from the desk of... candidate 4

In Their Shoes

I had dinner the other night with some friends who work in Residence Life Department at a university. I was their boss once, back when I was a Assistant Hall Director and they were just first year Resident Assistants. Now they were veteran RAs with almost three years of experience under their belt.

I asked them to tell me stories of dealing with residents or putting on programs, anything that would place me in their world rather than the outsider I felt like.

All of them looked gloomy and started venting about petty problems and fleeting annoyances: a resident was writing on all the walls and getting into arguments, another resident was busted for forging his ID, a coworker was caught drinking with other residents. Small incidents magnified into dramatic aggravations. That’s Residence Life for ya. My friends could hardly wait to leave. I could hardly wait to get back in.

“You complain now,” I tell them. “But you’ll miss it when you’re gone.”

“Nah, they told me the same thing about high school,” one replied. “And I haven’t missed that yet.”

“Just be thankful that you have a job with great benefits," I said. "I mean what else can you do that pays for your room and board and helps you through college?”

“That’s true. I’m not looking forward to paying bills,” she replied. “I believe I will miss the moments I shared with coworkers, but dealing with residents, I just feel like I’m past that.”

It’s not for everyone. And if student development is not your main career focus and your passion, it’s difficult to enjoy. I remember, I was there once. Back when I was an Assistant Hall Director, I was so focused on getting a degree that the work in Residence Life seemed like a distraction. The job was getting in the way of my career goals.

But now that I’m choosing Residence Life as a career, and it means something so much more. The little things don’t sound so bothersome. In fact, that’s what you expect and embrace the opportunity to work with those kind of challenges. They sound – dare I say – adventurous.

I wish I was in their shoes.