Residential Assistant applications are open for 26/27

But you may be wondering, how do I write an application? Where do I begin?

It’s completely natural to second-guess yourself and wonder if you’ve included enough detail. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to help you navigate the application process. Think of it as a friendly nudge in the right direction to get you started with confidence.

The core structure

Introduction

This is all about you and can sometimes be the hardest part to write about. The easiest way to begin, before even putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), is to ask your friends, family or tutors how they would describe you, your personality and your strengths. If you're struggling to define yourself, this can be a great starting point. 

With this information, you can begin writing a high-level summary of:

• Your background
• Your core strengths
• Why you're passionate about the role of an RA

This can include:

🤔 Why do you want to be an RA at QMUL?  Connect your personal values (like helping people) to the RA role.

🤔 How have you built community or supported others in the past?  Detail an experience where you've contributed to conflict resolution, planning or mentoring, etc.

🤔 How do you handle high stress or last-minute changes?  Prove your crisis management, reliability and emotional maturity.

🤔 How do you promote diversity, equality and inclusion?  Explain how you ensure students feel safe, welcome and valued.

🤔 How will you balance the RA role with your academics?  Show your time-management and self-care skills/strategies.

Address the criteria

STAR method

The STAR method is a structure used to answer behavioural, competency-based questions. It helps you tell a compelling, concise story that highlights your skills and experience. STAR stands for:

• Situation - set the scene and provide context: "In my previous role, our team was faced with a problem..."
• Task - Describe your specific responsibility or the overall goal you needed to achieve: "I was tasked with...to ensure...."
• Action - Detail the steps you took to solve the problem. Focus more on what YOU did rather than what the team did: "I created a system to prioritise..."
• Result - Explain the outcome and what you learned. Whenever possible, use evidence: "As a result, we reduced...by 40% and improved...."

In your application

For the essential criteria, you can use this method either as a separate paragraph or within your personal experiences. Make sure you use keywords from the job description to enhance your writing (think of them like a list you can tick off).

For the desirable criteria, you can use these as add-ons. For example, if the essential criteria states 'ability to interact with, gain the confidence of, and communicate effectively with small groups' and the desirable criteria states 'experience working in a customer-focused environment', show how you used your communication skills in a past experience/project.

Inject your personality

Your personal statement should sound human, authentic and engaging! Remember, when you're writing:

• Show, don't tell:  Instead of writing "I am a strong leader", write "I have successfully led a team to deliver..."
• Include soft skills:  Connect your essential technical skills with your personality traits, "My problem-solving mindset combined with a collaborative approach, allows me to..."

Here are some examples of embedding your personality:

Instead of saying:  "I am an inclusive person who likes diversity"

Write: "Recognising that international students often face homesickness, I hosted a cultural cook-off during my first year to help peer students share their home cooking and create an inclusive environment".

Instead of saying: "I have great communication skills and I am very approachable"

Write:  "I actively greet peers in the hallway and maintain a warm presence to ensure students feel comfortable approaching me before a small issue, such as a fallout with a friend, could escalate into a major conflict".

For a quick 5-step structure, follow this guide:

Apply to be an RA now, you've got this!