Recruiting: BP vs Craigslist vs Monster

[Vikram C.]

As you guys know, I am looking for an operations person to manage my rehabs as an independent contractor. I had started a different thread on the subject and was asked to narrate my experience with different sites for purposes of comparison. Here's a summary of what I have found so far:

1. BP. Posting was free. I got half-a-dozen or so responses within an hour of posting. And then I get a new response pretty much any time someone posts again to my thread and brings it to the top. I don't have exact numbers, but probably about a dozen BP members have contacted me so far. One good thing about them is that I know that they are genuinely interested in RE. And since I get some satisfaction from "teaching" in addition to getting work done, I like the idea of a potential RE entrepreneur working for me instead of just someone who wants some money. The BP members are also easier to evaluate remotely because I can check out their previous posts and get a better feel for their experience, attitude, etc. The quality of the BP candidates so far has been all over the place, with some exceptional candidates and a few who do seem to have more enthusiasm than experience.

2. Craiglist. $75 for 3 categories. I have got over 200 responses in the first day. I have not had time to read all of them but the quality of the applicants has been phenomenal. I can think of many of the applicants as potentially senior executives. The one problem with CL, so far, is that new applications are coming faster than I am able to read them so I am ending up with a bigger and bigger backlog of emails to read. I hope it will slow down soon.

3. Monster. $655. A little over 50 applications so far. About half are completely useless and really not related to my requirements at all. A few are from various parts of the country and I am not eager to hire any non-BP member from out of town. The remaining applicants have been pretty good though.

Overall, about 300 applicants so far for this one position. I will likely hire one more person sometime next year, so I will keep the best candidates on file even if I do not hire them.

The only concern right now for me is that I want to evaluate each applicant properly and that is going to take some time. In an economy like this, I think people deserve to have their applications evaluated seriously. I am glad I am out of the country right now because it allows me to focus on this effort.