Journal of College & University Student Housing Vol. 47 No. 3 - 75

Factors Considered When Selecting Teams

If outside information regarding a candidate or personal
experience with a candidate is going to assist in determining
team placement decisions, it is important to identify a process by
which that information can be included ethically.
discuss the rubric categories with teams to
ensure that RLPs agree with the criteria of
the rubric, which is likely to increase accurate use of the rubric.

If outside information regarding a candidate or personal experience with a candidate is going to assist in determining team
placement decisions, it is important to identify a process by which that information can
be included ethically. Our recommendation
is simply to not ignore the fact that outside
experiences impact the team placement process and have some expectations around how
information is shared consistently throughout the process.

Lastly, many RLPs stated that they
needed teams of RAs representative of the
larger campus and sometimes had issues
recruiting diverse RA candidates. Our recommendation is to consider and ask why
diverse candidates are not applying to be
RAs. Some RLPs had strategies where they
would recruit through specific student organizations, use word of mouth from current
RAs, or ask candidates of targeted groups
why members were not applying to the RA
position. When moving forward with these
types of exercises, it is critical that departments be open and receptive to feedback
about where RA hiring processes may have
systemic bias. All institutions must recognize that systemic bias may be embedded
within their RA hiring processes and that
systemic bias may be leading diverse candidates to not apply, to not be scored in an
unbiased manner, or to not be selected.

The Journal of College and University Student Housing

RECOMMENDATIONS AND
IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE
RESEARCH
This research study offers a new perspective to the topic of RA selection and recruitment by exploring the thought processes
and practices of RLPs who place RAs onto
teams. We are not aware of other qualitative
studies on this topic, and there is great opportunity in the literature to investigate a
wide variety of processes from the perspective of the decision-makers. There is ample
opportunity to narrow the focus of this research to a specific institution type, demographic, or experiential factor.

Our study raises many other questions
that could generate future research. RLPs
were interested in finding the best practices
for measuring team traits including work
styles, personality types, and teamwork.
With group processes receiving mostly
negative feedback from the RLPs we interviewed, a research project studying what
qualities group process interviews could
effectively evaluate or measure would be of
interest to our field. Lastly, a study examining the effect of trust between colleagues on
the RA team selection process is needed.

CONCLUSION
In this qualitative study, we explored the process and criteria that RLPs employ when placing RAs on teams. Through generic qualitative interviews, we learned what factors and
qualities RLPs considered through the RA

Journal of College & University Student Housing Vol. 47 No. 3

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