Jobs offer important experience, skill sets

As the end of the school year gets closer, students are beginning to consider where they will live in the fall. This is only slightly more important than choosing where you will work. For some students, this could be the same place.

“The experiences these students get while working in housing are one of a kind,” said Alaina Barth, the coordinator for staff recruitment and development for the Department of Housing and Residential Education.

During the academic year, University housing has four positions opened to students. These include resident advisor, office assistant, resident advisor mentor and community manager.

To be an RA or an office assistant, you must have a grade point average of 2.5. If your GPA is at least 2.7 and you have been an RA or office assistant for at least a year, you can apply for one of the elevated positions: community manager or RA mentor.

Many students apply for the chance to be an RA. Besides the GPA requirement, students must have two recommendations, one of which is written by a previous housing staff member. They must also provide quality answers to several essay prompts. Barth said that 500 students applied for the position this year.

“That’s the most we’ve ever had,” Barth said.

Of the new applicants, 115 will be selected after the weekend screening and interview process. These lucky students will make up half of the total number of RAs on campus for the upcoming fall semester.

“RAs really set the tone for the year,” said Josh Alexander, Morrison Community Director. “They are there to help if there’s a problem.”

Barth and Alexander both listed conflict mediation, time management, crisis management and collaboration as skills the RAs may find useful. They can build these through previous experiences and personal interaction with the students on their floor.

“The position’s really what you make of it,” Alexander explained.

Once you have completed a year as an RA, you become eligible to hold the RA mentor position. RA mentors live in the community to provide additional leadership to the RAs and assist them in event planning and execution.

If living on a dorm is not for you, try applying for an office assistant position. Students who work in the housing community offices do not have to be residents but simply UNC students.

According to Alexander, office assistants are there to provide a customer service environment. “I think our office assistants are really the face of the community,” he said. He explained that they provide instant response when an RA may not be available.

Molly Emmett, an office assistant in the Morrison Community, describes some of her duties as entering data in a computer, administrative organization and making residents’ days a little smoother.

If you have already held one of these posts, you can apply to be a community manager. They primarily supervise office assistants, run the office desk and handle receipt management. Since the RAs must work a few times a week, community managers must manage and coordinate these shifts. There are several RAs and office assistants within each community who divide up the work.
Jobs in housing are slightly different over the summer.

In the summer of 2010, there were two positions available. Summer assistants covered the duties of a normal office assistant but also checked rooms for the UNC summer camps. Community assistants, which Barth called the catchall position, provide everything from linens to staffing plans. These jobs are advertised in March and hired by early April in preparation for the summer sessions.

“The benefits are ongoing. I don’t think the benefits end after the position ends,” Barth said of the RA job. She says employers will recognize the skill and training that goes into becoming an RA on their resumes. Besides these skills, Alexander says RAs have the opportunity to attend workshops to help them with their resumes and interview skills.

“I made a lot of friends and I’ve really enjoyed it,” Emmett said.

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