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A Cog in the Machine
needs that arise during the business day, designated clusters of other RDs can focus
on responsibilities such as student staff in-services, community development, crisis response,
and case management.
Recruitment Practices
Regardless of how positions are operationalized, hiring managers should carefully
consider how position descriptions are worded, vacancies are advertised, and interviews
are conducted for RD candidates. RD positions are often advertised as having
a traditional balance of staff supervision, community development, administrative responsibilities,
and crisis response. Many RDs feel, however, that in addition to the
expectation that they fulfill all these responsibilities, they are also expected to engage
in more ongoing crisis response and multiple " other duties as assigned. " Current staff
should be consulted about how best to describe the job, and interviews should be intentionally
structured to evaluate candidate competence accordingly.
Telling the Story
Participants felt that campus partners lacked an understanding of what it means to be
a resident director. Residence life departments can help shift this narrative by being
strategic in how they tell campus partners the story of the work they do. One strategy
to utilize in telling this story might be creating a presentation for campus partners that
begins by describing what their institution's campus life might be like if there were no
professional staff living in residence. How would community and sense of belonging
be fostered in this new reality? Who would conduct check-ins for students of concern
after hours? How could the lack of staff in residence contribute to a decline in students
wanting to live on campus? From there, the presenter could share a narrative that
includes quotations and personal stories from current RDs about their experiences,
which could foster empathy and understanding from campus partners. Depending on
how upper levels of administration understand the role of RDs, senior departmental
leaders may facilitate this presentation to leaders within the division of student affairs,
senior institutional leaders, and/or academic partners.
Departments may consider using their social media accounts on a regular basis
to spotlight RDs' work, utilize time in division-wide meetings to showcase their work
through anecdotes and pictures, and meet campus partners to refresh partnership expectations.
When attending meetings with non-departmental colleagues, departmental
leaders should be prepared to articulate how the work of their RDs helps to further
the work of other departments, which could include sharing of personal anecdotes
and/or data. If departments include a residential faculty engagement program, consider
providing a one pager highlighting the RD role that these faculty can share with
colleagues in their academic departments.
Investing in staff as people first contributes to staff developing relationships
with their peers and other departmental colleagues that are more than
just work-centered.
64 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

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