Because posting this help-wanted ad will bombard you with dozens of offers that sound legitimate but have never read your ad, you should really do this step: At the end of your post, write something like, “VERY IMPORTANT: To separate you from the spammers, please write I AM REAL as the first line of your bid. We will delete all bids that do not start with this phrase, since most bidders never read the requirements. Thank you for being one who does.”
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Smart tip from “How to hire a programmer to make your ideas happen” by Derek Sivers
Smart tip from “How to hire a programmer to make your ideas happen” by Derek Sivers
Walter Davis
on 30 Jun 10Reminds me of a test I took in high school. There were three or four directions on the top of the page, the last one of which said “Write your name at the top of the paper, and hand it in.” There were quite a few people who sat there filling in all the answers while others were walking to the front of the room with their papers. We were graded on how many questions we answered before we actually read the directions.
Amber
on 30 Jun 10On the one hand, I completely understand why someone would feel this is necessary, given the deluge of resumes that accompany most job posts. Although I would point out that there are many many other ways that are much more effective at trimming the fat (a technical test being primary, but there are others).
As a job seeker, I always feel a little dirty when I have to jump through these hoops (put your resume in Word, put the job id in the subject line). Yes, I can contort myself into your little peg without too much trouble, but that’s not really what I want to do.
If I’m jobless and need to feed my family, you better believe I’m going to do it. If I’m just looking for my next great career move, probably not. You might just be missing out on the greats that way.
Jodi
on 30 Jun 10I’m a cto, hire frequently, and get loads of resumes from folks not applying for the position advertised, and a tonne more from bottom feeders
I am truly happy to drop all spammers, and all candidates that demonstrate lack of attention to detail from the getgo.
lastly I love how this practice resembles putting a hidden field in a form to catch spam; coding practices informing real life
Ian
on 30 Jun 10Jodi – You might want to check out ZipRecruiter.com.
(Full disclosure: I am a cofounder.)
We created a simple online interview builder + single submission job posting to multiple boards.
We’ve seen repeatedly that the most basic questions (ala…Do you know Java?) save employers from reading more than half of submitted resumes. Might be one step up from the suggestion Derek makes in his blog.
gvb
on 01 Jul 10It’s the job posting version of “no brown M&Ms”.
Anonymous Coward
on 01 Jul 10Anon for the shame
I’ve seen this on dating profiles. Women often put something like that one their profile as many men just look at the picture and click send message and paste a message they have sent to 30 other women
Rob
on 01 Jul 10The article is about hiring a freelancer from a site like elance for a small project, rather than hiring an employee. It’s advice I wish I was given before trying that service – I got bombarded with responses which I could tell did not know what I was asking for – this looks like a great way to remove the “cut and paste your project title into a standard reply” types. I’m going to try it.
If this gains in popularity, how long before spammers catch on though?
Rob S
on 01 Jul 10I’ve used this technique and recommend it.
Do I have time to individually sift through 30 or 40 cover letters in response to my freelance project posting? Half of them are just copied and pasted scripts that don’t apply to my project, written by people that can’t even take a minute to read my project description.
If you have any respect for your time you’ll find a way to progressively filter out all the duds and flakes as quickly as possible. Just like dating.
This technique is a great first filter.
Brandon Hansen
on 02 Jul 10I have started doing this on everything that I post on craigslist. That way I don’t respond to spammers.
JP
on 02 Jul 10I AM REAL! I love it!
This discussion is closed.