The Pros and Cons of Using Craigslist to Solicit New Employees

EDITOR'S NOTE: A recent RestaurantOwner.com survey asked our members how they are finding job candidates. The survey indicated, among other things, that Craigslist is becoming one of the most used vehicles to advertise positions. If this seems curious to you, consider that Craigslist is the online version of the old newspaper "help wanted" ads pages, which were the age-old go-to for employers looking to hire hourly workers.

In this article, restaurant consultant Mel Kleiman reviews the positives and negatives of using Craigslist to fill positions in your restaurant, and ways to employ it most effectively for your business.

Craigslist is the "new" newspaper want ads publisher for many employers, in part, because they only charge for help wanted ads in select, major U.S. cities; all other ads are free of charge.

The typical Craigslist jobseeker is essentially stepping into a virtual room where many job opportunities are bombarding them from all directions. These jobseekers are looking for something that grabs their interest or catches their eye. To start out, they really only look at the titles of the ads, since that is all there is on the main page. If the title doesn't grab them, they probably won't open the ad. When they do open your ad, they are doing so with the knowledge that there are tons of other ads to look at, so you'll need to engage them right away.