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Hiring Wisdom: What Kind of Person Can You Get for $13 Per Hour?

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Oct 29, 2012

Below is a recruitment ad published in the New York City edition of Craigslist.

Really not a lot of skill required. Not really a great ad. One positive: it offered health insurance.

Administrative Assistant needed for busy midtown office. Hours are Monday through Friday, nine to five. Job duties include: filing, copying, answering phones, sending e-mails, greeting clients, scheduling appointments. Previous experience in an office setting preferred, but will train the right candidate. This is a full-time position with health benefits. Please e-mail résumé if interested. Compensation: $12-$13 per hour.

The ad went live at 2:41 p.m. on a Thursday. The first resume arrived four minutes later. When deleted, exactly 24 hours later, 653 people had responded.

So, who responded to the ad?

  • 23 percent of the applicants had five or more years’ actual experience as an administrative assistant;
  • 10 percent had more than 10 years experience;
  • 3 percent of the applicants for this entry-level position held a Master’s degree;
  • 39 percent had their Bachelor’s.

This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.

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