts far too big a net, so it will intimidate or exasperate the little fish (ie, people starting their careers), and the big fish (ie, people who truly qualified) either aren’t reading Craigslist or will smell a rat: “Compensation: Commensurate with experience.”

This is my advice:

• Use the right tool. Craigslist might not be the best place for senior positions and for senior candidates at established companies. Better places are Creativeheads.net, Creativecircle, and I.D. However, it is great for contract work and entry- and mid-level positions.

• Write honest job descriptions for honest job titles. Don’t try to entice candidates with promises of greater responsibilities or opportunities than is true. And don’t delude yourself: If the cat drags in over-qualified candidate, are you really going to expand the job?

• Match the job and the background requirements. If you have an entry-level job, then write entry-level specs. If you have a mid- or upper-level job, then write more demanding specs such as five or more years of experience. Unfortunately, most help-wanted ads contain unrealistic demands for the position.

• Sell. Almost every help-wanted ad focuses on buying, not selling—that is, the qualifications that candidates have to meet and the fences that they have to jump over. However, in the war for talent, this is ass backwards. This ad, for example, should mention things like “award-winning shop,” “work alongside famous designers,” “interesting projects for Disney, Apple, and Audi.”

• Give young people a break. In the past of great employees are managers who gave them a break. Maybe they didn’t have the ideal educational or work experience—for example, an ex-jewelry schlepper. What’s more important than what’s on screen is what’s in the mind, soul, and attitude of candidates.

By the way, if you’re a wunderkind and want to apply for this job, go for it. $20/hour can add up.

Comments

[Rob Mathewson]

The last time that I answered an analogous ad that seemed to shoot for the moon while asking for 1-2 years experience, it turned out that the recruiter was collecting resumes two positions. Both junior (1-2 years experience) and a senior candidate(a bunch of practical experience)were being sought. In the end it it became apparent that the hiring company didn't know what they wanted.

[Ryan Anderson]

I'm not defending how well-written this job posting is, but I think you're being a little harsh.

In my own day job, we wouldn't even consider a junior designer who didn't have all of those qualifications. My suspicion is that they're looking for people who understand flash, HTML and PHP, but not who would be primarily coders. If you're an interactive shop, all of your designers have to understand how the final design is going to integrate into the finished product. And most interactive shops use PC - simply because that's what the majority of site visitors use.

Also, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a design job that asked for a mediocre portfolio, so I think "exceptional" isn't too hyperbolic an adjective.

For the record, I'm a PR Guy, and I consider myself proficient with all of those tools, so I wouldn't overestimate the severity of the qualifications.

That said, I agree with all of your points on how to write better job posts... handy, since we're hiring like mad right now.

[Paul]

Be mindful of the law of unintended consequences - today I received a response to a CL post for a warehouse lead position stating he could do the job, but only for 10% more than the top end of the salary range posted. Then only 2 minutes later he had the gall to send a follow up recommending we review this blog with the simple comment "This may prove helpful to you." and the link. He failed to take it upon himself to sell his ability to exceed the demands of the position to the benefit of the company and thereby justify his worth. Selling yourself in the job search doesn't end when you submit the resume.

[d-mac]

Guy,

Thanks for posting that ad.

The ad is very typical of what I've seen on Craigslist, both locally and nationally.

The two most typical ad "types" I see on Craigslist are (translated to reality):

(1) We need someone who is left-brain _and_ right-brain dominant, someone who is an engineer _and_ an artist, someone who is expert in all industry-standard software tools, comfortable in totally unrelated skillsets, such as advanced typographic design and engineering/scientific analysis, plus expert in programming languages...

(2) We need someone who is an expert in whatever field, especially in video/film production or Web design, knows every tool at an expert level, has a pro level resume that would make a twenty industry veteran weep, etc. We would like you to work for ~20% of the average, entry-level industry wage...

The common thread usually involves no pay or horribly insufficient pay (unethical pay offers, really)... The other thread is that the employer wants someone who would have to possess traits you would never find in a single person, no matter how much experience he/she had (at an expert level, course)...

Now, you may find someone who made a drastic career change at some point, but I doubt that the same person would still be expert in something which they haven't done in years...

I would say that I haven't surveyed other more "professionally-oriented" sites, such as Monster.com, etc.

I just love it... "We want to hire someone with the equivalent of several disparate graduate-level degrees, a few dozen years of experience, an expert in several fields, someone whom would really cost over $300K/year if they even existed, but we will only pay $15/hour...

Anyone would posts that kind of ad should be cross-checked hard enough into the boards that they don't get up for a long time... (sarcasm)

[Brady J. Frey]

"I hate to be a bitch, but people graduating from the Graphic Design program at a college where I live, and where I'm also a graduate has all those skills."

You may think your graduates have all those skills, but I'd take the pepsi challenge against that opinion. Every designer I've ever trained, including the 2 in my office, have had to be re-trained; from dated coding experience in websites, to proper production usage of the tools, to experience in general design. Supervisor experience I would argue may plant but does not sprout in college.

Nothing personal, you could very well have surpassed your peers in skill (and aside from cringing on a full flash layout for those of us running flash, your skillset is better than some of the designers I have), but that can't be a generalized opinion of all your students. I'll give you this though, it's a pleasure to see a graduate who understands wordpress and has a proper grasp of CSS and HTML (though those wordpress templates almost always have a case of divitis), but there's always room for growth and improvement - on both our ends - the above job reference leaves little wiggle room and smells like a middle manager without said knowledge.

[Joe Clark]

The kinds of skills for which the advertisement driftnets are associated with longtime Macintosh graphic designers, not the dilettantes who manage to figure out how to lay out side-by-side columns in Quark for Windows.

A Windows habitué with all those skills will be at the pinnacle of a very small mountain and could name their price. They are, moreover, not checking Craigslist for leads.

[Rich Lewis]

Nice job on this one Guy, especially the part about selling the job. Alot of this is common sense, but you've put it all together well.

[Richard]

There is another possibility with this type of ad - and so many others you will find these days for any IT-related position.

The ad is being posted simply to comply with Federal guidelines/requirements with regards to importing foreign workers.

There are IT-related ads so broad and diverse that no one could possibly meet the requirements.

Here's a link with video to get you started in uncovering the real reason behind such ads:
Fake Job Ads

BTW - Love your books - you must be a hoot to work alongside!

[crazysheep]

I use the PC version for these applications...I cant stand Macs....

Seriously, they do not make life any easier.

We all know you worked for Apple, good for you. Doesn't mean any graphic/print/web designer needs to use a Mac to be proficient at his/her job.

[Bill]

"Oh I almost forgot, the candidate should have gained all this expertise while using the PC-version of applications. What self-respecting candidate is going to admit that? What candidate is going to want to do this kind of work on a PC?"

Was this really necessary? That's just ignorant fanboy propaganda.

[Susanna]

Actually, I know all that software and all those scripting languages. I've also been a supervisor. And that's because I have 10 years of work experience.

I may meet the qualifications, but something tells me this employer probably wouldn't be willing to pay me what I'd ask for.

[BeReasonable]

It's easy to say people are out of touch, but here are two trends that you don't seem to touch on. People are encouraged by friends and professionals to apply for jobs they aren't 100% qualified for, because "no one who has all of that would apply for that job." Companies know that's what people do and can use the candidate's lack of experience in Arcane, Proprietary Language X to deny them the pay amount the HR analyst identified for the position.

This way a person who is actually qualified for the job gets the job and the hiring manager gets a person for less than what the HR analyst priced the position at. Everybody wins!

[mike]

the fundamental flaws in asking for the moon and the stars (when you really only need the moon) are:
1.) you will never find that golden unicorn candidate. sorry.
2.) even if you did - asking them to forget half of what they know upon accepting your job will make them: a.) not take it in the first place, b.) quit, or c.) resent your bait-and-switch maneuver every day they're at their unchallenging, unrewarding job.

your thought process for writing a good help wanted ad should start thusly-

The ideal candidate: should be able to do the job.

then proceed to describe what the job IS.

[RayC22]

“Compensation: Commensurate with experience.” This is recruit-speak for “we think we can hire someone great for peanuts, and we’d rather hire cheap lousy people than expensive good ones and screw up our out-of-touch pay ranges.”

On the nail! I also like (in your book) your reply to the hotshot is asking about the salary range, "What is your current salary level?"

[Patrick Burt]

I hate to be a bitch, but people graduating from the Graphic Design program at a college where I live, and where I'm also a graduate has all those skills. Of course, without the 1-2 years experience.

[Mark]

As a designer, I can say that is a pretty tame ad. I've seen people asking for skills as far-reaching as .ASP, Java, Perl and Php mastery, copywriting, illustration and assorted other talents. I assume that it is the work of an over-extended HR person who, not familiar with the technical mumbo jumbo, is just trying to get enough keywords out there that someone will bite.

[Marc Duchesne]

I'm afraid this is a classic of the Post-Bubble Era. Worldwide and cross-industries/economy sectors tough, which is a shame.
Two trends I've noticed over the last few years whilst looking for a senior position myself here in Europe :
a) the one highligted by Guy's post : “we think we can hire someone great for peanuts, and we’d rather hire cheap lousy people than expensive good ones and screw up our out-of-touch pay ranges.”
and b) the one consisting of those job ads where "7+ years in a similar position", "mandatory experience in the xyz field/market", and "outstanding results in the same position" are the motto. In other words : "We want to hire a senior manager working since years at one of our competitors so we won't take any risk with the new position we create for us to catch up with those guys."

[Mario]

Dear Guy,

The following sites I consider to be the best to read and post jobs:

* www.thelathers.com
* www.netshare.com
* www.linkedin.com
* www.boardcrunch.com
* www.kornferry.com

Although your tips are sound, the real security is to apply through reputable places and very secure companies.

Remember, most of them use recruiters. Think that your ability to get a good position depends on the ten seconds from these expert people on reading your CV and cover letter.

Be proactive rather than reactive on the verge of not being disturbing.

Do not get down with turn downs, it is not to your person: you have to kiss plenty of frogs before you kiss a prince!

Mario Ruiz
@ http://www.oursheet.com

[Brendan]

Oh, brilliant!!

I work for a youth job services agency, and part of my job is to go through the postings each week to try to find positions that teens and young adults could apply for (I'm doing it right now...I read this blog post during a short break from the tedium, haha). So many of these positions that could easily be filled by our clients are ruled out because the poster has listed absurd requirements.

Granted, what I'm talking about is slightly different than what's being posted here, but the point is the same: a large percentage craigslist postings are laughable. Everyone wants an inhuman candidate...that golden, shining "incredibly creative, extremely well-organized, totally 100% flexible, impeccably punctual" employee-Adonnis. News flash: THAT PERSON IS NOT REAL.

Oh, and I know this is a very tired complaint, but can we *please* quit with the all-caps entries and ############################### +++++++++++++++++ ************************ b.s. in the title lines? I have to read thousands of posts a week...my brain is starting to hurt from all those symbols.

(iaind - Great link! I'll be reading this one for sure!)

[D. Lambert]

This sort of job description is really common in IT positions, and IMO, it's completely counter-productive.

In close to 15 years hiring and managing developers, I've found that good hires are made on fundamental skills and character traits, not specific technical skills.

Technology is changing quickly, and the pace is increasing. Any decision you make about a specific technology is guaranteed to be obsolete - probably before this person's one-year anniversary.

I'd much rather hire someone who's demonstrated an ability to learn new technologies while employing solid fundamental skills.

Personally, I think this trend stems in part from the proliferation of contract workers, where it makes more sense to bring in people experienced in the tools you're using for a project, and from interviewers' inability to accurately assess fundamental skills. Managers have simply forgotten how to hire good people.

[st_labrat]

Amen

[iaind]

It's much worse than you'd think. I've got an entire blog devoted to the subject. Take a look at some of the really bad job ads.