RESIDENTIAL LIFE POLICY & PROCEDURES MANUAL
CA Selection
Important: This PPM document is a general guideline for CA selection. Specific details about
any given selection process can be found on the shared drive under Community Life/Residential
Life/ CA Selection.
Selection Process for the Fall Semester
1. Timeline: CA Selection for the upcoming academic year will take place mostly in the
month of March, with some information sessions potentially beginning in late February.
The interview and evaluation portion of the process should typically be completed by the
end of Spring Break so candidates will be able to find their letter waiting when their return
from break. CA Selection must be complete prior to Room Draw so candidates who are
not offered positions may plan for their housing next year.
2. Orientation Assistants: Orientation Assistants are also selected around the same time
of the semester, but final decisions on their hiring will typically be on hold until after CA
Selection is complete. It is best to keep the Director of Student Success informed on the
progress of CA Selection so hiring processes can be coordinated appropriately.
3. Information Sessions: Any student seeking to become a candidate for a CA position
must attend one of several offered CA Selection Information Sessions. This session will
give basic information on the CA position, the selection process, make available the CA
application, and answer any questions the attendees may have.
4. Application: Applicants must submit an application that includes a variety of information
including demographic data, judicial history, 4 short essay, 1 long essay, and 2
references (1 must be a WWU faculty or staff person; a third reference must be submitted
if a CA is used as a reference). The application will be graded by Residential Life
professional staff to determine if the applicant should continue on to the interview
process. The candidate will be emailed informing them if the are passed on to the
interview process.
5. Contact with Candidates: All communication will be done via William Woods email
accounts. Rationale: CAs are required to use their William Woods email accounts.
There is no better time to get potential CAs into the habit of using those accounts.
6. Interview Process: All candidates passed to the interview process will take part in one
individual interview and multiple group interviews. The individual interview will be
facilitated by one Residential Life professional staff and one to two current CAs. The
group interviews will be conducted in one night with groups of CA candidates rotating
between group interview locations. During group interviews, the groups will be asked to
perform a variety of tasks, during which they will be evaluated by Residential Life
professional staff and current CAs based upon how they interact with one another.
Current CAs should be prepared to participate in either the group process or up to three
individual interviews each.
7. Staff Selection & Placement: Upon completion of all interviews, the Residential Life
professional staff should take a couple of days to review the files. Area Coordinators
should develop a list of their preferred staffs and their preferred alternates. After this
time, the professional staff will come together to select and place the CAs for the
upcoming year.
8. Alternate Selection: When the professional staff pick their CAs, they must also
determine whether each remaining candidate should become be added to an alternate
list or be cut altogether. It is important to remember that the alternate list will be
exhausted before any search will be opened to the general student population.
The alternate list will expire at the end of the fall semester when the selection process for
the spring semester begins.
9. Final Approval: Finalization of the upcoming year’s staff is subject to approval by the
Director of Residential Life.
10. Hiring Letters and Letters of Intent: CA candidates will receive a letter informing them
of whether they have been offered a position, selected as an alternate, or turned down for
a CA position. Those who are offered position or selected as an alternate will receive
letters of intent. Candidates by return this letter and check off whether they accept their
offer or not. Any letters not returned by the due date will be assumed to be rejections of
an offer.
Selection Process for the Spring Semester
The hiring process for the spring semester is very similar to the fall semester process.
However, there are differences. Please review carefully.
1. Include mid-yr hiring & support needed by ACs for residents & new CAs (attend floor mtg,
welcome activity, etc.)
2. Timeline: CA Selection for the upcoming academic year will take place mostly in the
month of November, with some information sessions potentially beginning in late
October. The interview and evaluation portion of the process should typically be
completed by the end of Thanksgiving Break so candidates will be able to find their letter
waiting when their return from break.
3. Information Sessions: Any student seeking to become a candidate for a CA position
must attend one of several offered CA Selection Information Sessions. This session will
give basic information on the CA position, the selection process, make available the CA
application, and answer any questions the attendees may have.
4. Application: Applications must submit an application that asks a variety of information
including demographic data, judicial history, 4 short essay, 1 long essay, and 2
references (1 must be a WWU faculty or staff person; a third reference must be submitted
if a CA is used as a reference). The application will be graded by Residential Life
professional staff to determine if the applicant should continue on to the interview
process. The candidate will be emailed informing them if the are passed on to the
interview process.
5. Contact with Candidates: All communication will be done via William Woods email
accounts. Rationale: CAs are required to use their William Woods email accounts.
There is no better time to get potential CAs into the habit of using those accounts.
6. Interview Process: All candidates passed to the interview process will take part in one
individual interview. Due to the typically small applicant pool and availability of time,
there is no group process associated with spring hiring. The individual interview will be
facilitated by one Residential Life professional staff and one to two current CAs. As this
process is much smaller, on the Head CAs will be utilized for the spring selection
process. Head CAs should be prepared to participate in at least 1 interview each. At the
discretion of the Residential Life professional staff, further staff from the building(s)
seeking new CAs may be called upon to assist with interviews.
7. Staff Selection & Placement: Upon completion of all interviews, the Residential Life
professional staff should take a couple of days to review the files. Area Coordinators
should develop a list of their preferred staffs and their preferred alternates. After this
time, the professional staff will come together to select and place the CAs for the
upcoming year.
8. Alternate Selection: When the professional staff pick their CAs, they must also
determine whether each remaining candidate should become be added to an alternate
list or be cut altogether. It is important to remember that the alternate list will be
exhausted before any search will be opened to the general student population.
The alternate list will expire at the during the spring semester when the selection process
for the fall semester begins.
9. Final Approval: Finalization of the staff additional is subject to approval by the Director
of Residential Life.
10. Hiring Letters and Letters of Intent: CA candidates will receive a letter informing them
of whether they have been offered a position, selected as an alternate, or turned down for
a CA position. Those who are offered position or selected as an alternate will receive
letters of intent. Candidates by return this letter and check off whether they accept their
offer or not. Any letters not returned by the due date will be assumed to be rejections of
an offer.
Selection Outside of the Spring and Fall Processes
Occasionally, a CA may need to be hired outside of the two main hiring process of fall
and spring hiring. This may result from an unexpected resignation or termination of a
current CA. In this event, the following procedures should be followed:
1. The Area Coordinator is in complete charge of running the recruitment and
selection process.
2. Selection may be done on a rolling basis.
3. In the event that the vacancy occurs in a Greek house, the Area Coordinator
should work with the CAs and Greek Leadership to identify quality candidates.
4. In the event that the vacancy occurs in an independent hall, a minimal effort
should be made to advertise the position (campus email for example). However,
don’t go overboard as you don’t want 50 applications for one position. The Area
Coordinator should also work with the CA to identify quality candidates.
5. The process outlined above in the heading of Selection Process for Spring
should then be followed to complete the application, interview, and selection
process.
6. In the event that a CA leaves under negative circumstances (i.e. termination),
careful attention should be paid to who replaces the CA. It may be unwise to
move a current resident of that CA into the CA position for that floor. This should
be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Hiring
Once candidates have been selected and have accepted CA positions, certain
notifications and paperwork must be completed.
1. Once all candidates have turned in their Intent Forms to accept or refuse
positions, the Director of Residential Life should email the Community Life
professional staff and the current Community Advisor staff to inform them of
the new staff members and welcome them into the team.
2. To complete university hiring requirements, please notify the Director of
Human Resources and the Director of Student Financial Services. Please be
sure to include the following:
a. Pay rate
b. Total package worth
3. In the event of any CAs leaving their positions prior to the completion of the
academic year, please be sure to notify the Director of Human Resources
and the Director of Student Financial Services.
4. Please ensure the new CA completes the following paperwork:
a. FASFA Form: Federal Application for Student Financial Aid
b. Employment Clearance Form – This form will be available from the
Director of Human Resources. The Director of Residential Life will
need to sign this form. The form will ask how many hours a week
approximately that the employee will work. For FY05, this was 13
hours/week.
c. Statement of Confidentiality – This form will be available from the
Director of Human Resources. The Director of Residential Life and
the CA will need to sign this form.