How to Use Craigslist to Find Locksmith Jobs (and Apprenticeships!)

Sometimes one of the hardest things to do after you become a certified locksmith is to find and maintain consistent work.

Luckily there are systems already in place that won’t cost you more than 5 minutes a day to check.

Today, we’re specifically going to look at one of those systems: Craigslist.

You have probably heard of Craigslist before, but just in case you haven’t here’s the best definition:

Craigslist is a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, items wanted, services, community, gigs, resumes, and discussion forums. (via Wikipedia)

We’re going to focus on the job listings section by following a simple 3 step process.

Step 1: Set Up a Google Alert for “Locksmith”

Login into your Google Account (or create one if you need to) and set up a Google Alert for the term “locksmith.”

The instructions are very straightforward.

Here is a screenshot of what the alert should look like:

Step 2: Check Your Email (this is a simple one!)

Once you have this set up this will send you one (1) email per day with the best results for sites that publish content with the word “locksmith.”

Here is what an example email will look like:

I typically see about 3-5 job listings per day, and those are just the ones from the Google Alerts.

You can browse through the links and click on the ones that look good to you.

Some people are looking to hire full-time locksmiths, while others just need a few hours of work, and even others are looking for apprentices.

Step 3: Follow-up (and be Professional)

If you see any job listings that catch your eye then you can click on the link which will bring you to a page like this:

All you have to do is click “reply” and leave a message for the poster.

At this point, you’ll want to be very professional.

Here is an example replay that you might use:

[Insert Name or Company Name],

I recently saw your job listing on Craigslist and am very interested.

I have X years of experience in [Insert Field] and thoroughly enjoy this work. I have attached my resume which includes additional information about my previous experience.

Please let me know if you need any other information at this time or would like to schedule a phone conference or meeting to discuss further.

Thanks,

[Insert Name]

It’s really that simple.

Good luck!