By William Gardner

Becoming a resident assistant involves making the right choices on and off the campus to get the right opportunity – one of the most rewarding experiences of a college career! Although, it is very difficult to come across a decent on-campus job, one which is not bound by work-study requirements.

Who is a Resident Assistant?
Also termed as a resident advisor, an RA is a trained person who is responsible for supervising other students living in a residence hall or similar group living facility. This role is mainly based in universities, colleges, or residential substance-abuse/mental health facilities. The RA’s profile involves many roles and responsibilities, managing not only one’s own normal tasks but also helping other residents. Every RA has an initial short term training process that he/she needs to go through. This type of training ensures the RA can manage institutional concerns, but also prepares him/her as a knowledgeable resource for the residents. 

Build your resume
Involving yourself in various activities on campus gives you the necessary experience and knowledge on how to build your resume for this job. Most times, the selection process starts during the second semester, where all suitable candidates are interviewed by existing RAs. This may also involve giving top priority to attending various programs, visibility throughout the residence hall as well as participating in campus events.

Governing the Hall
Being involved within the residence hall on campus itself is the easiest way to start! A per-semester budget is utilized for hall-wide events in numerous dorms that have student-run residential administration. As many RAs are expected to recruit members, participating is such group gives you more in-depth perspective on the RA position. Meeting and creating new relationships on-campus by governing the hall, gains you experience on people interaction, which is one of the key skills to a RA’s role!

Join a Residence Hall Association
A Residence Hall Association, that is similar to the hall governments, is an organization that is set up within many schools that looks after the dorms, but with a slightly higher budget in comparison to the halls! The RHA is mainly responsible for setting up campus wide programs and varied leadership development opportunities. Being a part of such an organization will help you get the necessary exposure.

Follow the Rules
The main characteristic to acquiring a role of a RA, besides being involved on campus is to stay out of trouble! Following the rules will only help your application get an easy passage to your dream job! Candidates who have constantly violated school policies stand no chance and can be assured that their application directly goes into the denied pile! Most student offices look for candidates with clean records because an important portion of the RA profile involves around accountability towards fellow students. Hence, the cleaner the record, the better the chances to getting an approval! 

Last, but not the least, an ideal RA’s role requires the candidate’s current academic standing to be a GPA of 2.5 in most institutions, though a GPA of 3.0 and more is preferred. A lower than 3.0 GPA can be compensated by a clean record and active involvement in campus activities. This is an important job with huge demand on any campus across the globe! Keeping your grades up, maintaining a clean record, active participation in campus events and residence hall will let you make it to the group interview stage!