Craigslist and My Job Hunt

Yesterday I wrote about Christmas. Today I’m writing about love. Craigslist is love. Not that I know much about love. My experience with love is limited to the San Antonio Spurs, my desire to own a pair of Christian Louboutin boots, and Justin Timberlake (darn that Jessica Biel!). But, when it comes to the job hunt, today’s love is Craigslist.

Craigslist is such a fabulous place. We all know Craigslist’s history (or we should and that’s why I’m telling you about it today). It started out way back in 1995 when Craig Newmark connected with friends to let them know what was going on in San Francisco. It grew and today, if I could meet this Craig Newmark. I would plant a big ole kiss on his cheek. I find a job to apply for nearly every other day.

But, how do you do this you ask? You can’t just bookmark the one place you’re looking for like “Non-Profit” in my case. I’ve come to the realization that a ton of people are just don’t really know how to navigate the simplistic site many great jobs end up in the wrong place.But, how do you find the right job? Here’s how I’ve navigated CL…

• Admin/Office is a good place to find data management jobs. If you are a Microsoft Office guru check this area out.
• Marketing/PR is great for outreach or organizing jobs. If you love people, are into social media and are ready to “transfer” your skills head over here.
• Education area is where I have found a few positions in job training. Use your people and teaching skills to write a killer resume and cover letter for this one.
• Health area is great for Case Management positions.  If you have previous case management experience, some non-profits drop their case management positions here instead of non-profit thinking they’re more health related.
• Writing and ETC is great for Grant Writing positions. Since grant writing is more of a writing skill than a non-profit skill, some organizations put their writer positions here thinking that writers can express the organizations opinion better than someone with a non-profit background.

This doesn’t mean, though, that I neglect my standby and my targeted field, “Non-Profit.” That section of Craigslist is checked every few hours, as I’ve mentioned before…the job hunt is a full time job and I always have my eye out for the scam jobs as Craiglist has begun to warn us of background checks, credit checks, free trial offers, and other such icky things and people.

Much like love, jobs can be found in many places. And that’s why I love Craigslist. But, now…we must move on to the next part…actually getting the job!