APRIL 2013

Ap r i l 2013

Hiring Professional Staff in Residence

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Hiring Pro Staff As the weather warms up and the students move out the job postings start to come in. From facilities to programming, this issue will give you some insight to what some of the hiring managers are looking for.

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WESTERN UNIVERSITY Make sure your hiring processes get the attention they deserve.

With full days and a never-ending “to do” list, there can be a tendency to rush the process of selecting and hiring new Housing professionals, especially if you think a potential candidate may get snapped up by another institution. My advice … slow down! Consider the math. Hiring an RLC at an average salary (with full benefits) for a three-year contract, then providing an investment of your time in training along with a few learning /development opportunities, will cost you ¼ million dollars! Your human capital warrants the same scrutiny you‟d give to $250,000 capital expenditures in renovations.

to work alongside each day? Trust your intuition. It‟s usually not wrong.

Certainly the old adage of past performance being a good indicator of future behaviour still holds true. Pay attention to values and watch for them during the selection process. Values influence attitudes which, in turn, influence behavior. Attitudes aren‟t easily changed and they can have a significant impact on a team. The applicant‟s values need to align with your own department‟s values and culture; otherwise, it won‟t be a good fit for either of you.

In selecting new residence life professionals, keep in mind that being a stellar RA or Don doesn‟t necessarily equate to being an excellent RLC. It might … but the job requirements, skills and abilities may be quite different.

Think through the strengths (and possibly weak areas) of other members of your team, and seek to build both bench strength and breadth of experience and skills.

Lastly, consider your longer-term residence system goals.

Trust me, a good hire pays dividends over the long run as you build a strong, capable team one person at a time.

For your institution‟s talent management, make sure you‟re hiring the best possible person equipped with the necessary competencies to do the job well. It‟s not only outcomes that warrant attention, but also an individual‟s style and approach. Remember … the soft skills are the hard skills to learn. Though she or he may be able to get Peggy Wakabayashi the job done, is it a person who you, yourself, would like Director of Residences

process for me. The interview process has evolved into a carousel of stations with unique activities for the candidate at each one. For me the most critical aspect of the Hiring is one of the most crucial functions that a manager process is the one on one interview with the candidate will perform in the course of their duties in any industry, I where I try to get to know them on a personal level. I really want to get a feel for their personality; their backwould argue that the importance of the right hire is even more crucial when full time, live in, residence life staff are ground and hobbies; I want to know what makes them involved. I have spent the last 15 springs recruiting, inter- tick. If I have done it right I will have an understanding of their ability to adapt and compliment the culture, their fit viewing and hiring for those exact positions and I have with the current team and what unique qualities they can learned a few lessons along the way. The Laurier resibring to Laurier. dence life program has benefited from my successes in this area but by the same token has been set back by hirThe interview process is crucial because this person is ing the wrong person at the wrong time on a few occanot only being evaluated to work at the institution but to sions. live here as well, they must be willing to engage the comFor me, the most important aspect of hiring this particular munity on multiple levels in every way. I am looking for person is to find the candidate that is a fit with the particu- someone who will be successful in that context, someone who can‟t wait to open their apartment door in the mornlar culture on campus. Laurier is a unique place, as all post secondary campuses are, the ability to fill a vacancy ing to start their day engaging students in their commuwith the right personality to compliment the culture is cru- nity, even after a long night on call or attending residence cial to the success of the candidate and the program long programs. So much is predicated on the right person to term. There are dozens of qualified candidates available lead the community and the interview process is crucial to finding the right fit. each cycle but that does not mean they are all predisposed to be successful on any particular campus, fit has always been the most crucial element for Laurier.

Chris Dodd Evaluating a candidate‟s ability to fit into and more impor- Director, Residence tantly compliment the campus culture has been a learning

WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY

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McMASTER UNIVERSITY A Team Approach Team decisions are the backbone of the Residence Life Office at McMaster, so it is no surprise that McMaster uses a collaborative approach to recruit, select, and orient new Professional staff members to our office.

Four guiding principles are used to ensure the best decisions are made: Team Involvement, Team Evaluation, Team Deliberation, and Team Recommendation. These principles help to ensure that a fair and consistent process is experienced by applicants. It also ensures the values of the office and department are upheld while reflecting them to those wanting to join us in completing the important work we do with students. To uphold these four principles, members of the management team take part in all step of the hiring process, aside from reference checks.

A $200,000 Investment in Student Money What are the things you need to know in order to confidently make a $200,000 investment of student money?

Although it may not sound like a typical way to think about a hiring decision in essence hiring a new full time professional staff member comes down to making a decision that is going to be a huge investment of student money. Therefore, it is vital to know that the decision that is made is worth the investment for both the students of today and the students of future years.

Beyond Qualifications – Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill Before this investment is made, it is vital to gain as much perspective on both a candidate‟s specific qualifications as well as who each candidate is as a person. Although „what‟ someone has done is important, it is often „why‟ and „how‟ something is completed that is more important in hiring decisions. Finally, the team at McMaster also approaches each interview as an opportunity to gather A hiring team at McMaster is always comprised of the Residence Life Management Team, Residence Life Stu- new ideas and strategies to strengthen our approach to dent Staff, and a member of our Inter Residence Council. enhancing the student experience. Every selection process is viewed as an opportunity for personal and profesHowever, the definition of team also extends to a wide range of other individuals from across the institution who sional development. we work closely with to enhance student success. ProfesThere are many factors that come into play, when hiring a sional staff that have recently assisted with hiring have new professional. A good hiring process comes down to come from our Student Wellness Centre, Student Success Centre, Office of Student Conduct and Community identifying your institutional values, precise planning, inStandards, and Security Services. As a result, the interviting others to help inform the best decision, and team view panel is made up of a diverse group of professional trust. While the first three factors can be expedited the and student staff providing a variety of perspectives and a last factor needs to be established and maintained constrong assessment of the candidate‟s overall performstantly over the years. . Our approach is only possible ance. Each member of the interview process evaluates all candidates on a set of clear criteria and has the oppor- due to the trust that each team member has in each other tunity to offer comments, observations, or questions dur- and the confidence that is shared between all members ing a team deliberation. After a review of the candidate‟s of our group to select, orient, coach, and support the work complete performance through all segments of the selec- we do together each and every day. tion process a recommended order of ranking is established collaboratively. The Residence Life Coordinator proceeds with specific reference checks and offers of emKevin Beatty ployment.

Residence Life Coordinator

for example) may be challenged in their first year to adapt to that model when there are so many other variables/ transitions at play. Despite a significant amount of experience, if there isn‟t overlap in the models or the ability to Experience matters...but does a specific type of experiadapt one‟s experience, during stressful times the incumence matter more? Some of the best and most experienced residence life staff will apply for your open profes- bent may revert back to their own experience or prior sional position. How can you tell if their experience will be model. the right fit for your institution? From my experience, one aspect I‟ve notice is that residence life staff coming from one system of conduct to a very different type of system Laura Storey of conduct (educational sanctions to a fine-based system Director, Housing

TRENT UNIVERSITY

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program, and help develop a question set to bring in to the process for those areas you remain unsure about.

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO “Hire good people.”

2) Authenticity.

This is one of the first, best, and most thought provoking pieces of advice I‟ve ever received on the topic of recruitment and hiring. When I heard it I remember thinking, “Of course. That seems like a simple enough objective; that‟s what I‟m trying to do. But… how do I achieve it? And what does „good‟ mean?”

For Housing professionals a sizeable, sometimes overwhelming amount of time is set aside each year for hiring processes. The staff numbers, additional time, and resources required to complete these tasks are significant, requiring lots of planning and balance with our other day-to-day operational obligations. Automatic email replies – Subject line: “In Staff Interviews – will respond a.s.a.p.”- are a common refrain in our departments throughout the winter and into the early spring.

There are long hours, stressors and pressure to make the best possible decisions. Suffice it to say that much is invested in to these very important processes of our programs‟ life cycles.

Your responses should be well-rounded, demonstrate reflection, learning and knowledge application, and present a strong sense of self. What do I mean? Be as honest, open and clear about your growth areas and failures as you are about your strengths and accomplishments.

This can be a challenging thing to do, but it is often an indication of self-confidence and integrity. Authenticity in your responses will help you to connect and can shape the typical back and forth interview scheme into a more valuable, informative, and relationship building dialogue between you and the hiring manager.

3) The interview environment.

As a hiring manager I believe there is (or ought to be) as much pressure to be a good interviewer as there is pressure on the candidate to give a good interview. It has been important for me to remember that, while I am in the position to make an employment offer, the candidate has a choice of whether or not to accept it. The truth is that we are both being interviewed. As a candidate strive I have been asked to share my personal experience, considerations, and lessons learned, specifically as they to be conscious of this truth and critically reflect on whether the position, team, and program you are applyrelate to professional staff hiring, and I will endeavor to ing to will offer the experiences and challenges you are do just (and only) that. I appreciate the limited scope since the potential number of hiring theories, best prac- looking for long term. The question set you developed in your preparations will be helpful here. tices, processes, experiences and opinions are as numerous and as varied as the number of hiring managers – and sadly I was never very good at Finite math. Simply Staff hiring decisions are some of the most important put: every hiring manager has their own style and every and impactful decisions an organization can make. For me, “hire good people” has come to mean making hiring program has its own hiring methods. decisions based on two considerations: recruiting candidates with the skill set and performance characteristics So, here are just a few observations and lessons I‟ve that best match my program‟s mission and priorities; and learned through my own experiences as a hiring manager that you are welcome to share with those consider- ensuring that the successful applicant will have the opportunity to regularly be challenged and to build on their ing next-step opportunities or who are new to profesprofessional knowledge in their new role. sional staff hiring processes: As a candidate, your preparation, understanding of the position and program, ability to articulate your experi1) Being prepared. ences, qualities and learning both clearly and concisely Find out what they‟re about. Beyond what is written in will all go a long way to helping you make a good imthe job description, how much do you know about the pression and ensure that the hiring manager has as position, team, and department you are applying to? much information as possible to make an informed decision How are they structured? What do they value? What are on your candidacy. their objectives and priorities for the year ahead; what about the next 5-10 years? How does the position you‟re applying for fit in to that bigger picture? Researching the Alex Piticco position and taking the time to find out about your poten- Director, Student Development and Residence Life tial employer will provide broader context for the job, give you an idea of how well you might complement the

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ENOP Network

Dan Cantiller

with

ENOP Network tweet-chat #5 recap The next ENOP Network tweet-chat will be on Tues. Jan 15th from 12pm-1pm EST. The topic will be on common learning and challenges experienced in the first couple of years in professional housing roles, and how mid- and upper-level professionals assist/support them. The preparation document and questions will be made available by Tues. Jan 8th. Hope you‟ll join us in the new year for more engaging discussions! On Tuesday, April 16th, the fifth tweet-chat for the Engaging New OACUHO Professionals (ENOP) Network was held, this time on the topic of “Transitional Documents: Sharing knowledge and lessons learned”. (View report here.) Four contributors joined for this edition of the chat, discussing kinds of transition and end-of-year reports they had and their uses. Transition documents are an exercise that both student staff and professionals can engage in, capturing the work from the year, reporting on progress, and reflecting on improvements and future directions. These can be helpful for people assuming new roles, as well as reporting externally.

The next ENOP tweet-chat will be on Tuesday, April 30th, regarding how to make the most of your OACUHO conference experience. Contributors will be invited to share questions and advice about optimizing their learning and networking effectively at a professional conference. Conference presenters will also be welcome to preview their upcoming sessions. The recap report from the April 30 th tweet-chat will be included in the OACUHO Spring Conference edition of the Pulse! Hope to see/meet many of you at the OACUHO Spring Conference in May at Queen‟s University! In the meantime, folks are welcome to add their information to the ENOP members‟ document and join the Facebook group.

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OACUHO’s Living Learning Communities Network Are you interested in Living Learning Communities?

Interested in seeking out professional development resources and opportunities related to Living Learning Communities?

Living Learning Communities have been, and continue to be a developing component within residence education programming.

Through facilitating an online space for best practices dialogue, social media engagement, and professional development opportunities, OACUHO’s Living Learning Communities network is a fantastic way for members to engage colleagues across the region in exploring best practices within Living Learning Communities, share resources and discover new professional development opportunities.

Find us on Facebook Join the listserv: Email Shari Walsh (shari.walsh@humber.ca) - PAGE 6 -

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