To help or not to help

A friend of mine recently asked me for help in his search for a graduate hall director position; but I'm really struggling with helping him...for so many reasons. There's the fact that he isn't thinking about going into Student Affairs but is just looking for a grad hall director position to get into a school and then eventually get a chance to take some grad classes in who knows what. When I did my grad assistantship search, I was first looking for Student Affairs programs and then for assistantships; so I don't really know how to do a search when you are not looking for a Student Affairs grad program. I don't really think there are many schools who have grad assistantships for people who are not planning on going into Student Affairs; I guess it's schools that don't have Student Affairs programs but I really don't know any.

And it's not just that I don't have any experience in this type of search; I'm also not sure I want to help. That sounds mean...ha. But I guess I'm just not sure he'd be a great Hall Director. I really struggle with those people who work as Hall Directors because they didn't know what else to do with their life. I'm a Hall Director because I believe in Higher Education and Student Affairs; I believe in educating residents, in learning outside of the classroom!!! This isn't something I'm just doing to have something to do; I believe in this profession.

I also believe it's important that Hall Directors have a master's degree in Student Affairs. I mean, how can someone with no student development background design programs that will help their students grow and develop?

I worked as an RA for a Hall Director, who didn't have a master's degree and who was a Hall Director because she didn't really know what else to do with her life. (And that was a typical story for the staff in our department.) When I was a student and then an RA, I didn't really notice what I was missing - I mean, I didn't know any better; but now, looking back, there were so many opportunities that we missed - opportunities to educate students and to help them make the most out of their college experience. We took care of the administrative responsibilities of running a residence hall; we had some "fun" programs to fulfill the programming requirements - but how much learning was really happening? And how great relationships did I truly build with my residents? And when I ran into a concern with a resident, how good advice could my supervisor really give me? It often felt like the blind leading the blind.

I know there a ton of colleges out there and lots of Hall Director positions - so yeah, there probably isn't a way to fill all of them with Master's level professionals. But still, as someone who truly believes in this profession, I don't know if I can support someone, who doesn't have a Master's and who just wants to be a Hall Director because he doesn't know what else to do with his life, in becoming a Hall Director.