Within your role in Residence Life as a student leader there can be turnover. Sometimes a fellow student leader needs to step away, leaving a position that needs to be filled. Depending on the timing of this occurrence, it is typical for the now open role to be offered to a student leader candidate from the “Alternate List”.
What is an alternate list?
An alternate list, which could be called something else if your department chooses to call it something else, is a list of student leader candidates that were okay, good, or even great candidates who were not able to be hired initially. Being selected from the alternate list does not reflect a lack of ability or commitment. Instead, it often reflects limited availability of roles at the time of hiring, which is commonly seen in the RA role.
How should a student leader best handle a new team member joining a pre-existing team?
When a new student leader joins a team mid-year, the team dynamic can feel awkward or uneven at first. How current team members respond can significantly impact the new member’s confidence, sense of belonging, and success.
Here are a few ways you, as a fellow student leader, can intentionally support a new team member:
- Show kindness. Joining mid-year can feel intimidating. Small acts of patience and encouragement go a long way. Say hello when you see the new staff member in the hall, introduce yourself, and ask them what they need!
- Remember what it was like to be new.
It can be easy to reflect back when you’re done with something and remember only certain aspects of it. Try to remember how you felt when you first started as an RA, what it was like doing your first set of duty rounds, and how you navigated your first incident report. It may have been overwhelming because you wanted to do a great job. Think about what would have made these things easier for you the first time through and offer that to the new hire. If it was super easy for you when you started, consider that you likely got a few weeks of RA training before you began, which is something a new hire may not get the opportunity to experience, if they are starting midyear. - Invite them in. Include them in conversations, meetings, and social moments. Especially consider the informal moments that help team bonding occur. The team I currently supervise has a group chat that I’m not in, where they basically just “yap” and plan lunch trips to the dining hall together. Invite the new hire into that chat, if you have one!
- Lead by example. Demonstrate expectations through your actions rather than assuming they already know the culture or norms. The new hire has likely never planned a building wide event before, show them the ropes.
- Be a role model. Professionalism, accountability, and care for residents are often learned by observation. Act appropriately and serve as a great RA. This will show the new hire how to best fill this aspect of the role.
- Offer guidance. Answer questions, explain routines, and share tips you wish you had known earlier. When I was an RA, a new hire started half way through the year and she expressed feeling nervous about writing an incident report. This was something I had done a lot of in my previous semester, so I invited her to write her first incident report with me. I was able to offer guidance about the expected writing style, which was way different than a normal way of writing a story, and she got her IR submitted. At our next team meeting, she shared with the team that it had helped her a lot, which made me feel good about myself as a student leader.
- Communicate with your supervisor. If concerns or questions arise, loop in your supervisor early to ensure the new team member has the support they need. As a peer, there is only so much you can do to help. You can share your wisdom, but giving critical feedback can be hard. For example, if you notice the new RA failing to clean up after themselves it would be good to share “here’s where we put paper we are done using it and we always need to clean up after ourselves” is within the scope of your role, but if they choose to ignore you and say “who cares” or just ignores you that would be appropriate to share with your supervisor, so that the supervisor can follow up.
- Keep in mind- They are refilling an empty role, not replacing a person. When a new team member joins, it is usually because someone had to leave and not because a new position was created. It can be easy to think back to the times with that other person and feel bummed that they are no longer on your RA team, but it is important that you remember that this new person on the team didn’t have anything to do with your former team member. Rather, this new person is filling the empty position. Nobody is replacing the person you used to work with, but the position needs to be filled in order to best serve the residents.
Welcoming a new student leader mid-year is not just about filling a position. It’s about creating an environment where everyone can succeed together.
