Comments on: How To: Contact an Online Employer (updated) http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2007/07/06/how-to-contact-an-online-employer/ We lose money so you don't have to! Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:41:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Joe http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2007/07/06/how-to-contact-an-online-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-138 Joe Fri, 06 Jul 2007 20:18:12 +0000 http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2007/07/06/how-to-contact-an-online-employer/#comment-138 Great points, Sarah. I've updated the post to incorporate one of them. When you have two or more applicants to compare, the differences are surprisingly stark, aren't they? Great points, Sarah. I’ve updated the post to incorporate one of them. When you have two or more applicants to compare, the differences are surprisingly stark, aren’t they?

]]> By: Sarah Lewis http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2007/07/06/how-to-contact-an-online-employer/comment-page-1/#comment-137 Sarah Lewis Fri, 06 Jul 2007 19:32:27 +0000 http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2007/07/06/how-to-contact-an-online-employer/#comment-137 I hadn't realized just how bad most responses from Craigslist are until I started looking for blog designers that way. Most of the responses were horrendous (much, <em>much</em> worse than your example). The biggest turn-off for me has been the absolute disregard for the information I ask for. I mean, seriously, if you can't follow the simple instructions in a job post, why would I trust you with the far more complex tasks that I'm hiring for? On the flip side, I used to apply for telecommuting blog development work on Craigslist and had very good success. I paid attention to the tone of the listing, the information they asked for, and always wrote a very personalized letter, mentioning specific aspects of the ad. I also only applied for those positions that were a perfect fit. Because I could look all over the nation (even worked up a nice RSS collection to do it for me), I didn't feel obligated to apply for everything, so I could clearly demonstrate my value to the people I chose to write to. I hadn’t realized just how bad most responses from Craigslist are until I started looking for blog designers that way. Most of the responses were horrendous (much, much worse than your example).

The biggest turn-off for me has been the absolute disregard for the information I ask for. I mean, seriously, if you can’t follow the simple instructions in a job post, why would I trust you with the far more complex tasks that I’m hiring for?

On the flip side, I used to apply for telecommuting blog development work on Craigslist and had very good success. I paid attention to the tone of the listing, the information they asked for, and always wrote a very personalized letter, mentioning specific aspects of the ad.

I also only applied for those positions that were a perfect fit. Because I could look all over the nation (even worked up a nice RSS collection to do it for me), I didn’t feel obligated to apply for everything, so I could clearly demonstrate my value to the people I chose to write to.

]]>