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

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.