Decoding Craigslist Job Ads

Today, I'm going to veer off topic to share with you how I decode a Craigslist job ad.  I'm sure there are still handfuls of people out there looking for employment and Craigslist is a great (free) resource.  Several employers and companies utilize Craigslist in search of talented employees BUT just as there are many legitimate postings, you have to sort through several horrible, illegitimate postings.  So I am dedicating this post to dissect several Craigslist job postings and present you with my take on what I think is legit posting and what is not.

Some useful tips:

When you see this:  Competitive salary to commensurate with experience  or this: Please include salary requirements it means that this job will most likely pay squat (probably low $30's or high $20's), supposedly that is competitive but I wonder where.

Further, I find the requirement to list your desired salary a patronizing trick.  Employers already have a number in their minds (trust me it's miniscule and your worth more than it) and it just seems the person willing to whore themselves out for the least amount has preference above the rest.  I would avoid these ads if possible.  I prefer a potential employer who is upfront in their ad and states the least amount they are willing to pay for your services.    

The Legit Ad:

Are you an experienced, business savvy Manager with strong accounting skills? Would you like to be part of a growing, entrepreneurial consulting firm that is committed to excellence? We are (Business name removed), Inc and are looking for the next member to join our dynamic team! If you have tons of energy and a creative, entrepreneurial spirit, coupled with the ability to work independently, we would like to hear from you!

The (Business name removed) Difference
We integrate our diverse capabilities to deliver a greater value to our client. We engage our clients and work with them to co-create solutions and then assist with the implementation. We do this is in an open and non-hierarchical culture. Our spirit is entrepreneurial and results-driven.
Visit us at www.(Business name removed).com to learn more.

The Position: Office Manager
• Office Manager • Coordinate facilities management including office equipment, supplies and workflow • Fulfill statutory reporting as required • Maintain onsite HR records including; benefits, vacation, sick, personal time • Interface with vendors to ensure smooth workplace operations. • Other duties requested by management

The Requirements:
• 5-7 years administrative/ office management experience
• Naturally curious with excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong Microsoft Office skills
• High degree of initiative and personal accountability
• Self starter and able to work independently

The Reward
(Business name removed) is conveniently located in [blank city] and offers the selected candidate an amazing work environment in which to grow, outstanding compensation plan, Platinum level benefits including 100% paid Medical and Dental insurance and generous company matching 401k.

 
This ad ranks 10 out of 10on my ratings.  1) The ad states the company by name and gives a website address so that potential applicants can visit the site and see what goes on.  Many times the company name is barely mentioned and if it is mentioned then nothing else about the company is stated.  I want to know what is the name of the company, what do y'all do there and maybe (if it doesn't kill you) give a sense of what the corporate culture is like.

2) The requirements and tasks are listed but only in brief detail.  Look, I know you really want to be upfront and make sure potential applicants are fully aware of what they are supposed to do at work each and everyday, I don't think it's necessary to list each and every detail of each and every task.  But if you are going to do that, then you should put equal to weight in listing what benefits (if any) your wonderful company offers.  The above ad lists several requirements and would you look at this! They offer descent benefits including medical AND dental insurance (sweet) and contributions to 401K.  I would apply here if I were you.



The Sketchy Ad:

Seeking an Administrative Assistant to start immediately. This person will need to have good computer skills, a high level of energy, the ability to file paperwork and a pleasant demeanor.

Pay will start at $14.00 - $15.00 per hour and will include time off and benefits.

To apply, please go to our application: Application Link 

First of all there is no mention of the company listed anywhere in the ad.  Secondly, since the annonymous Craigslist email address has been removed, the only way to contact these folks is through a suspicious application link.  The application link is a glaring red flag that this is probably not a legitimate company posting.  Even though making $14-$15 an hour may seem lucrative to you, clicking on a questionable link is akin to getting into a car with a strange man- Don't Do It!  Move on to the next ad.

The "Job Recruiter Pretending to be a Legitimate Company" Ad:

We are looking for a mature, trustworthy, and upbeat person to prioritize and execute a diverse workload. Schedule meetings, conferences, and appointments.
~Must have Excellent Administrative experience
~Must be skilled in MS Office
~Must present self in a professional manner
~Must be detail oriented and able to multi-task
~Must be able to work hard and get the job done.

This ad clearly displays the markings of a Recruiter ad.  Recruiter ads are like snakes hiding in a shrub, waiting for an unsuspecting mongoose to walk by it's path so it can ambush it.  These ads try to trick the potential applicant into believing that she is applying directly to a company, someone who has a job waiting for them- not some chop shop employment agency filled with greedy bastards, who only care about their bottom lines.  I have never had anything good come out of working with a recruiter.  Maybe you have but most likely, you haven't especially if you actually care about where you work.  If you ever come across an ad like this in the future, do yourself a favor and ignore it. 

The "I Amend My Posting Everyday"Ad:

This poster had originally posted an ad looking for an administrative assistant.  Fast forward to a couple of days later and they replaced their ad with this:

ON HOLD - Please check back shortly. Still sifting through resumes. Will repost soon with specific qualifications being sought.  Thank you 

Well isn't that annoying!  So let me get this straight: the fat cats want you poor schmucks who have no jobs, no money, scant amounts of dignity left, to send in complete, polished resumes and cover letters, meanwhile they haven't figure out what specifics qualifications are being sought?  Here, let me do you a favor and write it for you:  Wanted Someone who is bright, trust-worthy, organized and can get their shit together before posting an ad so that hundreds of people who may or may not be qualified for the position can waste their time and apply.  Good luck, assholes.

I hope my tips will be useful to you the next time you peruse Craigslist in search of a job.  I'm certainly no expert but I have been through the job search many times and I know the feeling of disappointment when you realize an ad you responded to was actually placed by a scummy recruiter or worse, a spammer.  Please learn from my mistakes and if you run across a job posting with some of the questionable use of words, lack of company information or suspicious application links, do not respond.  We may be unemployed but we still have our dignity!

Good luck to all the jobless ones out there.

SAHG

The phenomenon of the SAHG or stay-at-home girlfriend was recently written about by Quiana Stokes for the blog, www.brokelyn.com.  She discusses her first hand experience of being a SAHG, while unemployed and actively looking for work.  Because one can't really spend each hour of everyday sending resumes, Ms. Stokes decides to whittle the day away with chores around the house.  Essentially, she has taken up the role of a typical 1950's housewife, placing her own needs aside in order to please the sole breadwinner of the house, her boyfriend. 

            When my boyfriend goes off to work, I spend my days cooking, cleaning our two-bedroom Greenpoint apartment and trying to look good for him when he comes home.... I have eight to nine hours everyday to send out my resumés and clean and make dinner, by the time he comes home from work I am well rested. Frankly, there’s no real reason (time of the month aside) why I shouldn’t be ready and willing when he is. I try very hard to keep my boyfriend happy and this is a key part of doing so.

What Ms. Stokes lacks in monetary means, she makes up for by utilizing an old fashioned perspective:  keep the house lookin' clean and the hubby satisfied.  You can access the rest of her article and formulate your own opinion on the matter here:  http://www.brokelyn.com/how-to-survive-as-a-sahg-stay-at-home-girlfriend/

I personally feel qualified to respond to this article, I am unemployed and do from time to time engage in household chores in part because I like my habitat to be clean but there is a small portion in which I feel guilty for not working and thus worthless.  I am an artist so that makes me a deadbeat in most people's eyes.  But I guess it is due to my circumstances as an unemployed, house frau that I've been thinking more and more about Western perceptions of housewives-- I think many people look upon housewives with scorn, belittling their work because if you're not paid for it then it doesn't matter. Others, perhaps the housewives (househusbands) themselves, may regard the work they do with pride.  Have you ever ironed before?  Let me tell you, it can be very fulfilling.

In 1975, Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman released the film Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, which is about a single mother who performs a routine of house chores over the span of 3 days and in between meets with "clients" (she is a prostitute).  Check out a scene:

I recall reading in one article, Akerman stating that she intended to celebrate the Housewife.  The film is long, about 3 hours total and all shot with a static camera.  I think the joy in watching the film is noticing the small details of Jeanne flubbing as she slowly cracks and goes mad-- burning potatoes, forgetting to polish a shoe, although small mistakes are devastating to Jeanne and this is all portrayed magnificently through Delphine Seyrig's performanance.  In a New York Times review of the film, Akerman describes the main protagonist, Jeanne:

              [she] has to organize her life, to not have any space, any time, so she won’t be depressed or anxious.  She didn’t want to have one free hour because she didn’t know how to fill that hour.

I think this notion of "busying" oneself, the action of doing and undoing, is fascinating.  This is a characteristic I've witnessed in my mother and also something my friends have said about their own mothers.  All of our mothers worked full-time AND were housewives, coming home from work to tidy up the house, cook dinner, iron clothes.  My entire life, I thought my mother worked because she had to financially but she continued to work well past retiring age because she wanted to, she always wanted to work.  She is in many ways a woman of the 70's, one of those women who choose to work and scorned the life of a (solely) housewife.  Working outside of the home was important to these women because it made them feel independent. 

The need for independence carries with us to this day and to go back to my beginning discussion of the SAHG, I find myself at odds not with just myself but with how society is turning.  Is being a stay-at-home anything the virtue, the goal women in my generation must strive to?  Or are we begrudgingly becoming housewives to assuage our guilt while losing an important part of ourselves- our independence?  I don't have an answer, but I do have a film coming out soon on this topic, stay tuned for it. 

My Favorite Utas

Two of my favorite artists out there have a couple of things in common: they are Germans, female and named Uta.  Director of Photography: Uta Briesewitz & Photographer:  Uta Barth

You may be familiar with some of German born, Uta Briesewitz's work-- she shot many episodes of the television show "The Wire" including the Hamsterdam episode.  Her genius can also be witnessed in Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story.  I wasn't a big fan of the movie but it was hard to ignore the production values.  Check out this scene (you can watch with the volume off):

  

Photographer Uta Barth is also of German stock.  Her photographs explore depths of field and focus.  I love the uncanny feeling her images evoke of past memories with a reinterpretation of memory that is a less literal, blurry take and involving place rather than a specific event.  See below for some of my favorite pieces from her body of work:

Field #9, 1995, color photograph on panel, 23 x 28.75 inches

  

Field #23

  Ground #9

Action Pants

One of my favorite performance artists is Austrian artist: VALIE EXPORT.  Her work is visceral and provocative.  If you don't believe me, you will after sitting through "Remote, Remote"

I believe the body is a useful tool in which to promote a message; it's free and accessible so "why not?" I say.  EXPORT's Action Pants was created as means to counter the male dominated art scene in Vienna at the time.  She walked around the city in pants with the crotch cut-out, mussed hair and carrying a machine gun, challenging the public to engage with her.

This lovely work is currently on view at MOMA as part of the exhibition Staging Action: Performance in Photography since 1960.  (Cindy Sherman and Marina Abramovic are also featured) A must see!  But if you don't live near NYC, no worries, just look below. 

  It takes balls to wear these pants.

The lack of Sex in Cinema

Happy V-day!

Let me start off by my declaration:  I love Love!  Here is an old photograph of my parents on their honeymoon in Florence, circa 1972.  They're still married to this day.

Yesterday, I came across an article in the NY Times by Manhola Dargis on the lack of sex in film.  You can access her article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/weekinreview/13dargis.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=sex%20in%20film&st=cse

Sex represented in cinema is something I'm kind of obsessed with especially playing with the boundaries of cinema and pornography. 

My performance art piece "Orgasmatique, Dramatique, Horror" is a good example:

Further, I find it a tad bit disturbing how violence has become the norm in cinema and that people seem to be more "ok" with violence than sex or that sex in movies is usually accompanied by violence or violence spurned on by sex and desire. 

Whatever your stance on the topic, I urge you all to read this article and if we are not having sex in film, maybe you are on this Valentine's Day.

Dress to Kill

The concept of Dress to Kill came to me one day during my undergrad years, as I was about to present the film Dressed to Kill by Brian De Palma in a film theory class.  The film in it's own right explores many theories and ideas so well dissected and possibly played out (excuse me for lack of better words).  It wasn't what I said but what I wore that I remember: all black with knee-high leather high heeled boots.  

And so I realized that Dressed to Kill (the film) and the action of Dress to Kill would factor largely in my life.  I believe one should step out into the world prepared to kick ass AND to look good while doing it- that'll surely leave a lasting impression on anyone.

Whenever I feel down, whenever my work is rejected, the weather's too cold or I just feel blah overall I make sure to put on my ass kicking outfit and get right back out there fighting.

And you should, too.

(see ass-kicking boots below for inspiration)