When the applications started pouring in, we decided to sort applications based on a predefined algorithm.
- Was the Potential within the 25 miles radius of Mackey? (give or take a mile or two)
- Did they pass the criminal background check?
- Did they pass the STD check?
- Did they meet the minimum credit score of 600 (Heated debate accompanied this one but a compromise was finally reached.)
- Paid the fee and the check had cleared. (Don’t get me started. Why would someone go to all the trouble to complete the rather long application and either forget to send a check or send a rubber one.)
- Recommendation from a church member and verified by telephone call. (Wanted to make sure they passed the other criteria before wasting everyone’s time on the phone.)
- If they had ended a relationship in the past two years with any of the applicants remaining at this point. (We didn’t want to have exes in the same retreat group.)
The next step is more subjective. We separated the essay and short answer questions from the standard application and numbered them so the readers wouldn’t have identifying information. We knew we had some applicants from our church so we wanted to make it as unbiased as possible.
These were then sorted based on their personality quiz score (based on Briggs-Meyer personality types).
If we still had more than 24 applications at this point, we decided to look at their long term goals, shared interests, desire for a family, etc.
The goal was to have a somewhat diverse group but not so diverse there would only be one match for a Potential. Since we had such a large number of applicants, we were able to aim for the middle of the road in most categories.
This is a work in progress so I’m sure we will have to adjust this algorithm in the future, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
Gail