At some point before or during the application process to higher education graduate programs, you made a decision to apply to the housing assistantship with hopes of serving as a Residence Director. Some of you were past RAs that thrived in the position; others may have an interest in a career in housing with plans to move up the professional ladder. Many of you fall under both. Whether you “live and breathe housing” or view this assistantship as a great opportunity with wonderful benefits, you accepted the challenge! You moved all of your belongings and returned to the residence hall (not dorm). With a meal plan, reserved parking spot and health insurance secured, you felt on top of world. At some point between unpacking and attending summer RD training, you probably searched through your belongings for the RD position description, just to review exactly what you would be doing in this role. Scanning the document, you began to get excited about helping shape the world’s future leaders and revitalizing the spirit of living on campus. In your mind, you started to plan amazing programs. Suddenly, you have a Pinterest board that is dedicated to icebreakers, door decs and RA events. What a joy! As you open your new set of business cards, take the protective sticker off of your fresh name badge and iron your official housing polo, all seems right in the world. You are a housing professional.
Looking in the mirror “I am about to change the game. I have all the tools and resources that I need to be successful. I am a Residence Director. Wow. I’ve made it.”
As the summer RD training comes to a close, you realize that you are a bit unclear or nervous about a few items about the position. Perhaps you decide that you will just hit the ground running and figure it out as things go along (wise but potentially tricky). If you were like me, you planned to set some time aside to review your training binder and go over questions with your supervisor. However, RA training had already begun, which ultimately consumed every minute for the next two weeks. So instead, the night before move-in day you pulled out the position description to glance over it one last time and then you see it…
“Other duties as assigned.”
Below are a few tips to help you successfully navigate your first year in housing.
Resident Advisors. Being a Residence Director at NC State is a tremendous opportunity to gain valuable skills that can be transferred to a variety of functional areas in higher education. One of the many benefits of this role is the experience of supervising undergraduate students. Working with your team of Resident Advisors will allow you to learn more about yourself as a leader and help develop other leaders. In this supervisory role, I recommend being confident, consistent and professional. Being relatable also goes along way with people who look up to you. Utilize your one-on-one meetings with your RAs to get know them beyond their work as an RA. What clubs are they involved in? Are they reconsidering their major? Building these relationships is key. It would also help to identify additional ways to support your staff. Your RAs are college students, some only a year removed from high school. They are balancing school, work and everything else that life throws their way—sound familiar? If you find yourself frustrated, remember that there is no such thing as a perfect RA, and even your Area Coordinator is still learning. Create developmental opportunities for your RAs. Spend time developing yourself as a supervisor. Seek out advice from second year RDs and talk with your Assistant Director regularly about how you can continue to grow in this role.
Managing a Budget. Stay up to date, organized and consistent with your budget practices. It is critical to communicate often with your AD and the person who oversees the management of your building’s budget and receipts, to ensure that you are following the preferred protocol.
Parking. Win.
Laundry. Loss. However, there are tricks that can make this process easier. Monitor the laundry room to find times when residents do not regularly wash clothes. Never leave your belongings unattended for lengthy periods of time. Additionally, the washing machines require less detergent, so if you really think about it, you are saving money.
Professional Development. Make sure to use your professional development funds. Communicate with other RDs about trainings or conferences that people are interested in attending. There may be ways to save on additional costs by combining efforts. Consider ways to maximize this opportunity, such as submitting proposals to present at conferences.
Conduct. Some RDs love the conduct process and others not as much. Regardless, it is a part of your duties. I rely heavily on the NC State specific policy guides in Maxient as well as the support of second year RDs to manage this portion of the job.
Meetings. In housing, we like to have a lot of meetings. I average roughly 15 meetings every week. This is when Google Calendar becomes a lifeline. Ever wonder why housing people always send you a Google meeting invite? It’s simple. It is extremely difficult to manage every meeting on our schedules; so essentially, if it is not on Google calendar then it does not exist. Make the most of your meetings! Plan and prepare ahead to make sure that you are respectful of others’ time as well as your own. Utilize agendas! My RAs really appreciate my weekly meeting agendas because it is a reference point for them to remember deadlines and upcoming dates. If you are a paper saver, share a Google doc. Refrain from “meeting just to meet.” This is not advice to cancel all of your meetings. However, if there are only a few light items on your agendas then ask yourself if meeting is the most efficient way to disseminate the information. For meetings that you are attending and not leading, just get used to them. They are here to stay.
Duty. Make sure that you plan ahead before going on duty. This may mean going grocery shopping, doing laundry and getting ahead on class assignments. When you are on duty, there is no telling when you will receive a call that may take up a large amount of your time. Prioritizing important items the week before you are scheduled for duty will help relieve some of the stress during duty week.
Living Where You Work. Figure out how to personalize your space. Each RD apartment is unique with its own perks, so take some time to embrace your space. Hang curtains, buy a welcome mat or put magnets on your refrigerator. Do whatever you think is best to make your RD apartment feel more like a home. If you are lucky and pull this off really well, there may be a few mornings when you wake up and forget you are in residence hall (this will only be for a few minutes, but still).
Serving as a RD is an amazing opportunity that is truly like none other. You have the opportunity to impact your residents’ college experience in a major way. Leave your mark! One day, hopefully, you’ll have a peaceful home away from campus with laundry machines and a job that will probably still have a line on the position description that indicates “other duties as assigned.” However, I doubt you’ll get to go to BJ’s and load multiple carts with fun program supplies, rent an inflatable and plan team builders that require people to jump through hula-hoops. Make the most of it!
Rickita Blackmon is a first year master’s student in the Higher Education Administration program. She is currently serving as a Residence Director for Lee Hall. She is also the Vice President-Elect for Recruitment for the Higher Education Association at NC State.