What To Do Before You Solicit Resumes
Word gets out about your church’s open staff position. People begin spreading the word via social media. Church members come up to you and tell you about their nephew who’d be great for the position. Less than capable church members submit resumes. You begin receiving resumes and comparing candidates to candidates, to see who stands out.
This is often status-quo, and it has sometimes been the process I have used. But, what you really want is a picture. Not a physical photo of a candidate, but a mental picture of the ideal candidate.
What skill-sets, temperament, experience, and education will allow this person to fulfill the position? You must look at your open position, zero base it, and begin asking questions. What do you want the position to be able to accomplish? What does the ideal candidate look like? Then you begin creating your picture.
Some skill-sets are must-haves; others may be merely nice to have.
At the church I serve at, we first develop a picture, a profile. Once that is complete, we use the profile to solicit resumes. Potential candidates can see what we want, and can submit resumes if they think they are a possible match. From that point, we are not comparing candidates to candidates, but instead we are comparing the candidates back to the picture we first created.
Click here to view a see a sample position profile.