5 Life Skills You Learn as a Residence Advisor

Explaning what it means to be a residence advisor can be tricky. There is no one word to describe the job since the position incorporates so many different roles into one position. At times we are event planners, peer helpers, problem solvers, or rule enforcers – or all of those in combination at once. Like any job, being a residence advisor has its ups and downs – but unlike other jobs, us residence advisors learn some pretty unique skills. Here are some of the life skills that residence advisors take away from the job: 

1. You practically become a fully-trained investigator 

You said you weren’t playing drink games, huh? From getting to the bottom of how your resident is really feeling to figuring out which resident ran away the party you were documenting, being a residence advisor means becoming a super-sleuth. We are investigative experts, let me tell you.

2. You can deal with any bizarre circumstance without hesitation

Ask any residence advisor about their experiences, and you will definitely hear a crazy story, or two…or ten. When it comes to any weird situation that you don’t know how to handle, you know who to call.

3. You can handle any snide comment that comes your way with grace 

As the people who shut down your parties, we aren’t always your favourite people. So, residence advisors get their fair share of side-eye, growns, and snide comments. But hey, the world is a tough place. We’ve got the tough skin to deal with it!

4. You know how to turn any situation into a MUST-GO EVENT 

As it can be hard to convince residents to come to floor meetings later on in the year, us residence advisors know what it takes to get people out to events that they didn’t think they wanted to go to in the first place. We have the Canva/Photoshop skills and the know-how about what food to buy to turn any situation into a must-attend event.

5. You are a master at using the word “community” in any sentence 

Who knows more about community than we do? No one. 

Of course, we learn far more as residence advisors – but these are some of the funny skills that we acquire. Hope you enjoyed the list, HCUBC cuties! 

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