Searching for a Housekeeper: A Cautionary Tale

We recently came across this post by marketing expert Seth Godin from a few years back. Maybe not everyone’s experience searching for a Housekeeper is going to be as bad as the example he describes. But it does speak to the benefits of working with an agency that has a long history with its Candidates and does careful background and reference checks before introducing you to someone who will be working in your home.

In any case, we think you’ll get a kick out of what Seth has to say in this excerpt from his post:

Personal branding in the age of Google

A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.

Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person’s name.

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, “binge drinking.”

The second search turned up a personal blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like, “I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I’m annoyed by it. I’ll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings.”

And the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.

Three for three.

Here’s the link to the post if you’d like to check out Seth Godin’s work.