Best-Ever Jobhunter's Website -- Craig's List

If you're a jobseeker who needs reassurance that there are plenty of openings to choose from, make Craig's List a mandatory stop on your cyber-search. This website is the best place to look for Bay Area job listings on the Internet.

Named for Craig Newmark, the site's founder, this is a large community with more than 7,500 regular subscribers. It receives a staggering 100,000 hits a day. People can find information on jobs, housing, cars, or events.

Job Categories

Employers pay a nominal fee to list a position, making these posts more credible than those found on a "for free" site. The job offerings are grouped into categories of employment: Art, Business, Clinical/Medical, Marketing/Sales/PR, Engineering, Writing/Editing and a catchall category called Etcetera. There are two ways to check out potential job offers. One is to visit the site, click a job that interests you, respond to it by e-mail (cover letter and resumé usually required), then go on to the next posting. The other way is to subscribe, which is a free service.

I subscribe to three categories and I am forwarded from 40 to 90 job openings a day! The little voice on my computer that says, "You've got mail" has laryngitis by the time I turn it off. In fact, I have to describe this overwhelming list of openings as too much of a good thing.

The ads are short, conversational and easy to read.

For example, here is an ad for an HR person that came through recently. (The company name, website, phone number and e-mail address have been changed.)

A Sample Job Posting

My personal observation is that many of the openings, especially in the Writing, Marketing, and Sales categories, are with small start-up software companies. However, larger corporations looking for higher level personnel do submit ads frequently.

While there are many job openings, there are also many job seekers tapping into this resource. I have e-mailed out resumés and in a week's time received a note back from the company saying they received more than 200 responses to their posting.

If you'd rather the employer seek you out, there is a spot to post a resumé. And when a break is needed from the job search, click on the events category. It's an interesting mixture of literary, art, and SOMA bars.

Craig's List downloads in a flash and is extremely easy to use. Jobs are primarily in the Bay Area; most in San Francisco. So, as a resource for job hunters, this site gets my top rating: five out of five mouse clicks.