Journal of College & University Student Housing Vol. 47 No. 3 - 82

exchanging one 30-minute opportunity may
serve as an inconvenience but is typically not problematic due to the limited scale
and smaller downstream effects. However,
consider if instead of exchanging 30-minutes to conduct a single interview, the same
entry-level staff member actually exchanges
an entire work day (or eight hours) of routine job duties for a full day of interviewing
RA candidates. Presumably, the cost-both
intrinsically and extrinsically-of the exchange increases as the required amount of
time needing exchanged grows.

TERMINOLOGY
Across institutions, the variety of strategies
and philosophies for hiring paraprofessional
RAs results in as many different RA hiring
infrastructures as there are existing departments. As a result, no two systems are necessarily consistent, making them difficult to
study. Therefore, this section provides the
definitions used in our study while detailing
any relevant analytical procedures.

The hiring process encompasses the dedicated time to select paraprofessionals beginning with marketing to extending job offers
to the candidates. For the purpose of our
analysis, we focused on structured portions
used during RA hiring processes. These components (e.g., structured interviews, group
process) are designed to evaluate desired
traits among candidates. The one exception
is interest sessions (or information sessions),
which provide information and details about
the RA position to interested candidates.
Interest Sessions may take the form of programs, presentations, or open forums allowing potential applicants a dedicated space to
learn about position requirements and ask
questions before submitting their application. We calculated the required time com-

mitment of interest sessions by multiplying
the number of staff participating in each
session, the total number of interest sessions
offered and the session time duration.

Structured interviews are " a personally
interactive process of one or more people
asking questions orally to another person
and evaluating the answers for the purpose
of determining the qualifications of that person in order to make employment decisions "
(Levashina et al., 2014, p. 243). Structured
interviews are designed to elicit responses
demonstrating the candidate's characteristics, skills, and ability to successfully perform the RA role. We calculated the required
time commitment of structured interviews
by multiplying the number of staff required
for each interview, the number of interviews
in which a candidate participated, the time
duration of a single interview, and the total
number of candidates.

Another common feature unique to RA
hiring processes is group process where candidates participate in small group activities
which are designed for candidates to " behave
more naturally " (Ostroth, 1981, p. 25). We
calculated the amount of staff time required
to facilitate group process by multiplying
the following: the number of staff required
to facilitate one activity, the total number of
unique activities (or stations) in which each
candidate group participated, the time duration of each activity, and the total number of
candidate groups.

ANALYTICAL PARAMETERS
AND ASSUMPTIONS
RA hiring processes are often complex, involving many variables: number, types, and
duration of components; volume of candidates, candidate requirements, and when
and how candidates advance; involved staff

Volume 47, No. 3 * 2021

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

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