News & Politics

This Guy Made a Roommate Résumé Because Yes, It’s That Hard to Find Housing in DC

Sam Alhadeff comes with a 65" TV, a master's in international public affairs, and takes quick showers.

Sam Alhadeff is just looking for a place to live. Do you have one? He can offer references and pass a credit check. And he has a résumé ready.

The 23-year-old University of Wisconsin graduate is moving to DC in a week to start work at the Wilson Center. The housing search here was “overwhelming,” he says; full of people just like him (young professionals) looking for the same thing he was (a cheap bedroom downtown and close to Metro). So he thought of an unconventional way to “productively channel some of that stress:” a résumé.

the housing resume

Like it says, Sam is a chill guy and a good roommate who will do his dishes quickly and enjoys puns. He’s hoping the résumé will help him stand out in a tough process—one he’s faced before in summers as an intern. This, however, is his first “real housing search” after getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees back-to-back. It wasn’t like this in Madison, he says.

He got the idea from a viral story about a Michigan State University student who tried getting himself invited to a sorority formal with a “dating resume” last year. He didn’t get the date, but he did get a surge of viral fame. Alhadeff figured it couldn’t hurt.

And it hasn’t: the post has over 1,000 likes in Washington D.C. Housing, Rooms, Apartments, Sublets and is littered with comments about how cool he is. “I’ve gotten like 10, 15 people friend requesting me on Facebook. A ton of people have messaged me to be roommates, others saying ‘Hey, when you get in town, I’d love to show you around if you want to get a beer,’” Alhadeff says. But he’s not sure if he’s going to meet up with anyone yet: they’re basing their opinion of him off a goofy résumé, and he doesn’t know anything about them. “If I were to meet up with any of them, there’s kind of a Tinder first date feel: we know each other from this weird online interaction, but we’ve never actually met. And it’s weirder this way because it’s these people going ‘Yeah, man, you’re awesome!’ and me going ‘Yeah, thanks!’”

And speaking of first dates, Alhadeff has been asked out on real dates, too. When asked if he’ll say yes to any, he gave a coy “We’ll see.”

Others have said the résumé is the perfect illustration of young professional culture in DC.

Alhadeff disagrees slightly: “I think if I were to go about it the way my mom wanted me to go about it, which is networking with people and asking everyone I know if they know anyone, that would be much more DC—to network to find housing.”

At this point—a week out from his move—Alhadeff is open to living anywhere that fits in his budget of $1,000 a month, though he says he could stretch it for a good location, like Chinatown. He’s not fussy about roommates, either: “I get along with so many people that as long as they’re not serial killers or very very weird, very uptight, I think it would be fine. I’m fine with people being dirty, I’m fine with people being loud, or up late or up early, all that doesn’t really matter to me.” If you have a room for Sam, his email is on his résumé.

Editorial Fellow

Emma Sarappo is an editorial fellow at Washingtonian. Her work has appeared in Tonic, PlanetForward, PopSci.com and The Bitter Southerner. She is from Nashville and never stops talking about it, and loves covering anything that takes itself too seriously.