I had to interview some potential housemates the other day – it was the first time I’d ever needed to do this, so I did some research into what other people recommended asking. Rather than just deleting my questions since I don’t need them any more, I thought others might one day benefit from these ideas.
In the process of actually conducting the interviews, we rarely used these questions verbatim – but rather, they were useful sparks for conversations. One of the things that I found most important in posing these questions was to ask about the past and their actual experience – rather than asking about possible hypotheticals. Just like in job interviews, it forces the candidate to answer with “real” answers rather than ideal, textbook, answers.
I’ve grouped them, since there are a few obvious and natural themes.
Be aware that they’re drawn from a few Google searches; I invented almost none of these, but rather, just collated them from a bunch of different sources that I found interesting and compelling.
ROUTINE
What do you do for a living? What do you do on the weekends? Tell us about your daily routine.
WHAT DO YOU DO AT HOME?
What do you use your home space for? Do you work from home? Some might just use home as a launching pad for the day. Others might view their personal space as a spot to entertain friends. What do you actually do at home?
WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?
What do you want in a roommate? What are your deal breakers?
HOW SOCIABLE ARE YOU?
What’s your romantic situation? Are you likely to have a partner/dates/parties/host dinner? How often do you cook? Do they have friends/family in the area or will they expect you to become their new best mate?
FOOD, DRINK AND SMOKE
Do you drink? Do you smoke? Do you have any eating disorders like being a vegetarian?
MONEY MECHANICS
How long do you plan to stay? Can you put down a deposit?
AND LASTLY…
Anything else we should know?
12 May 2017 – Edited to include question about eating disorders.
