Is it a waste of time applying for a job on sites like Gumtree?

Vi Peterson

Ive been job hunting since Saturday and decided to check out Gumtree as I heard they are good for getting you quick work and I was so happy when I immediately got an interview.

On Saturday, I applied for a retail job and got an interview in seconds, planned for yesterday, when I went for the interview, they told me I am on the way to starting my own business and all I have to do is sell products and pay over €300 for them, I told them no as I want a job to make money not to pay a load of money I don't have on a job.

So I presumed that was just a one off occurrence, then after the interview I saw some ads for waiting staff and the ads stated NEEDED URGENTLY. I applied to all four.

Then today I get four emails all at the same time from different email addresses all with the exact same content. They all thanked me for my application and said "we are a sales and marketing company who can offer you great cash in the hand work" ...

I mean surely that is illegal.

I feel so disheartened that I have been putting so much effort into finding work and its all been a waste of time as it is not the work I even applied for.

I suppose there is nothing Gumtree can do though, as that's probably what can happen on a site where anyone can post anything.

Mr. Loverman

I run a job aggregation website. We used to list the jobs from Gumtree, but we stopped because there was too much junk and miscategorisation. That's the problem with free to post websites - anyone can post anything.

donkey balls

I would be weary of sending private info(C.V) to the likes of jobs advertised on gumtree, Or even replying to generic e mail addresses like hotmail/gmail accounts.
Best to use actual job sites or companies with official web address.

highlandseoghan

Anyone I know who has been looking for work never had any luck with gumtree jobs. I would advise staying away from gumtree and sticking with the better job websites.

tradhead

Personally, while job hunting I was never able to find anything on Gumtree that didn't sound at least slightly dodgy.

What worked for me was to download the Indeed app (if you have a smartphone) and just refresh every time you get a spare minute. Save the jobs you want to apply to and then set aside an hour or whatever it takes each day to adjust your CV and write a little cover letter for each individual one.

Even if you don't have the app, you can do the same at home, just obviously not while on the move!

Best of luck with the job hunt, it's a ****ty and disheartening process when it goes on for a prolonged period of time but just take every day as a fresh start and a new opportunity to find something.

PS- Try not to get too hung up on finding your dream job either; people kept telling me that it's much easier to find a job when you already have one. Lo and behold, 4 weeks after starting a job (which I found on Indeed haha) I was called back for another, better-paying and more interesting job that I had applied for ages before and given up on.