How to respond to job opportunity on Craigslist?

[Alt]

I'm in my early 20's, still in college and recently posted a partial resume on Craiglist looking for work. I recently received an e-mail from a potential employer who believes I would be a good fit to their company. They told me to e-mail or call them if I'm interested and provided contact details / company name. I ran a search on their company, they seem reputable and they fit the description of the company in the e-mail.

 

I'm nervous because this is my first time posting on Craigslist as well as the fact that I have no prior work experience (this was mentioned in my posting). The position that is being offered is a Lead Generation job and I did some research on the responsibilities but I'd like an input from LS.

 

1.] Is that job too overwhelming for a young student with no prior work experience? I'm a fast learner and would be more than happy to take on new challenges/learn but I'm not completely sure what the daily activities of that job involves.

 

2.] How should I respond if I'm interested (i.e. should I ask questions, send my full resume, etc.) and through call or e-mail?

[FBSN]

Try to focus on craigslist ads that has the company email listed with a person listed to send your resume to. Don't respond to ads if the company is not identified inside the ad

[d0nnivain]

E-mail them your full resume. Wait an hour then call, but only because they invited you to.

 

As an employer, I post job openings on Craigslist all the time & ask people to send me resumes. I call the folks I like for a regular interview.

 

Since it is Craigslist, be cautious. Make sure the interview is in an office not somewhere that screams unsafe.

[Alt]

Thanks both of you for your responses!

 

Try to focus on craigslist ads that has the company email listed with a person listed to send your resume to. Don't respond to ads if the company is not identified inside the ad

 

Oh, she did tell me her name, phone number, company name / reputation and it doesn't appear to be spam / fake.

 

E-mail them your full resume. Wait an hour then call, but only because they invited you to.

 

As an employer, I post job openings on Craigslist all the time & ask people to send me resumes. I call the folks I like for a regular interview.

 

Since it is Craigslist, be cautious. Make sure the interview is in an office not somewhere that screams unsafe.

 

I will do that in about an hour when I get home. Should I just send my resume and write that I am interested in this job opportunity or also include that I will be calling them in an hour? Are there any specific questions I should ask now in the e-mail / phone call?

[d0nnivain]

Yes send some sort of a cover letter as your e-mail and mention you will follow up. Do not ask any Qs in the e-mail. Right now you are selling yourself to them to get the interview. At the interview you can ask Qs.

[Alt]

Yes send some sort of a cover letter as your e-mail and mention you will follow up. Do not ask any Qs in the e-mail. Right now you are selling yourself to them to get the interview. At the interview you can ask Qs.

 

Thanks d0nnivain! I will certainly do that. As for the phone call since I'm not asking questions, should I just introduce myself, reiterate that I'm interested in this job opportunity, answer any questions they may have (if they ask), thank them for the chance to talk to them and then mention that I hope to hear from them again?

 

Sorry if that sounds like a strange question, I've never done this Craigslist process before and want to eliminate any chances of mistakes on my end.

[d0nnivain]

I always use an affirmative statement like:

 

I look forward to speaking to you to discuss how my qualifications resolve your staffing needs.

 

I speak & write VERY formally so you probably need to adapt the above to fit your own voice / style.

[Alt]

I always use an affirmative statement like:

 

I look forward to speaking to you to discuss how my qualifications resolve your staffing needs.

 

I speak & write VERY formally so you probably need to adapt the above to fit your own voice / style.

 

Thank you, I sent an e-mail not too long ago and will be following up in an hour (hopefully it's not too late in the day at that point, it will be around 5:00 PM).

[pink_sugar]

I agree with the others. I usually don't apply to jobs on craigslist unless it mentions the company name and detail about the position requirements. Usually when you see ENTRY LEVEL, NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED, those are usually marketing schemes and not steady 9-5 office work. Also, most companies express that they do not want calls regarding the ad, so it's better to email them...standard resume and cover letter like anywhere else and see what happens.

[Alt]

I agree with the others. I usually don't apply to jobs on craigslist unless it mentions the company name and detail about the position requirements. Usually when you see ENTRY LEVEL, NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED, those are usually marketing schemes and not steady 9-5 office work. Also, most companies express that they do not want calls regarding the ad, so it's better to email them...standard resume and cover letter like anywhere else and see what happens.

 

Thank you for the response pink_sugar, I went with the follow-up call as d0nnivain suggested and managed to get a chance to speak with them personally. I have not bothered to check for ads myself on Craigslist but my posted "resume" is out there for potential employers to consider me. I understand your point completely though, I received a letter to my house many months ago from Vector Marketing and it stated mentioned no experience required, etc. I did some research and decided to avoid them.

 

The phone call went fairly well (in my opinion) and I now have a scheduled interview date within this upcoming Tuesday! It turns out they received my phone call before the e-mail but I did confirm that they have received my full resume. It was mentioned that I would be working weekends and long hours such as you mentioned, which I would be more than glad to. Now I have to prepare for the interview and do all my homework (research). I was somewhat nervous during the phone call though so I stuttered once and talked a little fast at one point, I hope that doesn't change things.

 

I will still be searching numerous places for work although I feel this would be a blessing if I managed to work with this company.

Edited October 9, 2014 by Alt

[Banker Chick]

I've found good opportunities off Craigslist and not all of them had the company name. Matter of fact, I have also placed ads on CL for positions for the company I used to work for and it was a blind ad. Reason being, if we had posted our names, we would have gotten inundated with phone calls and walk ins and we also didn't always want the other employees to know we were hiring. As it was, I was only able to keep the ad up for a full day before I had to delete it because the response was overwhelming.

 

 

One thing that stood out to me in your initial post was it's Lead Generation. This sounds like some sort of cold calling/appointment setting/telemarketing. Some people can do this type of work and some can't. Just be prepared in case this is what it ends up being.

[Alt]

I've found good opportunities off Craigslist and not all of them had the company name. Matter of fact, I have also placed ads on CL for positions for the company I used to work for and it was a blind ad. Reason being, if we had posted our names, we would have gotten inundated with phone calls and walk ins and we also didn't always want the other employees to know we were hiring. As it was, I was only able to keep the ad up for a full day before I had to delete it because the response was overwhelming.

 

 

One thing that stood out to me in your initial post was it's Lead Generation. This sounds like some sort of cold calling/appointment setting/telemarketing. Some people can do this type of work and some can't. Just be prepared in case this is what it ends up being.

 

Since my last post, I've done many more hours figuring out what exactly Lead Generation workers do and to my disappointment, the more I look at it, the more it seems to resemble cold calling/telemarketing as you have said. I have no problems dealing with rejection and would like to work long office hours but making about 80+ calls per day and possibly working from home does not sound like something I would be interested in. I suppose it's my fault and I was naive, I can see myself doing this for a very short amount of time but not as a long-term thing.

 

I am now considering calling her tomorrow morning to cancel the interview, is this unethical to do so? If it is, should I go anyways but decline the job offer if I get it? If it isn't, should I mention tomorrow that I am no longer interested or tell her something else?

[pink_sugar]

I would go and hear them out and if they give you an offer right then, be up front. If not and you hear from them later, you can tell them you decided it won't be a good fit at this time.