Current RAs Geoff Hill ’03 and Josh Daniels ’03 deliberate after conducting interviews for next year’s residnetial leaders.

By Denise Wee 
Contributing Writer

Whether the kid down the hall is blasting his music so loud that the building shakes or a little procrastination is simply needed, resident advisors (RA) are there for just those reasons. Every student has an RA for some time at Wes and may never have given thought to how or why the trustworthy hallmate down the hall got there.

RA selection process has been going on for the past few weeks, keeping the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) and RAs busy with interviews. This year there are about 80 applicants, a little more than past years. 

"We’re still in the process of finding out how many RAs we need because we’re waiting on returning staff to get back to us. Generally speaking, we’ll need about 50 RAs," said ResLife Area Coordinator Tamara Raimundi, chair of the RA selection committee.

The application process involves two essays, a group interview, and an individual interview. During the group interviews, the applicants are given a series of group activities while ResLife staff (RAs and HRs) observe how each applicant interacts with the group. The RAs and HRs take notes which are later reviewed by the RA selection committee to determine who gets hired and who does not. 

RA applicants had different reactions about their experiences with the group interviews.

"There’s definitely a little stress involved because you’re being watched, but I guess you have to rise above it," said Will Kuby ’04, who completed the group interview and was waiting
at ResLife to be interviewed individually. "I’ll be glad when the selection process is over though." 

"It was interesting for me because I felt as though I was competing with the other people in my group and as though I had to cooperate with them at the same time," said Gretchen Krebs
’04.

"I had my interview on Sunday," said Vikram Maniar ’03. "It was a blast. They were definitely watching us, but it wasn’t as though it was some kind of pressure cooker situation. One of the HRs was taking notes quietly while the other one was cracking jokes."

Many RA applicants wonder what qualities ResLife looks for in the group interview.

"The main goal is to see how they interact with other people, to find out whether a person listens, or if the person tends to cut others off," said Adam Dumey, an HR involved in the group interviews. "We’re looking for people who can work with others and people who are able to handle more than one thing at a time, because that’s what an RA has to do a lot of the time... and also people who are not close-minded, who are willing to understand others, because lots of times you meet people who are different and have to try to see things from their viewpoint."

The final step after the group interviews is the individual ones.

"The applicants are interviewed by one RA committee member, one central staff member and one regular RA. The interviews last for about an hour and [give] us a feel for how they would handle situations," Raimundi said.

The individual interviews give the applicants a chance to meet with the RAs and ResLife staff one more time.

"The applicants have more than one chance, at least if they don’t fare so well in the group interview, they still have a chance in the individual interview. Also, there is more than one person evaluating each applicant," said Souleymane Ba, an RA involved in both the individual interviews and the group interviews.

Selecting the RAs involves the efforts of the ResLife staff, RAs, HRs, and the Dean’s Office, which has the opportunity to participate and provide input. After the interviews, the RA selection committee reviews notes and makes recommendations. These recommendations are then reviewed by the Director, Assistant Director and Area Coordinator of ResLife, who have the final say in choosing those late-night listeners down every frosh hall.