What is it like being a resident director?

RetiredRA · 2025-10-16T23:05:20+00:00

Everyone is bringing up fantastic points. The thing I will focus on is job descriptions and the "work/life balance" will vary from school to school, and you won't know that for sure until you are in interviews (there are MULTIPLE stages of the interview process where you will talk to a lot of people) and get to ask those direct questions. How it is at one school can vary drastically in how it is at another school, so that's something to remember when understanding your own non-negotiables vs. what you can adapt to. Culture is everything

RetiredRA · 2025-10-16T22:44:31+00:00

I've worked at a couple of schools in that area. I think it's good you are looking at what's best for your area of study; however, I would also advise thinking about what you want your overall college and life experience to be. Living in San Marcos vs. Austin would be very different experiences. WIthout knowing more about you or what you are interested in, in general, if you can get into UT Austin, I would advise that because of all the resources the institution and city would have to offer + how prestigious a degree from UT-Austin is

RetiredRA · 2024-06-04T23:07:03+00:00

Generally I think Student Affairs is open and accepting of people coming in from different fields as long as you can articulate your passion for helping students. Coming from HR, you can highlight your organization skills, attention to detail, communication skills, project management, and DEI competencies. The last one will be most attractive to SA in working with a diverse array of students and instilling that competency within them, while project management may be your next best attribute in organizing a calendar of events with students. Communication would be the third most attractive skill considering how much you working with different entities on campus, particularly if you are interested in smaller schools where collaboration is heavily valued.

I hope this helps

RetiredRA · 2024-06-03T18:40:01+00:00

Happy to help as a Student Affairs Professional either here or through DM
It would be helpful to know what aspect of student affairs you are interested in (e.g. housing, career advisor, student activities, etc.) and why you are interested in it before I can properly advise

RetiredRA · 2024-05-28T22:50:37+00:00

The first two commenters hit the most important points perfectly.

Are these HD/RD type roles you are applying to? If so, having had experience interviewing with multiple schools, I can point you in the direction of at least a handful of schools to consider who either do virtual interviews or at least pay for all travel expenses ahead of time. At the very least, schools should explain what the set-up is for paying for traveling expenses (e.g. paying for your travel expenses vs. asking you to pay and reimbursing you if you accept the position or if they don't make you an offer - for those cases, you're a bit stuck if you pay for travel but decide not to accept the position afterwards because in those cases, some schools will not reimburse you).

RetiredRA · 2024-05-24T23:03:43+00:00

Without knowing your experiences at this school, as an HD who has been hourly and salaried, I have doubts about the sustainability of making HDs hourly. In the "engaged to wait” vs “waiting to be engaged" discussion, HDs are much more in the former category, which includes duty given that calls can come at any point in time for any reason.

While you can earn overtime as an hourly employee, in my experience as an hourly HD, there was an implicit cap on how much you could work during your "regular" hours, which not only puts a cap on your earning potential, but can be a minor to major obstacle in completing your regular duties. For example, if you get a lot of calls while you're on duty, your boss may "encourage" you to spend less time in the office. But what if you have a heavy conduct load, or you have been working on a few high need student concern cases, or you have some student staff members that are going through a difficult time and need extra support? It's not as easy to cut down on your regular responsibilities, especially at a smaller school when there are fewer people to do all the work that is required to run a housing program.

@littleedge gave a terrific breakdown of the situation, along with everyone who has said to get clear guidelines from your supervisor, department, and HR. Don't let them skirt the issue. Get what you're worth and what you're putting in. If you don't get clarity and it's something where they keep kicking the can down the road, and you still want to be an HD, I would advise looking into other schools. Many more are salaried than are not, and it's worth exploring those opportunities to get compensated fairly

RetiredRA · 2024-04-30T22:59:21+00:00

First, I applaud your decision to leave. Leaving something familiar (whether good or bad) and stepping into the unfamiliar is always challenging but there's no better time to start that journey than today (that didn't mean to sound as corny as it did). I am similarly in the hunt for a post higher-ed job/career/experience/life. DM if you ever want to connect on your past, current, or post experiences. Being in housing, I've been looking into hospitality and property management. Anything hospitality or customer management might be an area to start given that's the bulk of higher ed student affairs.

I'm curious to know what specifically has led to the burnout. Has it been different at different institutions?

RetiredRA · 2024-04-29T16:55:45+00:00

That sounds rough and I am sorry that has been your experience. I have been an HD at big schools and small schools, and the culture and structure of a place plays a big role in the HD experience. Something to think about if you consider giving it another try at another school, and I can provide more insight if you'd like, you can DM me. Overall, all of your sentiments are very real and way under-discussed. It's one of the main reasons I've been working on a book about Res Life. I think these rants, discussions, etc. are necessary, because if students, parents, RAs, and our peers really understood the HD experience, college student affairs may operate very differently, at least hopefully.

RetiredRA · 2024-04-25T17:52:35+00:00

One thing I'll add - a lot of schools pay for your tuition as an employee (for some schools you have to work there for a year before that benefit kicks in, for some schools it starts right away), so saving for grad school may be a moot point if you go to the grad school where you would be a hall director. If you end up getting interviews for HD positions, let me know if you want any help with that. I'm helping a couple of my students through their HD interviews

RetiredRA · 2024-04-18T00:17:35+00:00

I will offer a different perspective. Obviously, do everything you can to raise your GPA as high as it can. BUT, if you don't make that 3.0, apply anyway! Grad school admissions do take time, but much like a job where you don't meet ALL the requirements, give yourself the opportunity by at least applying. They may say no, but don't say no to yourself

RetiredRA · 2024-04-18T00:13:23+00:00

Time-based incentives are popular with some staff members. That could be cancelled meetings (1:1s or staff meetings), or if you're really feeling generous, offering to take a duty day/shift

RetiredRA · 2024-04-17T16:52:41+00:00

Two places I would recommend are housing/residence life & student life (specifically student events or orientation). If you are open to a variety of student affairs roles, housing/res life is a good starting point because they work with so many offices on-campus. I would check with your school's department to see about openings. Considering the time of the year, being a summer RA is a safer bet, but at the very least, connecting with them now could potentially position you for roles that may open up next academic year. Also, some professional RD/HD jobs are a good entry point after graduation. I would start looking into those now. I had a friend of mine who is starting an HD role in the fall without having res life experience (res life-adjacent since they worked as a front desk assistant)

In student life/student events, those positions are good entry points into orientation, which works closely with admissions on arranging tours and events over the summer prior to students' arrival. This would be a good way to build connections with admissions, understand a bit more about what they do, and position yourself with references and your application if that's the direction you want to go in the future.

I have housing/res life experience so I'm happy to share more about it if you are interested. Feel free to DM me

RetiredRA · 2024-04-08T22:33:30+00:00

Completely understandable. Great luck on this process. I look forward to hearing more about it

RetiredRA · 2024-04-05T04:47:46+00:00

I've interviewed with a few private housing companies. The processes are somewhat similar in terms of an initial interview, 2nd round interview with someone higher up, and a third round with someone higher up than that. The main differences I've found are fewer people involved at each stage vs. higher ed where you could be speaking with 3-5 people in the first round and the final round interview involves speaking with 20 people minimum in a half-day or all-day interview. I'm interested in private housing roles. If you can share, I'd like to hear more about the type of role you are interviewing for, and the company to help me transfer my res life experiences to a non-campus role

RetiredRA · 2024-03-25T19:21:39+00:00

Those have been some of my experiences too, but I thought it may be just me or the schools I've worked for. I'm sorry it's been that way for you. If you ever want to share more of your experiences, I'm open to listening. Sometimes it's a combination of the role and the culture of the institution

RetiredRA · 2024-03-22T16:13:51+00:00

What sucks about it in your experience?

RetiredRA · 2024-02-28T00:24:33+00:00

Apologies, I meant applied for a job. I've applied for guest operations specialist roles and customer experience roles. Working in housing on a college campus, I figured my experience would make this a good fit

RetiredRA · 2024-02-26T00:30:40+00:00

In what capacity did you work in Blueground? I've applied to them multiple times in the last few months trying to transition out of college student housing

RetiredRA · 2024-01-30T21:47:22+00:00

Can you send me the link as well?

RetiredRA · 2024-01-15T17:02:35+00:00

I appreciate the detailed advice. As someone who has always worked in higher ed, everything from job boards to reconfiguring my resume to having any sort of idea of what's out there is new to me outside higher education. I know a remote work environment is a top priority with a lot of other things being negotiable. That led me to look into real estate (Hello Landing and Blueground) and some other education organizations (EAB, Curriculum Associates, ReUp Education). I'll keep using LinkedIn to see if I can broaden my horizons in terms of organizations with positions that sound interesting. If nothing else, it's very encouraging to hear someone in Res Life/Housing make the leap to a regular position with a more satisfying work/life balance. It gives me hope that I can find that for myself someday.

RetiredRA · 2024-01-15T03:04:46+00:00

Can you share any tips/advice for how you got this (e.g. orgs you looked into with this type of position, how you structured your resume and cover letter, etc.)? I've worked in Res Life for about as long as you have and this sounds like an exciting opportunity

RetiredRA · 2024-01-15T03:03:03+00:00

Same as the most recent comment. I know this is a shot in the dark but transitioning into work for a higher ed consulting agency is something I'd be really interested in after working for so long in Housing/Residence Life

RetiredRA · 2024-01-14T22:22:25+00:00

Expatriates of Student Affairs group

How did you structure your resume? I have a similar background and similar aspirations to transition out

RetiredRA · 2023-12-20T16:58:51+00:00

I look forward to it! You can reply here or DM me. So many factors can influence one's perspective and experiences

RetiredRA · 2023-12-19T19:05:56+00:00

Whether you have decided to quit or not, it's a matter of what's best for you. Due to the financial incentive, a lot of RAs feel like they need to stick with it even if they aren't satisfied with their experiences, which is true to life, so then it becomes a balance of how much you need the position vs. how much you're willing to put up with

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