So, your establishment is growing, and you’re busier than ever. Congratulations! You start thinking about hiring a little extra help. Given the fact that good jobs are hard to come by nowadays, you may even think that you’ll have your pick of highly qualified, eager, and responsible applicants ready to get to work. You get busy posting your job opening on Craigslist, and figure that you’ll have that perfect someone just in time for the weekend rush. But three months, six trainees, and one ulcer later, the thrall of Craigslist has faded away leaving you very, very afraid of the internet.
You might ask yourself how this happened. Well, the allure of Craigslist is simple; For the most part it’s free. While Craigslist does charge for certain types of job ads, the vast majority of users post and respond to ads in free sub-categories. But, as the old saying goes; “You get what you pay for”. It’s not impossible to find good help on Craigslist, but most likely you will spend the majority of your work day (or worse, pay someone else to spend theirs) sifting through the endless stream of emails and résumés to find them.
It’s a crap shoot, and the odds are not in your favor. In fact, you might get better results just tossing the applicants’ names into the air and hiring the first one you catch. The best case scenario is that you’ll find a reasonable employee after answering and reviewing hundreds of responses. The worst case scenario is that you’ll be spammed, harassed, or in some cases, even contract a computer virus from downloading files sent by complete strangers from around the country. Sometimes, the worst case scenario is unimaginable.
When Craigslist was first created in 1999 for the benefit of the local San Francisco Bay community, its altruistic intention was to create a free place for the local community to post classifieds, make connections, and bring the community together. However, as its popularity grew, and its reach expanded, more and more people began to use Craigslist for just about everything under the sun. In fact, Craigslist now spans 450 cities in over 50 countries. But as a result of its popularity, Craigslist crimes have increased as well. Ranging from robbery to murder, more and more people are taking advantage of the lack of monitoring and total anonymity that Craigslist promises. In this past year alone, Craigslist has been the catalyst for almost 350 crimes. Of these, there were 74 robberies, 31 assaults and 12 homicides. Today’s Craigslist is not the Craigslist of the 1990’s.
As a business owner, you have an obligation to ensure not only the safety of your business, but also the safety of your staff and patrons. You invest in your education, you research the best neighborhood in which to build your business, search for the best vendors and equipment, but then turn to Craigslist to find the best employees. There’s a clear disconnect in that.
According to the National Restaurant Association, the turnover rate for employees in the restaurant and accommodations industry is a staggering 62.6 percent compared to the 42.2 percent turnover rate in other private sectors. It takes time and money to hire, train and supervise every new employee you take on. To lose more than half of those employees in one year is not only unnecessary, but avoidable when the proper measures are taken.
Expect nothing but the best from your advertising efforts. Craigslist may be great if you’re looking for a yard sale, but when it comes to hiring qualified, serious and passionate food industry professionals, not only shouldn’t you be seeking them on Craigslist, they won’t be looking for you there either. Be serious, and be taken seriously by posting your ad in a safe and professional forum dedicated to your specific needs such as TheForkForce.com.
