Residential Advisors

Also Called:

Residence Hall Director,

Residence Life Director,

Resident Assistant,

Resident Director

What they do: Coordinate activities in resident facilities in secondary school and college dormitories, group homes, or similar establishments. Order supplies and determine need for maintenance, repairs, and furnishings. May maintain household records and assign rooms. May assist residents with problem solving or refer them to counseling resources.

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Human Services

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Communicate with other staff to resolve problems with individual students.
  • Observe students to detect and report unusual behavior.
  • Supervise, train, and evaluate residence hall staff, including resident assistants, participants in work-study programs, and other student workers.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.

Adaptability/Flexibility

Concern for Others

Self Control

Cooperation

Integrity

Leadership

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

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Social

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Conventional

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Enterprising

Knowledge

People who want to pursue this career have knowledge in these areas.

Business

  • Customer service

  • Management

Safety and Government

  • Public safety and security

  • Law and government

Education and Training

  • Teaching and course design

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Verbal

  • Communicate by speaking

  • Listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • Notice when problems happen

  • Use rules to solve problems

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements

Social

  • Understanding people's reactions

  • Changing what is done based on other people's actions

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Work Values

Work values describe how your core beliefs align with those commonly needed for this career.

Relationships

Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment. Corresponding needs are Co-workers, Moral Values and Social Service.

Independence

Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.

Support

Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research
  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career
2. Plan your next move

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop