There are times you might find yourself needing a service and not knowing where to go. You might have recently moved and need someone to mow your lawn, or you might need some carpentry work done and none of your friends have someone to recommend. Where do you turn? Well, several people turn to Craigslist and post in the appropriate (sometimes) category. You can’t just say anything, however. There are a few things you need to keep in mind.

Offer real money.

Too often I see people post that they aren’t willing to pay, but are offering the ‘luxury’ of being the guinea pig for someone so they’ll have something to put on their portfolio. Two things will come from this offer. First, you will turn off most anyone who could do the job well. Second, you’ll get yourself flagged and/or get comments posted about how horrible you are.

You don’t have to offer thousands of dollars for something, just fair market value. Or you can say you’ll take the lowest bid. The main thing is you have to let people know you’re willing to pay for their work. And if someone responds to your ad that has little experience, they may offer a lower rate in exchange for actually getting the job, but that is their option.

Don’t tell them how to do their job.

Sure, you might have read up on the project a bit, but just because you’ve heard some buzzwords doesn’t mean you’re an expert. I’m not going to tell Dan the carpenter that he needs to use a mitre saw for my crown molding just because I did a little research online. Dan will use the tools that he likes because he knows how to get the job done. I’ve never heard of someone requesting a certain brand of lawn mower be used to cut their grass, have you? But frequently I see people doing that exact thing when posting in the area of web development. They have no business listing any/all sorts of words related to web design. “You must know ASP and .NET and PHP and Flash and….” They aren’t experts and shouldn’t position themselves as such.

What should you say instead? How about the results you are looking for. Back to the lawn example, I want my yard cut, and maybe edged. I’m not going to tell you how to do it, just the results I’m looking for. So maybe you’re looking for a contemporary website that can get people to sign up for your newsletter. Or you want it to include videos that you make showcasing your products. Or you want blogging capabilities.

When posting a job you need to share your vision–the end result that you’re looking for. You also want to attract people that will do the job well by offering fair market value for the service you’re looking for.

What oddities have you seen in job postings? What jobs do you have a hard time finding someone to fill?