Answer the day and the time first

The employer has one worry before any other. Will this person actually be there on Thursday at 7. Answer it in your first line and you are already ahead of most people who applied.

Say the day and the time back to them so they know you read the post. "I can be there Thursday at 7 in Overland Park." That one line does more than a paragraph about how hard you work.

Name the closest work you have done

One or two sentences. Pick the job on your history that looks the most like the one they posted, and say how long you did it.

If you have never done exactly this work, say the nearest thing and be straight about it. "I have not framed before, but I have done two years of demo and I am good with a nail gun." Employers hire honest beginners all the time. They do not hire people they catch guessing.

Say what you bring with you

This is the line most people leave out, and it is often the one that gets you picked. An employer who does not have to supply boots, gloves, or a ride has one less thing to solve that morning.

• Your own boots, gloves, and hand tools.
• A truck, if you have one, and whether you can haul.
• A license, if the job might need someone to move a vehicle.
• Anything you are certified on, like a forklift or a lift.

Ask one real question

One question shows you read the post and you are thinking about the day. It also gives the employer something easy to reply to, which is how a message turns into a conversation.

Ask something the post did not answer. What time do you want people on site. Where should I park. Is there anything you want me to bring. Do not ask about pay if the pay is right there in the post, because that tells them you did not read it.

A message you can copy

"Hi, I can be there Thursday at 7 in Overland Park. I have done four months of concrete on driveways and patios, and two years of general labor before that. I have my own boots, gloves, and hand tools, and a truck. Where do you want me to park when I get there?"

That is five lines. It answers the day, the work, the gear, and it ends with a question. Change the details to yours and it works for almost any job on the board.

What gets skipped

Employers read these on a phone, often at night, with ten of them stacked up. Anything that makes the message hard to read costs you the job.

• One word messages like interested, or just a thumbs up.
• All capital letters, which reads as shouting.
• The same message you clearly sent to every job, with no detail from this one.
• Your life story. Anything past about six lines does not get read to the end.
• Asking the employer to text or call you off the platform before you are hired.

After you send it

Your application sits at Under review until the employer picks someone. That is normal, and it is not a no. Most employers work through their list the night before the job.

One polite follow up the next day is fine. Five is not, and it is the fastest way to be passed over. Keep everything in the app, because that message thread is the record of what you were promised if anything goes wrong later.