Dear Craig of craigslist...let's go International!

An open letter and request to Craig Newark of craigslist.org

A large number of our clients have come from ads on craigslist.org and I really think it's a great site. Their goal is to keep it local. My argument is that people who are looking locally may also be open to international experience that they don't know is availble. So, here is what I wrote to Craig of craigslist.org

Oh, and to our competitors in the field, don't bother advertising there, it's really not that good...haha! No worries, we'll outservice and give better info then them anyway. Go ahead and try!


Hi Craig,

I hope you are enjoying your day thus far.

I must admit to being a culprit in the placing of non-local job opportunities on craigslist.org

Your site is just too good! So much traffic, and people are so responsive. (I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who are actually excited about international teaching jobs posted on your site) That's part of the reason I tend to feel less guilty. Although there are some people who do not like the idea of ads for teaching in Korea or other locations to be posted on their local craigslist, most people I believe will skim over the ads.

However, a great number of people actually apply when they realize that this is a real opportunity for them that they had never considered.

This doesn't help you though, because it doesn't solve the problem of keeping things local, as it is your goal to do.

So, the problem is this: Many people would benefit from international job experience, yet they are not exposed to it. Craigslist tries to maintain a local-only policy, yet people abuse it.

My solution? Please, please put a new job heading, "International" along with the others. What purpose would this serve? Well, it would clean up the local education pages by diverting the "teach in Korea" "teach in China" jobs away from the education category, and towards the international category.

You may say, well, we have a Korea page, and a Japan page etc... While I appreciate that very much, the fact is that most people do not know that some of these opportunities are available. A recent university graduate living in Lincoln, Nebraska is probably not going to click on the Seoul, Korea craigslist link to begin searching for work.

But, if that same job seeker goes to http://lincoln.craigslist.org/ and sees the "International Jobs" category, he may just click on it and find that a whole new opportunity is available to him.

So, why to I harrass you about this? Basically, it's because I'm passionate about the opportunity. I just happened to see an ad in the newspaper in 1999 and found out about teaching English in Korea. I had never considered it a possibility, not being an education major. When I found out that I could qualify, it changed my life. A 1 year contract turned into 5 years of travel, adventure and life learning.

Now, I have a business that helps others do the same. People don't know that this opportunity exists. It's not right for everyone, but it's perfect for some people.

So, to summarize, adding a "International Jobs" category in every city would accomplish the following:

1. It would divert all the misplaced ads and clean up the boards for those not interested in international opportunities.

2. It would provide an opportunity for people to explore options beyond their immediate area.

3. It would be very non-forceful and would not upset current job board users, because one would have to choose to see these opportunities as opposed to having to flag them all the time.

4. It would give your users more choice and a more clutter-free job search experience.

5. I wouldn't have to bother you all the time!

So, I hope that this suggestion is useful and applicable. I think that it would be an overall good opportunity and a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Thanks Craig,

Jason Cresswell
http://www.asknow.ca
http://accesssouthkoreanow.blogspot.com/

P.S. I have not abused your services in a long time, but I miss the traffic and the applications. We have hired many, many of your users. Thanks for that.