How To Become A Residence Hall Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a residence hall director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Many people look back and think of their college years as some of the most exciting time in their lives. Would you like to help guide young people through this important time in their lives? You can do just that by becoming a residence hall director. Residence hall directors are live-in, professional staff members responsible for the daily operations of residence halls or on-campus apartments.

Residence hall directors perform a wide range of responsibilities in order to promote a harmonious and engaging campus environment. They are responsible for managing student behaviour in the halls, responding to incidents and pursuing appropriate administrative or student conduct actions, assessing student needs and interests, and providing academic, social, and cultural activities. These directors may also be fiscally responsible for hall operational and social accounts.

To become a residence hall director, a Bachelor's degree and previous residence life experience are typically required. Some employers prefer candidates with a Master's degree in higher education administration and supervisory experience.

ScoreResidence Hall DirectorUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,193

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.1

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.71%

Asian 4.69%

Black or African American 12.22%

Hispanic or Latino 13.06%

Unknown 4.07%

White 65.25%

Gender

female 53.07%

male 46.93%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress level

8.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a residence hall director

Explore residence hall director education requirements

Most common residence hall director degrees

Bachelor's

73.2 %

Master's

18.5 %

Associate

4.0 %

Start to develop specific residence hall director skills

Skills	Percentages
Residence Life	12.39%
Desk Assistants	7.29%
Student Development	6.46%
Community Development	6.07%
Student Conduct	3.89%

Complete relevant residence hall director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New residence hall directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a residence hall director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real residence hall director resumes.

Research residence hall director duties and responsibilities

Motivate, train and lead a team of nine ministry coordinators.
Develop nightly social programs and weekly educational programs to encourage healthy lifestyle choices and embracement of multicultural diversity.
Direct resident relations by providing oversight of resident retention, leasing and marketing programs.
Cultivate, coordinate, and assist in the development of student leadership and responsibility through programming and direct involvement with students.

Get residence hall director experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a residence hall director. The most common roles before becoming a residence hall director include resident assistant, internship team lead and graduate assistant.

Prepare your residence hall director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your residence hall director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a residence hall director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable residence hall director resume templates

Build a professional residence hall director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your residence hall director resume.