Owner Eileen Hornor at the OneSixtyFive inn in Brunswick. Jason Claffey / The Times Record
Eileen Hornor needs an innkeeper. She had no luck when she listed the position on job websites and Craigslist, so she turned to an unorthodox method: asking for an attention-grabbing, one-page essay or two-minute video.
“I think you can tell a lot about a person when you give that person the freedom to think outside the box,” said Hornor, owner of OneSixtyFive inn on Park Row. “I’m hoping I could get a lot more information about someone’s personality when they’re not bound by the formula of a cover letter and a bullet-pointed résumé.”
The job pays $70,000-$90,000 based on experience. No degree is required, though cooking experience is a bonus.
“I need someone who’s super energetic, someone who can multitask, someone who’s warm and engaging,” she said. “It’s not an easy job. There’s a lot of moving parts and I’m committed to an exceptional level of hospitality.”
The inn hosts a wide range of guests, from parents of Bowdoin College students to summer vacationers to celebrities. Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. secretary of state, has stayed at the inn.
Hornor, who has owned the inn for the past 14 years and never had a general manager, said things have been busier recently. The inn’s Pub165 is packed most nights, and breakfast, which is open to the public, is popular. Sometimes the inn hosts two events a day.
“We’re booking more and more events,” she said. “We’re seeing reservations back to where they were pre-COVID and even higher. … I need help.”
Hornor said she has many repeat customers due to the inn’s commitment to hospitality.
“People come back to OneSixtyFive again and again because of three things: We see them, we hear them and we make them feel special,” she said. “The world that we live in today is so lacking in that that when people experience it at OneSixtyFive, they are so taken with it.
“It feels like a throwback in time. I need someone who’s really going to buy into it.”
A former English teacher in New York City, Hornor said she’s a writer at heart and believes asking for an essay will help her find her ideal innkeeper. She said she was inspired to ask for an essay by the owner of another Maine inn. In 2015, Janice Sage gave away her Center Lovell Inn to the winner of an essay contest.
Hornor’s advice to applicants?
“Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and be yourself,” she said.
Hornor said she’s received about eight applications so far. There’s no deadline — she’s waiting for the perfect candidate.
People can apply on the inn’s website.
“It’s such a unique position,” Hornor said. “(The innkeeper) will be the face of the inn.”
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