Craiglist Stupidity

by dez on May 25, 2010 · 9 comments

in Social

Courtesy of hisks

I subscribe via RSS to the craiglist computer gigs Minneapolis/Saint Paul feed. I do this for my side job stuff. Every once in a while I come across an ad that just irritates me for what the person is wanting for a small amount of money.

I’ll usually shrug these ads off and continue my searching. Every once in a while, however, I’ll come across a posting where the hiring party is obviously just being difficult.

Take this ad for example:

A tech savvy web marketer is needed to increase traffic and sales for an e-commerce website, [redacted]. You will work as an independent contractor and be paid $150 per month (non-negotiable). You must be able to:
-Develop keywords and meta tags to give website a top-ranked position on popular search engines
-Create one-way links to other relevant websites
-Place ads on the internet and social networking sites
-Build and maintain a presence on social networking sites
-Make any other marketing suggestions to administrator to increase product sales

Must have technical experience with e-commerce websites and have the technical knowledge to effectively implement the projects listed above. Must also possess good written communication skills. Please PASTE your resume in an email to [redacted]. RESUME ATTACHMENTS WILL NOT BE OPENED!

I’m just about to send the following email out with a link to this post:

$150/month?

This is what marketing associates do at firms for their career (for 20x as much per month or more)

A word of advice though: You should probably pay someone more per month to represent you online. You’re handing the keys to your business and reputation over to someone who’s probably not experienced enough to do more than tweet and update a facebook fan page status (instead of actually cultivating a good, communicative community to interact in).

I get many times more than what you’re paying to just build, maintain, and cultivate a social presence for ONE company. And I’m cheap (most firms charge greater than $1,000/month for social services management, depending on company size). Tack on web marketing, keyword generation, and ad placement services and you’re typically looking at over $1,750/month in fees related to web presence.

As far as not opening resume attachments; I spent a lot of time making sure my resume looked good and presented well in the format that I built it in. It’d be best if you respect the time people spend to market themselves if you plan on having them do marketing for you as well.

I wish you well with your goals, but I hope that you’ll realize that you should either learn how to and then do the work yourself (which often ends up being more successful in social terms) or pay someone more fairly for the work and responsibility you’re requiring of them.

–dez
dez@iamdez.com
Dez Consulting
612-208-8339

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/cpg/1758118196.html

I’ve seen a lot of doosies on craigslist but the extreme low compensation for this job just flipped a switch.

Tagged as: fail

  • dave

    OK, so I’m not defending anyone or anything here, just pointing a couple things out. While I do agree that $150/month is a little silly for ALL of those tasks/projects I don’t see why it would make anyone angry.

    This is the free market at work … if it is indeed to low then no one will take the work. Employees do not determine what their skills are worth, the market does; supply and demand. To think otherwise puts you on the road to wealth redistribution and socialism.

    As far resume format goes … that door swings both ways. Perhaps the potential employee should respect the companies policy as well. While I do think it’s a bit silly to post in a job description “attachments will not be opened” I also think, to the clear minded professional, that this indicates a group of non-technical folks who are likely deathly afraid of getting a virus or something. Bottom line – getting them your resume is likely more important that the aesthetics of your formatting.

    Lastly, aside from the item “-Build and maintain a presence on social networking sites” the rest of the tasks are just not technically demanding and I’m willing to bet that this company wouldn’t take more than an hour a week of work once the basics are set up. But again, I think it’s very clear that the authors of this job posting are either very non-technical or they’re trying to leverage a perceived pool of unemployed folks desperate for cash.

    What ever the case may be I see your ‘response’ letter/post as someone taking offense/umbrage at a perceived underpayment for a perceived work load. Not all tasks require ‘the best’ – not every situation requires James Bond agent 007. Sometimes (and by that I mean most of the time) the situation simply needs Bob, the guy that knows some stuff.

  • http://www.providentpartners.net/blog/ Albert Maruggi

    Yup Dave I think you have a point. Free markets are as much about sellers finding the right niche as it is buyers having the right expectations. Services are no different than cars or other products, you might be able to find a car for $1000, but it’s likely to have some limitations. but yeah that’s all you have to spend.

  • http://iamdez.com dez

    I definitely agree that maybe I came across as a bit harsh and could have maybe taken an educational approach to the response. However, the portions that got to me was the (non-negotiable) note on the monthly price and the no attachments allowed.

    I’m not in the habit of responding to ridiculous entries, but both of you are right, you get what you pay for.

    • dave

      I think ‘maybe’ means ‘definitely’ in your reply. It’s not about “getting what you pay for” in the sense that going cheap will get you crap. There are hosts of reasons someone may want to take a lower paying gig like that; limited time commitment, someone living on assistance, a high school kid or college kid, someone just starting out or wanting to learn more, etc.

      Perhaps they were firm in their ‘price’ because that’s all they have to spend? Perhaps they refuse attachments because too many people send it in word format and they don’t own it? Perhaps they want simple text for other reasons – maybe someone is blind and relies on text in emails to be read to them via the computer and attachments don’t work. LOTS of possible reasons for the requirements they lay out.

      Remember, they are the potential employer and THEY decide the rules to work by when they pay you regardless of the amount. My irritation here is that you’ve placed motivation and intent where you have no business doing so. Put yourself in the place of the employer: you need something done and you have $X as your hard limit. Businesses do not have unlimited income, especially in MN where taxes are so &@##?!! high and physical space costs are even higher.

  • http://www.becauseemilysaysso.blogspot.com Emily

    While I agree with the other commenters that these people are going to get what they pay for and we don’t really need to worry about it, I think this also speaks to how little value, monetary or otherwise, many businesses seem to put on their web presence. Which is probably going to bite them in the ass later.

  • http://willisistalking.blogspot.com billhelm

    Did you get a response?

    • http://iamdez.com dez

      no response :-( I kind of wanted one. Something that would redeem them a bit.

      • dave

        Why would you want them to redeem themselves? That implies a higher moral ground on your part. Doesn’t that seem a little arrogant?

        They have nothing to be redeemed about. If they are offering way too little for way too much work than no one will take the job and they will have to reconsider their position. Yes, it’s as simple as that.

        Personally, if I were this employer I would not respond in any way because 1) The ‘complaint’ was without merit 2) I would not want to engage in this kind of a debate when connected to my business and 4) they have better things to do. You’ll note I skipped #3 … some things should be learned and not handed to us, so you figure it out.

        So what is a web presence worth? With a flood of ‘web developers’ out there I find it hard to believe that one could make a living at it any more. I developed my technical skills when just a handful of us had even heard of HTML and only a portion of those folks could even understand a or symbolic link or memory pointer. Now-a-days high school kids master this stuff. When a cadre of high school kids are there and willing why do you think a professional can sell the same exact skills for 10 times the amount? To answer the question “what is a web presents worth” I say “what ever you can afford and what ever that presence is going to return to you”. A web presence is NOT the key stone to success, it’s just one of the many blocks.

        There are layers of skill levels in every field and the hallmark of a true professional is not only recognizing this fact but the ability to encourage it and NOT disrespect anyone’s skill level. Just like I will bury most people in my field in a technical conversation I know plenty of folks who can bury me in an instant too.

        I’m willing to bet that if, instead of flaming their posting, you inquired as to the job and found it was going to cost you an hour a week you would have snatched the job up super fast. $150 for 4 hours of work a month? Not bad. Instead, you made assumptions and flamed = one burnt bridge.

  • http://www.CallChrisToday.com Chris

    I have to assume nobody responded to that ad and that they aren’t going to attract any real talent. I like how they say that the fee is non-negotiable. As if web designers and SEO experts are going to be lining up for this gig. LOL

Previous post:

Next post: