With your phone ringing off the hook and email messages piling
up, are you still trying to decide how to select your new
roommate? If you are, don't worry, it's just a matter of getting
organized and putting together a roommate selection process that
suits you.
The key to successfully choosing a new
roommate is to start planning how you will select your roommate
before you begin your search. Creating a roommate selection
process lets you become more organized which allows you to focus
on choosing the right roommate. This means you can make the
right choices without needing to worry that you may be choosing
the wrong roommate.
The ideal roommate selection process
involves 6 distinctive steps. The advantage of breaking down the
process into steps is that it allows you to concentrate on each
part individually without being overwhelmed by the "big
picture". So, what does the selection process to find your
perfect roommate involve? Let's take a look at each of the 6
steps in detail.
1. Plan Questions for Initial Enquiries
You will need to decide on 4-5 questions you would like to ask
during initial telephone and email enquiries. This way you can
find out more about a person and decide if you like to invite
them to a roommate interview.
2. Create a Short List and
Schedule Interviews
Putting together a short list shows
you which people closely match the profile of your perfect
roommate and would be good candidates to become your new
roommate. When scheduling interviews, it's a good idea to meet
with potential roommates a few hours apart, so that you don't
need to cut interviews short due to the lack of time.
3.
Interview Potential Roommates
Roommate interviews can be
formal or informal and can be held at any place, for example,
you could hold casual interviews over coffee in a local Café.
Before you start interviewing, you should decide which questions
you would like to ask each potential roommate. These questions
will help you decide whether a person is the right roommate for
you.
4. Select a Roommate
After interviewing all
potential roommates, you will need to discuss and select with
all existing household members a new roommate. You can do this
by comparing each roommate against your perfect roommate recipe.
5. Check References
Talking to people who have lived with
your chosen roommate will help you decide if that person will be
the right roommate for you. If they haven't lived with roommates
before, try speaking to their friends or family as they can help
you discover any hidden surprises.
6. Ask Your New
Roommate To Move In
Before asking your new roommate to
move in, it's a good idea to sleep on your decision overnight.
If you still feel confident about your choice in the morning,
it's a good sign you've made the right choice.
These 6
steps give you the flexibility to create your own selection
process by giving you the power to decide how to conduct
interviews and select roommates while still working within a
framework. Just remember, by getting organized and creating a
roommate selection process, you too, will soon know how to
handle all of those messages and choose the roommate that's
right for you.
Good Luck and Happy Roommate Hunting!
About the Author:
Enid Steiner is a Director of
http://www.flatwithme.com.au,
an Australian online roommate service. For more tips and hints
about finding share accommodation log onto
http://www.flatwithme.com.au/advice.html
