Why church hr sucks…
A small handful of people knew that I had been in looking at a Youth Pastor job at a church in the area.
A month ago, I interviewed, and was told that I should expect to hear back from the church later in the week. In a follow up email, I was told that because of time-critical projects, the end of the week was pushed back to the next week. In another follow-up email next week was pushed back to the first week of June. Today I come to find out that during the last three and a half weeks, when the church staff was involved in a time-critical project, they were bringing in the first candidate for interviews, and ultimately offered him a job.
Now, it is easy to read this post and write me off as being sour grapes… just bitter because I was not offered the job. While there is some frustration involved with being the #2 candidate yet again, I am seriously concerned by the way churches handle the hiring process. After my telephone call today, I am left wondering why I was not just told the truth throughout the whole process. Why did they not tell me that they were pursuing another candidate, and that if they needed me, they would call? In my vast experience in the church hiring process, I have only encountered one church that I felt had been honest with me throughout the whole process. One church that had the guts to tell me that I was the secondary candidate, and that they wanted to talk with one other person before me. While I was irritated about not being offered the job, I was grateful to know where I stood… and not be shocked to find out three weeks later that they had hired someone else while they were supposed to be working on other things.
I know that my audience consists of people who serve in various capacities… I know that there are those in ministry, car sales, and other professions… but my hope is that I can take a couple of minutes to address those that are active in recruiting and hiring church staff. Please, be honest with us. Please treat us with the respect that we deserve, and keep us in the loop with where we stand. Do not give us elaborate cover stories about why there are delays, or why things are not progressing as expected. Please do not try and “keep us on the hook” in case your first choice does not work out.
Please treat us like we are brothers and sisters in Christ…
Filed under: church, hurt, job hunt, leadership, life, ministry, reflection
Sorry to hear it happened again.
no, I don’t think you’re bitter… at least, not in this case.
I think you make a very valid point.
Why does the hiring process somehow exempt Christians from doing the right thing (being honest)?
I think there is WAY too much carryover from the business world into the church world… shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Shouldn’t Christians be affecting the way business is done, and not that businesses dictate to Christians how they should operate their churches?
now I sound bitter…
Sorry babe.
I am sorry that this has been your experience. Churches can definitely play games… but hey look at it this way if they play games with you in the hiring process, then most likely this will carry over in the employment process.
May God lead you to an authentic ministry where you are able to be who you are and serve among others who are open, vulnerable and accepting.
Thank you all…
My intention in this post was not to sound bitter and hurt, because to be honest, I am neither…
My intention was more to draw attention to the experience that I have had with churches throughout the whole job hunting experience… and my disappointment with my experience.
I am one that places the church on a pedestal, and expects her to act like the church… when she does not, I grow frustrated… I know that it is made up of sinful humans, but I can still hope for the church to operate differently…
Genuine churches are out there. Don’t lose hope. (Genuine churches are always ‘to come’ as well
Not to worry…you will be number one on someone’s list.
And yeah…I agree…even though you didn’t quite say it like this.
Church Hiring Sux
Matt, you’re #1 on MY list.
Kum Bi Ya, my Lord…
I think if the churches you applied had all liers at their helm, you definitely don’t want to work there. What good Christian is a persistent lier? I think you should not be angry and silent, but composed and determined to change something. Go to the church boss in person and tell him about the people who handle the hiring and their bad process. If he does not want to hear it, go to the press, go through the web, go directly to the bishop. Whatever it takes, make yourself known as a true and stand up man. Maybe someone will suddenly see that you are the real # 1 guy.
The Motorist