You Never Know

While on my roommate search I met about 5 people in person.  I, luckily, picked the person I liked most and she agreed to move in. But the other 4 people were OK in varying degrees and I think the lot of them would have been decent roommates. I credit this to my roommate picking antennae.

I have this system for picking roommates now--a pretty solid one, I think.  Basically, I require that people send me an email about themselves in my ad. An email weeds out those that are not serious, firstly, and secondly, I feel like I can solidly judge people based on their writing habits and content of their email.  Maybe it isn't fair, but it has worked so far: if you don't proofread your email, have atrocious spelling or grammar, or if you ask questions that I CLEARLY answer in my ad, you are pretty much out of luck with me.  Like a job interview, you need to make an effort!  I find that people that I end up choosing to meet are more likely to actually show up when they say they will, and from there, it is a reliability issue:  if you are true to your word, you are more likely to pay rent and bills on time.  It also saves me time from waiting for people that don't show up. People are also more likely to include more details in an email rather than via text.  For example, I clearly stated that I wanted to live with someone 25-35 ish, couples not OK (unless I am desperate!). So, then, the three 20 year old boys who wanted to share the room?  NO FREAKING WAY.

This post has devolved--I didn't mean to go off on that tangent. Anyway, one of my picks relayed via email that he didn't have a job and normally he'd be out for that, but his email also said that he was in my line of work. He had a solid email otherwise and I got a good vibe (also key). I warned him about the job thing preventing him from getting the apartment, but he agreed to meet me anyway so we could talk shop. He seemed really nice, motivated, smart, and showed up on time, etc., so I took his info and agreed to distribute his resume around my contacts in NZ.

Guess what?  He's now coming to work for my company!

Not only that, but he's hung out with me and my friends a couple of times. I got a roommate and a coworker/friend out of my ad!  It is very funny how life turns out sometimes, and what happens when you take a chance. I am happy that I was able to help him break into the NZ job scene--it can be BRUTAL (from what I've heard--I was SUPER lucky). I'm super proud of myself for helping him and extending myself to someone new.