Description
At Sharing Housing Inc. we believe that interviewing potential housemates is one of the most important steps in the process of finding a good housemate for you. But how do have a productive interview? Our Interviewing Guide helps make sure that you cover all the most important topics that you need to discuss with a potential housemate before moving in together. The Interviewing Guide contains explanations on how to conduct an interview, as well as interviewing questions and worksheets to use during the process so you can feel safe and secure in your housemate decision.
Our Interviewing Guide
The Interviewing Guide was created by Annamarie Pluhar, founder and CEO of Sharing Housing inc., in companion with our complete guidebook Sharing Housing: A Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates, and our Sharing Housing Workbook. Through decades of living and teaching shared housing, Annamarie has developed a series of thirteen questions that help you gauge housemate compatibility.
How to Use the Interview Questions
The interview questions can be used at two different steps in the housemate selection process. The first way to use the interview questions is to get to know yourself better! Use the interviewing questions as a quiz to help you figure out what you need from your home and your housemate. It’s always easier to find a housemate when you know exactly what you’re looking for!
The second way to use the interview questions is to assess compatibility during an interview. Ask your potential housemate the questions, or have them fill out the worksheet themselves, and compare with your own answers! This will give you a clear way to judge how compatible you are by showing how your lifestyles match or differ. If you strongly disagree on important areas of compatibility, you know you haven’t found the right match.
Annamarie’s Interviewing Questions have been really helpful to me both in thinking through what’s really important to me and learning what to ask when I’m interviewing a potential housemate. The survey makes a really good jumping-off point to start the process, especially if both people have completed it. It used to be that I would just go on my gut—how we got along, what values you we might share, etc.—but I’ve learned that our household habits are what really make the difference!
—Catherine Skove
