Be a Troll and Don't Hire Ogre's

Social media can be useful when hiring qualified pet sitters.  Almost everyone has a Facebook or Instagram page. You may have a Facebook or Instagram page specifically for your business.  It is an efficient way to let people know whats going on with your business.  The beauty of social media and pet sitting combined is that people love to look at pictures of pets and especially see a picture of their own pet.

 When it comes to hiring I always look potential employees or i.c’s up on social media before I meet them in person.  There have been people that I have been so turned off by after “trolling” them on social media that I’ve cancelled the interview.   Social media is a great way to get an idea about the persons personal life.  If you see anything on someone's Facebook or Instagram page that makes you think they will not fit well with your company run the other way.For example, you know the position your hiring for requires late evening and weekend hours.  If you go to “john does” Instagram page and see a string of post of “John “ partying and boozing it up all over town then he’s probably not going to work out.  In a similar vein, if you go to “Jane Does” Facebook page before an interview and she has posted a ridiculously long political rant and obviously seems less than tolerant of others views on the world, you may want to cancel that interview.
The thing about social media is people only post what they want others to see to create a certain persona.  When is the last time you ran across this Facebook post:Man, things aren’t going good this month.  I’m late on my mortgage, I think my old lady is running around on me and I forgot to pick my kid up from practice on Thursday.So if Jane and John Doe are willing to share some piece of their life with you, use it to your advantage and maybe even save yourself some time.On the other hand, if you are trolling an applicant on social media and they “seem” to be what your looking for, pick out some interests they may have to discuss in the interview.  You may notice a particular animal they are fond of or maybe a type of car they drive.  “Subaru huh, nice, so you won't mind working in the snow?”  Or, “hey, I noticed on Instagram you like horses, I’ve got a few really good horse clients that you may be good for.”  
Social media is a great, free, tool to do a little weeding out before you spend your valuable time interviewing someone, so be a troll, your clients will thank you.