The Most Effective Way to Find Talent: Monster.com vs. Craigslist.org vs. LinkedIn.com
A few months ago, we began searching for a new, customer-service-focused member of the LetMeGo team. We chose our new team member, Treeny Sanchez, from among 415 applicants, after 19 interviews. She began helping lodging staff members to add their listings to our database two weeks ago.She is a native of Australia, has vast experience in the travel industry, and is already giving us ideas that will help to improve our service. Welcome to the team, Treeny!
How did we find Treeny, then? We posted the job opening on several sites. Some were free, and some charged a fee. I also sent it to a few mailing lists. Here are the results:
| Site/Service | Cost: | Applications that warranted an interview: |
| Monster | USD95 | 5 |
| Craigslist | USD25 | 11 |
| USD195 | 0 | |
| Indeed.com | Free | 1 |
| NextNY Mailing List | Free | 0 |
| NYTech Meetup Mailing List | Free | 0 |
Clearly, our best investment was Craigslist. Not only was it the least expensive of the paid placements, but it generated the largest number of qualified applicants, including that of our eventual hire, Treeny.
It’s worth noting that Monster sent us the largest number of applications, by far. However, most of these applications were incomplete–apparently, Monster makes it too easy for people to apply without first reading through the details of the position in question. Eventually, Monster’s flood of incomplete or unqualified applicants became a nuisance, rather than a benefit. Monster, it looks like somebody needs to improve their marketplace’s matching algorithm…
Alexander Torrenegra
[...] Interesting look at hiring a new employee using craigslist vs monster vs indeed – LetMeGo [...]
Startup Updates – August 10 | CenterNetworks
August 10, 2009 at 12:18 pm
It is good to know. Also, it seems like a biz opportunity to talk with Monster people… maybe.. LetMeWork?
Alberto
August 10, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Not to mention Likedn complete worthlessness.
Julie
August 10, 2009 at 4:14 pm
[...] Interesting look at hiring a new employee using craigslist vs monster vs indeed – LetMeGo [...]
Startup Updates – August 10 | The Internet Marketing Spot
August 12, 2009 at 3:22 am
Congrats on Treeny. She has been a joy to work with!
Thanks for posting your findings. I’ve been leaning away from Craigslist due to the many “Nigerian scams” which abound. I’ll need to rethink my position as it clearly provided you with the best bang for your buck as well as ultimately, your new hire.
Blissful Skies Cabin
August 23, 2009 at 9:54 am
Thank you! I will Treeny know
– I think that Craigslist, as any other large marketplace, works well for some things and not so well for others.
Alexander Torrenegra
August 23, 2009 at 2:00 pm