ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

You probably already know this, but Craigslist has got to be the greatest gift to hiring managers since the invention of the resume.

Large, rich enterprises may fool around hiring headhunters and using the big job boards, but leaner, more cost-conscious companies can do remarkably well with Craiglist -- especially when looking for tech-savvy workers.

But be warned, while Craigslist has great reach, you get all kinds of candidates.

Earlier this week, veteran blogger Guy Kawasaki blogged about How to Get a Job on Craigslist. But his post also serves as an instructive tale of the experiences you can expect when you advertise a job listing on Craiglist.

When Kawasaki posted ad for a photo-editor, he got his first response in jsut 31 minutes and almost half the responses came in the first two days. Not all were stellar: some didn't even bother to include cover letters, while others volunteered that they had no clue about the skills he required.

Still, for the $75 cost of the ad, Kawasaki got 31 reasonable responses: a "mere $2 per candidate." That's an incredible deal, if you ask me.

And you can ask me, because I've hired people via Craigslist, and been hired for jobs I found there. If you want to be diligent -- and you can afford it -- go ahead and try every hiring venue you can. You do want to find the absolute best candidate possible, right?

But if you're hiring in one of the many cities where Craigslist is active, you'd be a fool not to include it in your search strategy.

And if you have to choose just one hiring method, well, I think you can figure out my advice.