What does a Residence Director do?
A Residence Director serves as the supervisor of a residence hall community on campus. They supervise the day-to-day operations of a residence hall, including staff supervision, organizational planning, programming, and counseling.
Residence director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real residence director resumes:
- Motivate, train and lead a team of nine ministry coordinators.
- Train 40 staff members on effective communication, mediation and conflict resolution and judicial affairs.
- Attend CPR and medication trainings.
- Collaborate with work base learning coordinators in the development, maintenance of job sites.
- Mediate roommate conflicts to provide effective customer service and promote a positive living experience.
- Conduct disciplinary and peer mediation sessions.
- Create and implement dorm parent evaluation program.
- Develop programs to meet the diverse needs of multicultural university students.
- Advise multicultural groups and assist in programming the entire university community.
- Provide oversight of property management, personnel administration, and provision of resident services.
- Direct resident relations by providing oversight of resident retention, leasing and marketing programs.
- Create and institute several new initiatives: a new dress code, behavioral achievement rewards, and anti-theft systems in dorms.
- Advise RHA and its subcommittees.
- Implement a new RHA program design, motivate members and collaborate with campus officials to coordinate events.
- Conduct bi-weekly staff meetings and train the trainers and conduct ADL in the dorms with students.
Residence director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 7% of Residence Directors are proficient in State Regulations, Customer Service, and Oversight. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Residence Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- State Regulations, 7%
Audited clinical records to ensure that the facility maintained records within state regulations.
- Customer Service, 6%
Provided exceptional customer service to residents including maintenance and social programming in order to provide the best living environments.
- Oversight, 5%
Provided oversight of property management, personnel administration, and provision of resident services.
- Medication Management, 5%
Facilitate admissions and discharges, patient care, care plan meetings, medication management and obtaining physicians orders and referrals.
- Medication Administration, 5%
Coordinate resident care plans, supervise the medication administration and/or assistance with self-administration of medication programs as required by state law.
- Memory Care, 5%
Maintained consistent occupancy and profitability at Memory Care residence with previous history of success.
Common skills that a residence director uses to do their job include "state regulations," "customer service," and "oversight." You can find details on the most important residence director responsibilities below.
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for a residence director to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what residence directors do because "postsecondary education administrators need to build good relationships with colleagues, students, and parents." Additionally, a residence director resume shows how residence directors use interpersonal skills: "supported and made referrals to campus resources for residents with academic and wellness needs, roommate conflicts, and interpersonal concerns. "
Organizational skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling residence director duties is organizational skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "administrators need to be organized so they can manage records, prioritize tasks, and coordinate activities with their staff." According to a residence director resume, here's how residence directors can utilize organizational skills in their job responsibilities: "assisted student leaders and student organizations with leadership training and organizational development. "
Problem-solving skills. residence directors are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to residence director responsibilities, because "administrators need to react calmly when a difficult situation arises and develop creative solutions." A residence director resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "responded to and resolved emergency situations on campus; conflict mediation and resolution. "
The three companies that hire the most residence directors are:
- Watermark Retirement Communities17 residence directors jobs
- Commonwealth Senior Living12 residence directors jobs
- Marriott International6 residence directors jobs
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Compare different residence directors
Residence director vs. Community advisor
The duties of a community advisor depend on their line of work or place of employment. In universities, a community advisor plays a vital role in helping residing students attain a positive learning and living environment. Their responsibilities typically include meeting with residents to identify their needs, providing assistance in academic and community concerns, answering inquiries, and resolving issues promptly and efficiently. Furthermore, a community advisor may develop programs or projects for the residents, all while adhering to the university's policies and regulations.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, residence director responsibilities require skills like "state regulations," "customer service," "oversight," and "medication management." Meanwhile a typical community advisor has skills in areas such as "energy efficiency," "strategic communications," "press releases," and "communications plan." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, community advisors reach lower levels of education than residence directors. Community advisors are 6.9% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Residence director vs. Dormitory counselor
Each career also uses different skills, according to real residence director resumes. While residence director responsibilities can utilize skills like "state regulations," "customer service," "oversight," and "medication management," dormitory counselors use skills like "social work," "education plan," "cpr," and "therapeutic crisis."
In general, dormitory counselors achieve similar levels of education than residence directors. They're 1.3% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Residence director vs. Cottage parent
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, residence directors are more likely to have skills like "state regulations," "customer service," "oversight," and "medication management." But a cottage parent is more likely to have skills like "foster care," "behavioral issues," "independent living," and "administer medications."
Cottage parents typically earn lower educational levels compared to residence directors. Specifically, they're 13.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 2.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Residence director vs. House parent
Even though a few skill sets overlap between residence directors and house parents, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a residence director might have more use for skills like "state regulations," "customer service," "oversight," and "medication management." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of house parents require skills like "foster care," "direct care," "cpr," and "child care. "
In general, house parents hold lower degree levels compared to residence directors. House parents are 11.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of residence director
Updated January 8, 2025
