Congratulations on stepping into the RA role! You are in for a very exciting ride, everyone’s experience is different but I am confident yours will be unique and special in its own way. Something that is pretty consistent across universities though is that you will begin to have 1-on-1 meetings with your supervisor.
A 1-on-1 is a meeting between you and your supervisor that is held in a regular cadence, most often weekly or bi-weekly. These meetings happen consistently and a lot of supervisors will say something like “this is your time”. I am hoping to shed some light for you on what in the world that means and how you can use your 1-on-1 time in a way that will set you up for success.
Come With Questions
Your 1-on-1 is the time to get questions answered. Residence Life supervisors are busy people who want to be able to prioritize you, but who are consistently brought into urgent situations. So that email you sent asking about how to purchase event supplies will quickly get knocked down in their priority list when they have also are managing a roommate conflict that ended in a fist fight, a parent whose students room was impacted by a flood, and also are being asked to go track down a student who no one has seen in two weeks.
Find a place where you can consistently write down questions that come up for you (or from your residents). Think about what is coming up this week, next week, or a month from now. What information do you need or what is unclear for you about what you have to do? Write all those down in the place you are keeping your questions. I like to keep these in a draft email. Then in my 1-on-1 I can go through them with my supervisor, anything that we don’t get to are then easy to email to my supervisor that they can answer when they have a chance. Let me be clear, if there is a resident concern or a crisis occurring make sure to take the outlined steps in your crisis response training.
Share When It Isn’t A Big Deal
Do you have a resident coming to you complaining about their roommate, but they say it isn’t that big of a deal? Or perhaps sharing that a class is becoming way more than they expected and they are starting to fall behind? Or maybe that they are really missing home? Share what is happening with your residents when something isn’t a problem, you and your supervisor can game plan what kind of support you can give your residents together. Maybe your supervisor knows that other RAs have shared that their residents are really struggling with homesickness – boom, now we are running a recipe club where people are sharing meals that remind them of home. Maybe your supervisor knows of a bunch of other students who are also struggling with classes because they are way more than they expected – wowza, we are now running a weekly study hall with a campus partner who is an expert in academic organization.
This goes with dynamics within the staff as well! Is there another RA who you have noticed is not showing up to their duty rounds with you? Maybe they said something that isn’t sitting well with you? Perhaps your personalities just clash? It happens. Your supervisor is someone who can help you to navigate those conversations and also who will be able to address the behaviors that do not align with the expectations of the role as needed.
Ask For Feedback (and expect to get some)
Most schools have a formal feedback process called performance reviews (usually at the end of the semester and end of the academic year where everything is written down and added to an employment file), however feedback is often an ongoing practice. Did you turn in a duty log for the first time? Maybe a new event request? Perhaps you had a roommate mediation that you feel unsure about how you handled it? Ask your supervisor to share any changes they want to see in the future or where you are knocking it out of the park in those areas! Some supervisors may prioritize this on their own and come to the space with feedback to share with you already, but you should also be checking in with them about how you are doing.
Seek Support For The Hard Stuff
I hope with every bone of my body that you don’t have to handle any hard, emotional situations during your time as an RA. If you do, your 1-on-1 is a place for you to be able to find support in navigating it. Be honest with your supervisor about how you are feeling and handling the aftermath of hard, emotional situations. Advocate for spaciousness if you need it, this could be taking a weekend away from campus or (my favorite from being an RA) taking a weekend on campus where my residents thought I was gone.
Brag On Yourself (and keep a record)
You had an amazing point of connection with a resident where you really got through to them? Tell your supervisor! You had all of your residents come to your floor dinner? Tell your supervisor! You were able to finagle things in your event budget and only spent half the money you thought you needed? Tell your supervisor! My personal prerogative is that if I don’t tell my supervisor, no one else will. When it comes to performance reviews, it will be helpful for your supervisor to have some examples to point to about how great you are.
You should also keep track of these for yourself. They will be helpful to have on hand if you are reapplying to be an RA next year or are doing a performance review that has a self-reflection. You will do so many great things so it will be hard to remember it all, so jot it down in a document or something that you will have access to long term! These can also be really helpful to have when you are done being an RA for resume updates or preparing for interviews too.
Seriously, These Things Work
All of these are practices that I have kept with me, even now outside of the university. Knowing how to make the most of a supervision space is something that will serve you well so no matter what you do after you are done being an RA and it is something that no one really teaches you. You will figure out in time what you find most valuable and the systems that will work best for you. Remember, you got this!
