Fort Hays State University seeks a Director of Residential Life to provide
leadership and vision for the Department of Residential Life and create a
residential environment consistent with the goals of the University and the
Division of Student Affairs. Fort Hays State University is a liberal and
applied arts, state-assisted institution with an enrollment of more than 9,000
students and is located in Hays, Kansas.

Under the administrative
direction of the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, the Director of
Residential Life:  

1. Is responsible for all
   programmatic and operations management of four halls and two apartment
   complexes, housing approximately 1200 residents.   
   
2. Supervises two professional Hall Directors,
   one graduate Hall Director, one undergraduate hall director, three undergraduate
   resident managers, three undergraduate assistant hall directors, two
   undergraduate apartment managers, two professional administrative assistants and
   40+ student paraprofessional staff members.   
   
3. Directs residential learning initiatives,
   training, assessment, and operations.   
   
4. Possesses a strong understanding of student development theory, as well
   as issues facing student populations, utilizing this information to shape the
   Departmental activities and interactions with staff and student residents.   
   

Below you will find the position description. The
position will begin July 1, 2009.  We will begin reviewing applications on June
1, 2009, with applications received by this date receiving priority
consideration.  Applications received after this date may be considered until
the position is filled.

If you or potential candidates have any questions about FHSU,
Hays, the position, or selection process, please feel free to contact Shana Meyer at slmeyer@fhsu.edu or at 785-628-5824.

DIRECTOR OF
RESIDENTIAL LIFE
POSITION DESCRIPTION

General
Description
The Director of
Residential Life is responsible for providing leadership and vision for the
Department of Residential Life and creating a residential environment consistent
with the goals of the University and the Division of Student Affairs. Under the
administrative direction of the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs,
the Director of Residential Life:  s responsible for all programmatic and
operations management of four halls and two apartment complexes, housing
approximately 1200 residents. Supervises two professional Hall Directors, one
graduate Hall Director, one undergraduate hall director, three undergraduate
resident managers, three undergraduate assistant hall directors, two
undergraduate apartment managers, two professional administrative assistants and
40+ student paraprofessional staff members. Directs residential learning
initiatives, training, assessment, and operations. Possesses a strong
understanding of student development theory, as well as issues facing student
populations, utilizing this information to shape the Departmental activities and
interactions with staff and student residents.  

Responsibilities
1. Directly responsible for the hiring, training
and supervision of all Residential Life staff.
2. Sets standards and policies for residence hall
professional staff including Resident Assistants, Community (desk) Assistants,
Student Academic Mentors, Resident Managers, Hall Directors, Assistant Hall
Directors, Faculty Associates, and student employees.
3. Develops and implements Residential Life
policies and procedures, ensuring compliance and annual procedural
reviews.
4.Oversees programming
and residence education, including the First Year Residential Program (FYRE),
National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH), and the Residence Hall Association
(RHA).
5. Monitors Residence
Life budgets.
6. Establishes
regular evaluations, goals, and objectives for all Residential Life programs and
staff.
7. Evaluates and assesses
housing operations utilizing StarRez software management system to monitor,
forecast, and manage occupancy, the room selection processes, room assignments,
and room changes.
8. Participates in coordinating contracts with outside vendors, such as laundry
machine vendor and snack/vending machine service provider.
9. Oversees the physical environment in
conjunction with Facilities staff, to maintain a safe, secure, and healthy
living environment.
10.Collaborates with the Director of the Kansas Academy of Math and Science
(KAMS), which is housed in Residential Life facilities.
11. Ensures the security and safety of students
through appropriate training and following procedures for crisis and risk
management.
12. Assesses and
oversees residential living / learning communities and the First Year
Residential Program (FYRE) with best practices in student development and
research to create engaging, community-focused, learning environments.

13.Develops and manages technology
initiatives including department website.
14.Generates and prioritizes auxiliary
improvements projects.
15.Researches and develops specification for bids, approves department
requisitions.
16. Administers
and recruits summer conferences and camps.
17.Effectively communicates and collaborates
with parents, students, administrators, staff, and other constituencies in a
positive manner through mediation and conflict resolution.
18.Conducts weekly professional staff
meetings.
19. Reviews and
approves all marketing materials, forms, and signage, to include brochures,
posters, handbooks, contracts, and more.
20. Participates in Residential Life programs,
University visit days and special weekends.
21.Serves on various Student Affairs and
University-wide committees.
22.Represents the Department of Residential Life and establishes collaborative
relationships with other University departments.

Qualifications Required:

• Master’s degree in
  higher education administration, student personnel, or other closely related
  field. 
• Five or more years
  of progressively responsible management experience within a comprehensive
  residence life setting.   

Preferred:

• Knowledge of
  annual and short-range facility planning 
• Knowledge of
  residential life cleaning and maintenance operations and food service
  facilities 
• Excellent
  communication and interpersonal skills. 
• Ability to work
  with students, faculty and staff. 
• Experience working
  with budgets, facilities issues, and housing placement systems. 
• Strong commitment
  to the development and welfare of students. 
• Demonstrated
  ability to work successfully with and for persons of diverse backgrounds 
• Outstanding
  administrative, planning and supervisory skills. 
• Experience in the
  development and training of professional/paraprofessional staff. 

Salary/Benefits:
Salary
commensurate with education and experience.

Appointment Date:
Position
is available July 1, 2009 or as negotiated.  Screening of candidates will begin
June 1, 2009, with applications received by this date receiving priority
consideration. Applications received after this date may be considered until
the position is filled.

Background Check:
Successful candidates will have consented to and
successfully completed a criminal background check.

Application
Procedure:
Submit a letter of interest, resume and the
names, addresses, telephone number, and email addresses for three (3) professional
references.  Applications should be submitted to:

Shana Warkentine Meyer
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs

Fort Hays State University
600 Park Street
Hays, KS 67601-4099

FHSU is an AA/EO Employer 

1. Embellishing details like your title, or changing your title altogether.
   It’s fine to describe your experiences in ways that match the job
   listing, but only if you do so in ways that are accurate. For some
   positions (like part-time/temporary assignments, special projects,
   etc.) you may not have an actual title. If you did good things, you’ll
   want them on your resume, so it’s understandable to relate the work to
   a title. I’ve seen several resumes from resident director-level
   candidates that listed their position as “Director” when it’s clear
   that they were in entry-level positions. If that is the official title,
   go ahead and put it down, but if the official title is “Resident
   Director,” there is a very different context to that, and the likely
   result is that the reviewer will either catch it, and not be impressed
   by the clear embellishment, or the mistake will catch up to you by the
   time you get an interview for something you clearly are not qualified
   for, or when they check references, and ask your immediate supervisor
   to describe the scope of your duties. Instead: If you
   have a position or project that doesn’t have a clear title, but you
   want to put it on your resume, ask your supervisor how to describe your
   position, or what working title they would give it, and go with that.
   Then clearly explain the duties and scope of the position. For example: one
   summer, between regular positions, I wrote my department’s annual
   report. That is basically all I did, but it was a pretty good thing to
   have done, so the director and I talked, and agreed that it was a
   special project and that I was assisting the director with it. So we
   called it “Special Assistant to the Director.” Sounds impressive, but
   the description gave context about the duties, scope and the fact it
   was a temporary position.

2. Putting in too many details.  Okay, so this
   is academia, and many of us are working up to having a "Curriculum
   Vitae" rather than just a simple resume. Even though the term literally
   means "The course of one's life," you shouldn't try to put everything you have ever done in there. Instead: Make
   sure you are listing the most relevant skills and experiences
   applicable to the job, and then select others that are important to you
   and create a positive impression. And when you assemble the application
   packet, only send what is being asked for. Usually this is a resume and
   cover letter, and sometimes a reference sheet, application form, or a
   transcript. A writing sample might be requested as well, depending on
   the position and institution. But don't pack a bunch of nonsense in
   there and hope for the best. Don't include your portfolio, pictures of
   yourself, or really anything that isn't asked for. Once, I had an
   applicant for a community assistant position submit a 30-something page
   packet for the job. It wasn't just his resume that was long and
   meandering. He included many miscellaneous pages of things, including
   letters from past advisers, maybe some position descriptions, really
   everything but the size and color of his favorite underwear. It was
   just too much, and had nothing to do with this part- time position.

3. Putting in too few details. Oddly enough,
   nowhere in the previously mentioned application packet was his current
   phone number, e-mail address, or any other way to contact him. And
   there were 2 or 3 students with the same name and middle initial at
   Penn State at the time. So I sent an e-mail to all of them, and shortly
   thereafter, gave up looking for him. Three months later, a guy showed
   up at my office door, asking if the position was still open. He had
   just learned to use his e-mail and wanted to know if the position was
   still available. I told him it wasn't. Also, details of your positions
   shouldn't just read like job postings. Instead: Your
   descriptions should imply scope of responsibility (breadth of
   supervision, size of office or area, budget), unique accomplishments,
   and programs, presentations or trainings you have done, among other
   things. One of which should be your contact information.

4. Not vetting and prepping your references correctly.  First,
   ask someone who can talk intelligently about your skills and
   experiences, as well as your weaknesses, not just someone who thinks
   you are a nice person. Most people are nice at least some of the time,
   but that doesn't mean they are qualified for just any position out
   there. Second, be sure you have actually asked that person to be a
   reference. Third, meet with the person or speak with them over the
   phone or e-mail, and tell them why you are asking them, and what areas
   they could probably comment on. Give each reference a copy of your
   resume and whenever possible, send along job postings for positions to
   which you are applying, or at least let them know titles and
   institutions they might hear from. If a position is outside your
   current field or specialty, this is especially important. If you are
   able, talk over your reasons for applying with each reference, so they
   will be able to connect your interests to what they already know about
   your skills and experience. Also, realize that many employers strongly
   prefer to talk with a current or recent supervisor, so it's best in
   most cases to let your supervisor know you are interviewing for
   positions.

5. Bad design choices.  I've seen a couple
   thousand resumes over my career, and can therefore tell you that there
   are many bad ways to design and format your resume. It needs to be
   readable, and have a logical flow. One of the most common formats is a
   reverse chronological style, where you begin with your current position
   and work backwards, highlighting your unique skills and experiences
   along the way. You also want to use white space to balance out the
   document, and allow visual flow from one section or topic to another. 
   Serif fonts (fonts with little curly-cue elements incorporated into
   each letter) are softer on the eye. You will want to use fonts and
   highlighting elements (CAPITALS, bold letters, italics, underlining) sparingly. Using too many fonts, font sizes or highlighting elements makes your document look busy. Using too few will hinder visual flow from one part to another. And colors,
   clip art, and extraneous design elements are distracting. I will never
   forget the overly stylized resume from an artistic applicant that we
   received years back. There was a somewhat abstract ink sketch in the
   left margin of a naked man. Now, it was artistic, and in a museum, it
   wouldn't have really raised many eyebrows. But it didn't belong on a
   resume!

6. Dismissing the skills acquired in part-time, temporary, volunteer and student positions.
   If you are just graduating, you probably don't have a lengthy list of
   jobs to expand upon, and the screening committee will probably notice.
   It's okay, especially if you are pretty much still at the entry-level.
   No matter what your job history, the important thing is that you are
   able to place your skills in context. Once, I helped a student with her
   resume, so she could apply for internships, and she didn't have any
   work experience on her resume, only clubs. When I asked her if she ever
   had a job, she replied that she "only" worked in the family business, a
   hardware store, but that she didn't really do anything. I asked
   her what she did day-to-day, and she talked about ringing up sales,
   counting the cash drawer and reconciling the cash, checks and credit
   with receipts, and that once a year, she helped with inventory, by
   leading a team of several people in counting every single item in the
   store. It wasn't until then that she realized that she was experienced
   with customer service, basic bookkeeping, inventory management, and
   supervising project teams, not to mention the fact that she was trusted
   with some very critical tasks, and managed them well. We wrote this
   into her resume.

7. Not spell-checking or grammar checking. This
   is especially embarrassing for candidates who misspell their names,
   titles, or universities, or who mangle descriptions of their key
   accomplishments. You may know what you meant, but the resume reviewer
   may set aside your resume just for the poor grammar. When I have 75 or
   more resumes to look through for a position (a made-up number for
   illustrative purposes, but pretty typical), I work quickly by screening
   into categories and then re-screening the top category into the
   must-haves, maybes, probably-nots and no way, mans. It takes less than
   a minute (usually 30 to 45 seconds) for me to get an initial idea. Bad
   grammar and spelling will automatically put someone in a lower category.

8. Not getting advice from someone in your field.  Your
   business writing instructor may tell you to do a one-page resume, but
   for education positions especially, feel free to ignore that advice.
   For recent bachelor-level candidates, a two page resume is fine, if you
   have done enough to justify it. One page isn't enough to elaborate on
   your student organization experiences. The general rule of thumb I
   recommend is to only go to another page if you can at least half-fill
   it. If you can only half-fill it, include your references. For
   relatively new professionals, 3 to 4 pages is a good limit. Experienced
   professionals, 5. Don't go more than 5 pages unless you are the most
   spectacularly accomplished person or don't care if people call you an
   egomaniac. Going over 5 pages means that you are already sought-after
   as an authority on something, the upcoming "franchise quarterback" of
   your specialty, or that you are incredibly arrogant. Or it may be just that you are a
   member of the faculty, in which case it is just allowed.

9. Not getting advice from someone outside your field. While
   your English instructor might not understand the student affairs field,
   it's likely that he or she will have good ideas about how to tighten
   your descriptions, and not overuse words and phrases. If you have a
   friend that has a good eye for design, that person can critique your resume's readability, use of white space, and design choices. If you know an 8th
   grader, have him or her read your resume, and tell you if they
   understand what you do, what you did, and why they should care. Resumes
   should be as readable as the newspaper, and the general rule for
   newspapers is to shoot for an 8th grade reading level.

10. Not knowing how to use job boards/upload files in the correct format. Today's
    job searches often require the use of web technology, and the ability
    to upload and download files. Be sure that you have uploaded your files
    correctly, and if you are able to preview what the reviewer will see,
    do so. If a web-based or e-mail based option is available, use it! We
    strive to be as paperless as possible in our processes, so only resumes
    of candidates that make it to the final pool get printed. The others
    just get screened, rated, and ranked. Faxing is the ultimate
    21st-century faux pas, unless you have been asked specifically to submit
    materials this way, and sending by snail mail is only slightly better,
    and here is why. Electronic documents like word and  pdf files usually
    just open up and look like they should. Faxed and mailed materials get
    scanned at HR and then uploaded as image files. Large image files.
    Files that crash the reviewer's computer, take forever to load, or require extra effort to read will irritate the reviewer. If
    you don't know how to upload a basic file or save documents in
    acceptable formats, then you lack one of the most important basic work
    skills of this millennium.  This will put you in one of the lower categories mentioned before. Computer skills are basic skills in today's workforce.

Take care to avoid these mistakes, and you will have a better resume and application. Good luck with your job search!