Housing Corporations: National or Local?

As a sorority house director, your employer will technically be a housing corporation and not the sorority itself. It is a part of the sorority but at the same time is also a separate entity.

A housing corporation will be run by either the national sorority or by a local group made up of sorority alumnae. The housing corporation (they're also called a board) is going to be your best friend or your greatest enemy. Having worked for both a national housing board and a local housing corporation, I want to give you a quick overview of the differences between the two.

National Housing Corporations (NHC):
-You typically work with one, maybe two people. What they say goes, period.
-Working with a NHC in another time zone can be irritating at times, espcecially if you're on different coasts.
-NHC houses tend to have more rules. This is not a bad thing.
-Working with a NHC can be hard when they're far away. This is especially true for major house incidents, like a falling tree damaging the roof.
-Getting time off can be difficult.
-Contract is year-round, and you'll get paid in the summer even if you're on vacation.

Local Housing Corporations (LHC):
-More able to work local traditions and tastes into house life.
-LHC can be more difficult to work with, especially when trying to get answers or getting something confirmed.
-Are able to deal with house emergencies quicker, as usually LHC members tend to be local.
-The LHC tends to know the house inside and out. This is really nice for renovations or repairs.
-In my personal experience, LHCs tend to be softer on the rules and will side with the house members over you.
-Getting time off, raises, better benefits, etc, is a lot easier with a LHC.
-Contracts are sometimes cover the school year, others will cover the entire year. 

If I had to choose between the two, I'd go with a national housing board over a local, no questions asked. When I'm trying to enforce rules, I appreciate having them back me up. I've found that local boards tend to be more sympathetic to the members of the house. For instance, one spring break I rounded up all the candles I found in the house and told the girls they could have them back as they moved out. They threw a fit, despite this rule was listed in the rule book. The members went to the housing board and demanded that I give back the candles. The LHC asked me give the candles back, despite the fire code and rules. I gave back the candles. When it came time to renew my contract, I told the LHC I wouldn't be returning because they wouldn't support their own rules.

That being said, I know plenty of the house directors employed by LHCs to be very happy. Many LHCs will go out of their way to take care of their house directors, sometimes with generous Christmas bonuses or other perks such as season tickets to football or basketball games.

Salary-wise, I tend to find that NHCs and LHCs pay around the same range. As far as benefits go it varied greatly from house to house.

So, this was just a brief introduction to the differences between an NHC and LHC for those who are thinking about becoming a house director. If you have any questions I can try to answer them in the comments.