Many students, including myself during my undergrad years, take on the RA or similar student staff role for financial reasons, to build connections, and/or to make a meaningful impact. However, the responsibilities of your RA role may not always align with your career or academic program. As a result, many graduating RAs, third-year RAs, and those of you who are already contemplating your next steps may struggle to express the skills and experiences you’ve gained in the RA position and how the skills apply to your desired position(s) or field(s). This suggests that you should advocate to your Housing and Residence Life department about not only focusing on training you to be a RA, but also on effectively offboarding you. Teaching you how to market the transferable skills you’ve acquired as a RA.
As a RA, you’ve probably received extensive training, maybe a week or even two weeks with evening activities included, on how to be a successful in the position. Yet you may find it challenging to articulate the learned skills and experiences during the rehire process or a job interview. The skills learned from RA training and gained through your experience as a RA are highly transferable. They can include:
- time management
- communication
- public speaking
- recognition and appreciation
- mental health awareness
- conflict mediation
- policy enforcement
- customer service
- teamwork
- leadership, and more.
While these skills may not provide specific technical knowledge in fields like medicine, law, architecture, or engineering, they are crucial for success in a variety of careers.
It’s essential to know how to communicate effectively, delegate tasks, navigate miscommunication, work as part of a team, provide feedback, report information, think creatively, and make decisions. These marketable skills are learned and developed in your RA role. But the challenge arises when you cannot recognize or apply these skills to your desired position(s) or program(s). If you struggle to translate your RA experience to your career goals, seek guidance from your supervisor or a mentor. They can review your resume alongside the job or program description and help you highlight relevant skills, accomplishments, and initiatives from your RA role.
I recommend using resources like How to Describe RA Experience on a Resume (from Lewis and Clark College). This resource can help you better understand how to tailor your resume for your position or program of interest. Visiting the Career Center on your campus and/or meeting with a mentor or supervisor to review your resume, will help you setup your application materials in such a way that skills that relates to the position or program you’re applying for stand out. This can help you remain confident during interviews and understand the significance of the skills you’ve learned.
Since higher education institutions are dedicated to the holistic development of students, you should work with and advocate to your department on how to best support you and your fellow RAs, particularly if you’re returning to or transitioning out of the role. This support could include new in-service training and/or framing one-on-one meetings to help you leverage your work experience, skills, and knowledge to achieve your career goals.
Younna Gooden (she/her/hers) has worked in higher education, specifically Housing and Residence Life for for ten years and currently serves as the Senior Associate Director in the department of Housing and Residence Life at The University of Memphis. Younna completed her undergraduate studies at The University Mississippi, better known as Ole Miss, and her M.S.Ed. at California State University, Fullerton. She has a commitment to leadership, keen sense of duty, adept gift of kind-yet-effective communication, and unwavering ability to push on even when times are tough. Younna enjoys watching anime, building Legos, gaming, and at times reading a good book with some tea.
