Craigslist Job Seeker Killed
Front page news in the Minneapolis newspapers over the past couple of days has been the killing of Katherine Ann Olson. While any murder is tragic, this one is noteworthy to employers and job seekers alike because it appears to be related to the victim's use of Craiglist to find a nanny position.
Ms. Olson was looking for a nanny job. She had successfully used Craigslist before and so searched it again. She found an ad of interest responded. She told her roommate that she was going to meet the family from the ad. After she didn't come home, police initiated a search and found her dead in the trunk of her car at a park in Burnsville, Minnesota late Friday night.
Is Craiglist to blame? While it is too early to know exactly what happened, I can't imagine that Craiglist is at fault here. Was Ms. Olson to blame? Again, it is too early to know what happened but terrible things sometimes happen to wonderful people. She may simply have been in the wrong place and the wrong time or she may have been naive and put herself in danger but regardless of whether she did anything wrong, she didn't deserve this fate.
Candidates who apply for positions with Craigslist, CollegeRecruiter.com, or any other job board should never, ever agree to meet potential employers in isolated areas like a park. Instead, always meet strangers in high traffic, public places such as coffee shops or food courts in shopping malls. It is unclear at this point whether Ms. Olson's murderer was the same person who posted the ad and therefore used the ad to lure an unsuspecting victim to an isolated area but the lesson here is clear: be cautious. Take a friend with you. Meet in a public place. Don't trust those who have not yet earned your trust.
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