The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2 - 34

Gavin W. Henning • Kristan M. Cilente • Dean F. Kennedy • Tomecca M. Sloane

Supervisors and mentors may look to professional associations . . . to assist in the process of equipping new residential life professionals with the necessary skill sets to become more effective and efficient in fulfilling their job roles.
journal articles, and magazine articles could also provide additional educational opportunities. Additionally, professional development grants and involvement opportunities for new professionals in residential life would not only increase the engagement of staff who are new to student affairs, but could also contribute to their retention in the profession.

with regard to attention to the training and development of staff. Creating space to include supervision skills, fostering student learning, developing multicultural competence, and understanding institutional culture would provide needed information to entry-level staff. This would increase confidence, competence, and morale, likely leading to increased staff retention. This study was exploratory in nature and is not without limitations. First, the sample was drawn from the membership database of one general student affairs professional association. Selecting residential life staff from these respondents further truncated the small sample. A larger sample size drawn from the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I) database would allow these findings to be replicated and the results to be more generally applied to residential life staff in particular.

IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS
The recruitment and retention of new professionals is critical to the staffing of residential life. Findings from this study can help inform the hiring, training, and supervising of entrylevel residential life staff as well as the design of professional development opportunities for those individuals. Supervisors in residential life should spend time with new professionals, helping them understand job expectations and providing opportunities for learning supervision. Additionally, the importance of providing support to entry-level professionals in residential life was evident in the findings. In addition to aiding supervisors, this study also gives direction for training and development curricula. Residential life is a model area
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CONCLuSION
This research study provides evidence that it may be critical to the success of new student affairs professionals in residential life to gain a clearer understanding of job expectations from their superiors, to learn how to enhance their supervision skills, and to know how to move up in the field of student affairs. Additionally, new residential life professionals seek adequate support from supervisors, mentors, and colleagues to fulfill their job responsibilities. New residential life professionals also express a need to learn how to foster student learning, develop multicultural competencies, and develop an understanding of the culture and facilities of their respective college/university. Supervisors and mentors can address the

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 37, No. 2

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