Residential counselors need knowledge in the following areas:

• Customer and Personal Service: Providing special services to customers based on their needs.
• Administration and Management: How to run a business or group.
• Public Safety and Security: How to protect people and property.
• Education and Training: The methods of teaching and learning.
• English Language: The meaning and use of the English language.
• Sociology and Anthropology: Where people come from and how they behave.
• Clerical: General office work such as filling and storing information.
• Personnel and Human Resources: The policies to hire and retain employees.
• Therapy and Counseling: The mental or physical problems and methods for treatment.
• Psychology: People, their actions, and mental processes and how to treat problems.
• Communications and Media: How to produce written, spoken or visual media.
• Computers and Electronics: Computer hardware and software.
• Law, Government, and Jurisprudence: Laws, rules of the court, and the politics.