The Price of Hiring Resident Assistants: An Analysis of Human Capital, Opportunity Costs, and Personnel Wages

Evaluating candidates for the Resident Assistant (RA) position is typically a time consuming and resource intensive process. As a result of the considerable—and necessary—human capital required to facilitate multicomponent hiring processes, routine daily job responsibilities are often limited, deferred, or eliminated altogether. Thus far, no scholarship exists exploring the actual “cost” of evaluating RA candidates, both in terms of personnel time and their associated wages. Put another way, the “opportunity cost” linked to evaluating RAs is unknown, despite a general agreement of the scarcity of resources in housing operations. To bridge this gap, this study presents alterations of various magnitude to a standard baseline RA hiring process articulating the cost in both time and wages of involved personnel. The results reveal tangible examples of how even small intentional changes to standard hiring practices can release staff time in meaningful amounts, which in turn allows for increased business continuity. Strategies for intentionally navigating the time economy of hiring RAs are discussed.