Help I’m a senior—how do I
find a job?
Every spring I get a dozen
calls from students who want to meet to talk about how to get a job. These are
not students from denominations with episcopal
systems of government but they are usually students from more congregational
denominations where ministers have to find their own job and are not “placed”
by the denomination. My own denomination (Wesleyan) is such a “congregational”
denomination so here is how I explain the system to seniors.
1) Make
a Resume.
Your first step
is to make a high-quality resume. Your resume makes the first impression on a
potential employer. Print out the resume advice here and
make your resume first before doing anything else—that is your first step.
2) Make a resume packet.
Once you have your resume
done put together a resume packet. Write a short cover letter to accompany the
resume when you send it out and pick the kind of envelope you’ll use. Do this
on paper—many churches still expect to get a paper resume even though you think
attaching one to an email is sufficient.
2) Get others to review
your packet.
Once you’ve taken your best
shot as a resume packet take the complete packet to three people to get their
input and advice. Pick a professor in your own denomination, a pastor you know
and one other person. Sit down with them as they read through it asking them to
read it like they got it in the mail—and say out loud what they’re thinking. Make notes on your own copy as they talk.
Don’t argue with them—just write. You may not make all the changes implied by
their review but you should make some. This shows you how you are coming across
in the resume.
3) Make a mailing
list.
This takes lots of work. It
sorts out the serious candidates from the lazy ones. Make a mailing list of
addresses of pastors, DSs, denominational officers
and offices where you plan to send your resume packet. You need to make a list
so you can check off each place you send the packet, and to remember that so
you can later send a reminder to them. Your denomination probably has this list
somewhere online—ask your DS. If you are
a Wesleyan I have put the 2008 data on my web site for you—if you are reading this
after 2008, write to me and remind me to update it. Here is who to include on
your mailing list:
a.
Put every pastor you already know on the list. If a pastor knows you, send them a resume—even if
they have no job available. They will keep your resume somewhere and when their
pastor-friend tells them about an opening they’ll say, “I know someone…in fact
I have their resume I’ll send it to you.”
In my experience, about half the jobs gotten are gotten this way—by word
of mouth recommendation. So start with the pastors who already know you.
b.
Add several college professors. Every spring your professors get calls from
pastors looking for staff. With 60 graduates in our division guess which ones
get mentioned quickest? You got it—the people who put a resume on the
professor’s desk. We don’t have a “placement office” exactly, but a resume will
get you mentioned at least. (Follow up with your resume attached so they can
forward it—but send the printed one first)
c. List every DS in an area where you’d be willing
to serve. If you are a Wesleyan use this
list of DSs to pick these. A warning here. Pick
places you’d be willing to serve over working at Taco Bell. Don’t just pick the
few cool places—like
d. Add a few denominational officials. They get lots of resumes but if you have ever
met a denominational official you have a right to send them a resume reminding
them of when you met. Did you chat over coffee with a general Superintendent
last summer at camp—send them a resume packet reminding them of your chat in
your cover letter or with a Post-It note on the resume. These people have
awesome connections and can get you an interview with ten words: ”Yeah, I know
a person you might be interested in.” If you are a Wesleyan use this list
of denominational officials to find their address.
e. Add other pastors & churches. This is a
bit trickier. If you know of churches that have staff positions look up he
address of the church or pastor and send a packet even when you don’t know
there is an opening. You can’t send out a thousand packets—but if you have kept
aware of churches and pastors in your denomination, scan through the list and
send a packet to them with a cover letter. The two lists you can sue are the list
of Wesleyan ministers and the list
of Wesleyan churches. Unless you have been hiding at college forgetting
your denomination you should at least know some of these.
f. Add every job opening listed by the religion
division. Keep your eye on the Monday Memo and check the jobs listing on
the religion
web page and send a packet right away. Don’t be too picky now—you can
always decide against a job after the telephone interview. Besides, sometimes
these people recommend you to other churches.
4. When you’ve got your
address list done, start mailing packets in February or March. Not many jobs are open at this time but you get on
the list sooner. The best way to do this is mail a batch of packets every
week—unless you are a whole-hog kind of person then do it all at once—but it is
a major job!
5. Send a follow-up email
ten days later. This is when you can
attach a copy of the resume so they have it electronically too. Getting these
email addresses can be difficult in some denominations where the central
offices hoards them and won’t share—but you can almost always find them online
with a search of the church’s web site. Now, a word
about “promoting yourself.” I know what many students think about this.
You feel this is too self-promoting. You don’t want to “push” yourself and
think the church should come running to find YOU. Get over it. Now is when you
find out that the IRS is right—ministers are really “self-employed.” You aren’t getting a job in a large corporation
with a Human Resources department. You are trying to find a job in a thousand
independent-minded local entities. Sending a follow-up email is not
self-promotion or “bugging” the people—it simply shows you are a hard working
person. Churches assume the way you work with them is how you’ll work with
their members. They want someone who won’t just sit in an office and
wait for members to come to them. they like the idea that you make
several contacts with them and assume this is the sort of hard-working minister
you’ll be in their church. So do the follow up email. In fact do another one
about every s4-6 week updating your own process and where you’ve been
interviewing.
6. Search online. If you are a Wesleyan also check here at the Wesleyan
ministers job openings site and send a resume. There are also a dozen sites for ministers of independent
churches. Consider posting your resume here if you are open to jobs outside
your own denomination.
7. Wait. This is the hardest part. Get this straight. The
church is less desperate to hire you than you are to be hired. Your schedules
don’t match. Their “opening” probably won’t happen until mid summer but you are
graduating in April. They’ll get desperate in June, you’re get desperate in
April.
8. Be prepared for
telephone or email contacts.
Churches usually contact a half dozen people from their stack of 25-30 resumes.
They will call or email you. Be prepared. Usually they will ask for more
information or try to arrange a telephone interview. They are trying to “narrow
the field.” Often they are trying to narrow down six or ten names to three or
four. See the telephone interview tips
at the bottom of the resume advice article and make sure you have changed the
silly message on your answering machine. A year ago a bright student was
eliminated from a job at a large church who called him and got a crazy message
and decided not to even leave a message—they didn’t want someone that
unprofessional in their church. Answer
all calls and emails on the same day—never let a day pass. This show you are not
a laggard. Remember they are often calling a half-dozen others and in one day
they may have moved on. Your goal in the telephone interview is to get a life
interview. You don’t have to decide if you want to go to this church in that
interview. You can decide that later. You only need to decide if you are
“willing to talk.” And that is all they are deciding too. They might be
bringing in three people. Interviewing for a job is not like dating. In dating
you are not supposed to sate three people simultaneously in order to pick the
best. Interviewing is not dating—they may be interviewing several other and
they certainly want to best one.
9. Go for the live
interview. Again, see the interview
advice in the resume article. This is a “date” of sorts to see if they like you
and if you like them—if you “click.” If
it doesn’t happen, don’t worry—move on. Every interview helps you do later
interviews. Often they will even pay your way (or part of it) to the interview,
so don’t be too picky yet. You don’t even know the church or the pastor or the
salary yet—give them a chance.
10. Get desperate by
graduation. If nothing has happened
by graduation get desperate! Every year
one or two students watch all their fellow students get jobs and they get nom
contacts at all. Often this is because they have not sent out enough resumes,
but sometimes it just happens. If you are a week or two from graduation and
have no contacts then start using your cell phone minutes. Call everyone you
know and send emails so they know you still have not found a place to minister.
Sometimes churches who rejected your resume earlier but have not found a person
will reopen your file. Sometimes you can “make deals” with churches. For
instance, some students have called churches and offered to be a one-year “full
time intern” promising to only serve one year to fill in. Churches sometimes
like this arrangement and some have been asked to take a permanent job after
this intern year. Try to avoid a “year off loading boxes at UPS to pay doen my debt.” If
you have to go home and live with mom again, at least arrange for an internship
job at a nearby church. Remember, next year when you try again there
will be a whole new crop of fresh graduates right out of college competing with
you—and your UPS box-loading won’t sound as impressive as their practicum work
here at IWU. If you can’t land anything paid even arrange for a staff position
that is unpaid while you wrok elsewhere—that is a
resume-building opportunity. If you have not applied to seminary as a safety
net, sometimes you can still get in as a “special student” for the Fall
semester—and if you prove yourself you can matriculate later.
Finally, don’t be too picky. You are seeking your first job not
your dream job. Sure, you’ve always dreamed of “Working with college students
in a church of 800 somewhere near he