What to Expect: Residence Life Interviews at a Large University (Penn State)

If you are a regular reader, you know that I spent just over 14 years at Penn State, mostly working for Residence Life. So when I thought about doing a series on what to expect at different types of institutions and for different Student Affairs roles, it made sense to me to start with what I know best.

So I invited Cecie Eastman, Coordinator of Planning and Special Projects for the Office of Residence Life at Penn State, to talk with me for my BlogTalkRadio show about the typical interview experience at Penn State.

I had a teleconference call with her and recorded it, mixed it down using Garageband, and uploaded segments to my BTR account. It’s taken a little longer than I had hoped to find time to complete the segments and get them up, so as I write this, I am waiting for my show window to open up so I can basically run the switchboard and play the pre-recorded segments. You should be able to listen to the show using the BTR player widget on this blog, or on my BTR page.

The show is 30 minutes and the interview is split into two segments. It should give candidates going through the job search some ideas about what goes into the interview process for Residence Life positions at a large university, including conference interviews, phone interviews, and the all-important campus interview. Cecie also shares some good advice on following up after the interview, thank you notes, and basic interview and post-interview etiquette.

She was also gracious enough to send along some outlines of a typical campus interview agenda, and samples of communications sent to candidates during the process. For more about Residence Life at Penn State, visit their home page

Interview Agenda for Candidate Jane Doe

.Instructions for invitation-Penn State Residence Life