h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Would you try to take your dog to a job interview??

Had a call yesterday from someone who wanted to work with us (I'm looking for another cat sitter and eventually 'casual' cover for dog walking). She sounded okay so I arranged a time to meet for an interview, and mentioned a local cafe. She tried to arrange to meet 'on that green where you walk the Chihuahuas'. That was weird, I don't generally interview people outside, in the dark, standing up, in November. So I suggested a different cafe, when she said 'but I'll have my dog with me'.

I explained it would be a proper interview, discussing contracts, business, training, etc so we'd want to be comfortable. She still wanted to meet on the green because she 'can't leave the dog alone'. Well I guess you won't be doing any cat sitting after all.

I'd have said if it were for any other interview then it'd be crazy to take your dog along... But considering what you do for a living - maybe it's her way of showing you just how much she cares for animals, how well behaved her own dog is, etc.

Actually sounds like a good opportunity for you to see just what she's like with animals... Have a casual chat whilst walking the dogs - if she's hopeless or her own dog is a disaster, drop it there, if not, arrange a second interview later on where you can do the paperwork...

The dog walk comes after the interview, it's better to weed out the ones who won't work before getting them involved with the dogs. Own dogs being a disaster doesn't stop them working for me, two of my assistants have dogs - 1 I've dropped from my walks because he's so bad, the other assistant's dogs, well, he has different standards of behaviour for his own dogs. But both the assistants are great now they've been trained up. Plus, it's quicker to do an interview first - it's helped because some of them want to work cash in hand, others have other commitments that mean they can't work for me too, etc.

Fairy snuff (or fair enough )

If you've stressed you'd rather do a more formal interview and she can't be bothered to either sort out a dog sitter for a couple of hours or ask you if you can agree on a different moment then it does sound a bit like your wasting your time...

I know it's horrible to judge people on so little - but in my experience, when you're looking for staff, you've got to use whatever little information you have as an initial method for thinning out the applications - or you can end up interviewing hundreds of people...

She's supposed to be calling me back if she can find someone for Friday, but if she can't leave it and needs a dog sitter herself I can't see she'll be reliable - although with cat sitting she could do that before and after her partner gets in from work. I want to put an ad on gumtree, but I've heard from other dog sitters you get hundreds of replies so am waiting for January when I'll have time to weed out the weirdos.

Weeding out wierdos

1) Insist on CV and Covering Letter by post (not e-mail)

2) Bin any e-mail applications that arrive without even opening them (if they can't read the instructions - you don't want them

3) Wait for a tonne of letters to arrive

4) Open enveloppes - All cover letters torn out of notepads or ring binders go in the bin straight away, closely followed by any written on pink notepaper with bunny rabbit motifs.

5)Quickly glance through the rest of the cover letters - any you have to strain to read because of the handwriting - file in the bin.

6) Quickly look at the CVs - any that are over 2 double sided A4 pages - file in the bin.

7) Any remaining CVs produced using Comic Sans Serif - in the bin

By this stage you should have gotten down to a readable number of CVs

harsh but good - if you get a CV from a German, however, it's probably going to be 97 pages bound in leather, with a photo...

Ha, that would impress me! Can't bin Comic Sans, that's what my van is signwritten in.

I've had a few people email CVs after I've asked, they never put their age on them, so I have to work it out through their school years! I'm not 'ageist', I have people working for me from 16 to 68 (gotta love family) but it's useful to know so I know what role someone can have. Under 18 - has to stay with an experienced worker, effectively there to hold leads, pick up poo, run after dogs who've legged it, and get the coffee (while being trained so it's not all menial). 18-25 dog walker, possibly with own transport, over 25, gold dust, could be a driver as well as a walker! Older than God, ideal cat sitter as probably won't need a big income, and if have own ideas it's harder to get things wrong with a cat in a house, rather than walking with dogs (that I want done MY way).

Ooops - that's right - I remember looking at photos of your van and having a quiet giggle

Nothing wrong with Comic Sans! It's just common (like me, so that's okay).

Mina, you could _never_ be described as common!

Common, No!
Rare? Yes, definitely...

In fact, _Very_ rare...

Almost 'blue' in fact