New York

Using Craigslist to Find Networking Opportunities

Craigslist is not only useful in situations where individuals are seeking to organize networking opportunities. It can also be helpful for individuals who are looking to join pre-existing networking opportunities. These individuals would benefit from following links pointing to websites or message boards placed in advertisements throughout the community.

Affordable Advertising on Craigslist

The advertising on Craigslist is certainly affordable. In fact there is no fee for the majority of posts made on Craigslist. Craigslist began as a non-profit organization but in 1999 it was converted to a for profit organization. However, operating costs are supported by charging nominal fees for help wanted advertisements placed on the San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City Craigslist websites. Additionally, there is a fee for brokerage apartment listings in New York City. The vast majority of those posting advertisements on any of the Craigslist over 300 websites are not paying a fee to do so. This definitely makes posting advertisements on Craigslist to be worthwhile from a financial standpoint. While the advertisements are free care should be taken to post these advertisements judiciously because although there is financial loss, poor posting can result in a loss of time and resources if it leads to poor profit potential.

Answering Job Advertisements

Craigslist is an excellent location for finding exciting new career opportunities. There are many different job advertisements in a variety of different categories. These job opportunities include full time, part time, telecommute and contract positions. The downside to answering job advertisements on Craigslist is the advertisements are often placed anonymously. Those who place the advertisements are given the opportunity to either use their own email address for candidates to respond or to have candidates respond through an email address generated by Craigslist. Therefore, candidates do not always know who has placed the advertisements. For this reason care should be taken when responding to these advertisements to avoid supplying specific contact information. Candidates are instead urged to supply only an email address when responding to advertisements.

Spotting a Fake Listing on Craigslist

Most of these tips were derived from an Interview with Craig Neumark, Craigslist.org Founder.

Try to deal only with locals you can meet in person. If this is not possible, try and get a physical address from them. If the seller sends you a name and address to send payment to, look it up on a White Pages service, such as Yahoo! People Search. If the name and address matches a listing in the White Pages, that's a pretty good start. Also try looking up the person on a search engine like Google to determine whether any other information pops up about his/her reliability.

Insist on cash. Fake checks and money orders are common, and banks will hold you – not the buyer – responsible.

Never wire money to anyone under any circumstances. Most payments made by wire transfer are fraudulent.

Craigslist plays no part in transactions. Any reference to craigslist “buyer protection” or “certified seller” is bogus.

Use common sense. If an inquiry seems suspicious, disregard it. For God's sake, don't go giving out credit card numbers via email!