I’m in the process of planning a bachelor party for my cousin. We’re starting off at the Cardinals game and going from there. Because alcohol will likely be involved, and we don’t want to mess with trying to hire 15 different taxis (we’re convinced that going lots of places = fun), and limos tend to be pretty expensive – I’m hiring someone to drive my car for the night. I don’t know who that person will be yet.
In order to make this happen, I posted the following ad on Craigslist:
“I’m looking for someone willing to drive my car around on the evening of August 1st, from about the time the Cardinals game ends until the wee hours of the morning (around 8 or 9 am). Price is negotiable, but I think we’re willing to pay around $100. It’s for a bachelor party, and all you have to do is have a driver’s license and drive us around for the night. Feel free to bring something to read, to make calls while you wait, etc. I know this sounds ridiculous, but please send a resume if you have one. Make inquiries to Todd through the anonymous craigslist email. Thanks in advance.”
The response was overwhelming. I got about 50 responses, 10 of them within an hour of posting. It was an interesting array of people: an EMT, a mechanical engineer, a nurse, a welder, and a writer to name a few. Lots of students responded. Men and women responded equally. I got lots of resumes and references. I couldn’t believe how zealous the response was. The hard thing is choosing someone. I don’t know the people, and it’s hard to tell just by looking through resumes who you’re going to enjoy having drive you around for the night. I think we would actually prefer having someone drive us who will just leave us alone – but it wouldn’t hurt for it to be someone that we like to be around.
Anyway, there’s demand for this job, which really won’t pay that well – 12 hours of sitting in the car and driving people around at their whim – for a less than $10 per hour return really isn’t that great of a deal. But to some people that’s an adequate return on their time for one night. The instant cash outweighs the prospect of a potentially exhausting night of driving around four guys in their late 20s. If that’s the case, then there are lots of other jobs that you might want to hire out in a less than traditional way in order to capitalize on your ability to network through Craigslist.
For instance, let’s say you’re willing to pay someone $50 to help you move – post an ad on Craigslist and see if you’re able to get any responses. Why not? You can offer an hourly rate or a flat rate. It’s a market based system. The people combing through these ads are people that can use the quick cash, so keep that in mind when you write your post.
You could use it for temporary contract work for your business, too. If you need someone to do data entry for a couple of weeks, this gives you a way to find someone without using an agency. If you decide you need an entourage with components like a personal assistant, this might be an excellent place to find it. If you have your own business, you might also consider hiring an “intern” for tasks you don’t want to have to hire. Good luck. If you’ve hired someone for something off of Craigslist, let me know how it went by email or in the comments. Thanks for reading.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I would really like to know how this one goes. Even though i am just one of your many readers, I would like to suggest a sequel to this post, the way you did with your house search. I think it can be interesting, challenging, risky, and interesting.
Do you have a list of questions you asked or will ask the candidates? Are you going to do a background check? How will you make sure that you approve of the driving? If they bring a book to rad, will they use the car light? How long will the battery last? Whose insurance will cover the car etc? Does coverage change if your hire a driver to do the driving? Is the person going to meet you some place and you drop them same place? — Just a few of the questions your post made me think about.