I hate Craigslisters!
Sat, May 31, 2008
This post might be a little bit of a rant, but that’s what a blog is for right? Okay, so back in the day I used to find a good portion of my freelance design work from Craigslist advertisements. Either I would post an ad offering my services, or I’d dig some potentials up in the “Design / Web Design” listings. Well, I’m grateful I don’t have to peruse those crappy listings anymore because gee-wiz what a pain in the butt the Craigslisters are. Regardless of my work status, I stop in once a week or so to see what kind of loons are looking for so called design help. In the off chance that I’ve got some time at home to work on additional projects, I might even send a reply. But as of late advertisers have really been pissing me off and I’ve collected a few ads in the process. I can’t stand the morons who post ads that say things like:
Web Designers needed for new sites, and to fix existing sites. Please send resume with salary requirements and examples of your work. We are looking for a full time web designer. This is not contract work.
Okay, if you need a designer try soliciting one. Submit salary, portfolio, and resume required. To who? Man-o-Man these people are crazy. Yeh, I’m going to go through all that trouble and send all my personal information… and work… to some random, unknown company who hides their e-mail address!?!
Website designer wanted for small job. Professionals with experience could do this in a few hours. Students welcome!!!
Alrighty then… who do you want. A professional or a student? See pros likely won’t take the “small job” and students are going to screw it up and turn it into a big job. Wait a second… maybe they want a professional designer who charges student rates! Oh my, how could I have missed it?
I have a few hundred pages that need editing an updating. This is part time work only!
Okay dude… a few hundred pages? Small job? Part time? Didn’t he say a few hundred pages? What were you smoking before you wrote this ad… maybe I’ll trade you some of that for some of this!
Small job with more to come. Low budget, big idea! Help me make money.
Yes sir… I’m all over this one. Only “bait” would take a bite at that one. I hope that guy never finds any help.
Leading advertising agency needed for full time design staff. We supply marketing for some major corporations on an international level – starting @ $10.50 per hour
Taking a job like this must be like working in a Casino. You watch millions of dollars go by your face every day and at the end of the week you collect your measly $10.50 an hour! I officially make seven and a half that amount working for a normal guy… maybe they should reevaluate their objectives.
Only adding fuel to the fire is when you do decide and ad sounds like a good project and you spend twenty minutes submitting your life to them… and low and behold, no reply! I at one point resorted to asking them to send a “no thank you” answer if they decided to go elsewhere out of professional courtesy. Can you guess how many people ablige with this small gesture? Zip, zero, zilch, nada, no-one.
Moral of the story for designers… take control and respond to those who post great ads. If you don’t, these morons are likely to keep posting the same crap over and over again. To address those who write ads, I’ll just say that I hope we never meet. I’d embarrass you in front of your friends!
May 31st, 2008 at 4:14 am
When I was starving I used to go to Craigslist and reply to writing ads. Sidenote: This was years ago, I feel I need to say this because I’ve wised up since then. Anyways, you’ll find a lot of ads for submissions, as in: cover this topic, submit article, we’ll pay you, etc. We’ll I responded to an ad, first time got paid. I thought great, easy 25 bucks for 500 words. So the guy emails me, I do it again. Bam get paid. Third time, write the article, no pay. He says do three more I’ll send you 100, it’ll be easier. I thought what the hell. Never got it, one day I’m looking at this fantasy baseball site like a year later looking at their baseball season draft kit, and I’m reading this guide explaining the rules, and I’m like this shit is too familiar. Then it hits me, it’s my shit that I never got paid for. I keep looking through the site, there’s another one, and another one. I got took, it was worth it though because I learned a valuable lesson. I was naive, I figured because I had a relationship like that with my local daily that it’d be like that everywhere, I quickly learned that it’s not on the mighty, anonymous, ambiguous internet.
May 31st, 2008 at 5:09 am
Good point, craigslist used to be a useful site but it is now littered with idiots like you say. I must say that first one sounds a lot like a generic recruitment agency advert. I know in the uk these are always there to pull candidates for non specific roles.
I second you on the hate towards craiglisters!
May 31st, 2008 at 12:44 pm
@Nick: Yep, I know the pain! Like I said, I’m grateful I no longer have to use CL… but even still it’s quite a frustration. As for the douche-bags that screw people looking to earn a living… They should get black listed. I wonder if there is some sort of douche-bag reporting site out there… If not, maybe it’s something to think about.
@AP: I stopped “guessing” at what Craigslisters are advertising for a long time ago. Generally they’re just degenerates looking for cheap labor, and quick fixes. I guess every bunch has its bad apples.
May 31st, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Like you said also, half the time they can’t even be bothered to respond. That’s not cool when you’re starving, because you’ll sit there all day hitting refresh on your inbox. Then you’ll walk away and be wondering if they responded, so basically, when you’re in that position, you’ll sit there for days just waiting to see a response.