My enthusiasm morphed into shock, disbelief and, admittedly, annoyance.
I didn’t get an interview for a healthcare job I knew I could do, and do well.
When I asked for a specific explanation for my denial, the hiring officer told me: “You’ve never walked our halls.” I was passed over because my experience as a bivocational (BV) theologian didn’t include working in that specific setting.
Anyone who has decided to switch career paths, and particularly BV ministers who have sought employment outside of traditional ministry, will understand this experience. It can be difficult to demonstrate your value as a potential employee when your resumé looks different than others who may be applying.
The skill of marketing oneself and transferring skills between work cultures is becoming essential for seminarians and pastors alike.
Yet, more and more, the skill of marketing oneself and transferring skills between work cultures is becoming essential for seminarians and pastors alike. A recent Lifeway Research study reported that 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019. That’s an average of 75-150 per week. Survival for some churches often means cutting back on full-time positions or yoking with another congregation to survive.
In “Full-time ministry drains too many clergy and church budgets. Part-time pastors can help,” Jeffrey MacDonald notes that today’s mainline congregations increasingly use BV pastors. In the United Church of Christ, 45% of congregations now have no full-time clergy, up from 35% in 2017. In the Episcopal Church, 56% of clergy do not serve full-time in one ministry setting.
Bivocation is on the minds of seminary students and graduates as well. A 2019 Association of Theological Schools study found that 30% of students anticipated entering BV ministry upon graduation; by 2022 that share had risen to 40%. As much as they are gearing up for this model of ministry, most graduates know little to nothing about how to conduct a successful job search in secular fields.
Pastors needing a second job used to simply answer an ad, talk with a neighbor or respond to an online opening. Employers today value skills over experience, making shifts in career trajectories slightly harder. Applicants must know how to package and present themselves, particularly their skills, to potential employers, especially if they want to get past hiring prejudices.
Having counseled scores of BV pastors for over two decades, I’ve identified four biases toward BV pastors held by hiring managers in secular venues. If these pastors don’t know how to identify and counter them, they will continue to be rebuffed for jobs within their “wheelhouses.”
First bias: Contrasting backgrounds, “You won’t be able to relate to us because your background and experience are different than ours.”
Research conducted by Indeed reveals that 45% of surveyed corporate hiring officers give prime consideration to job applicants with similar work histories. This also means, as in my own case, employers tend to discount those who possess a different background and industry experience.
Countering the first bias. When bumping into this prejudice, pastors should mention all factors that enable them to “connect” with the company’s purpose and legacy. Pastors must show they have dealt with the same obstacles, solved similar problems, and are familiar with the same tools, resources and technology as their potential employer.
BV pastors are becoming increasingly popular as the church reinvents itself in the 21st century.
Second bias – Contributions to the main enterprise, “As a pastor, what skills do you have that could help us?”
In conversations with BV pastors, most reported that secular organizations seemed to think their skills were limited to preaching and comforting others, overlooking their experience with teaching, organizing, administration, project management and interpersonal relations. Additionally, secular managers focus primarily on results. How can pastors, with their different backgrounds, obtain the results the potential employer wants and needs?
Countering the second bias. In countering this bias, I recommend BV pastors follow this formula:
- I have the skills you’re looking for;
- These are the successes I’ve had with these skills; and
- Because of these skills, this is what I can do for you (name the results the hiring manager/company is looking for).
Job-seeking pastors must know what skills are required for their desired position. The U.S. Department of Labor’s “Dictionary of Occupational Titles” can offer more details about the skills and education required for specific positions if the actual job description does not spell them out. Indeed also offers competencies for similar positions.
The most important step is to show hiring managers a track record of success using those skills. It won’t be enough for pastors to say they have experience, they must demonstrate they are proficient with the desired skills.
Consider the story of Whit Dempsey a part-time congregational pastor seeking a secondary job as a half-time hospital chaplain. Supervising the hospital’s young chaplains, a group in disarray, was a key responsibility for the role.
The hiring managers were impressed with Dempsey’s hospital work experience, but they wanted to know how he’d manage the interns. While noting that changing the interns’ “attitudes” was not a guarantee, he pointed out that his managerial and relational skills enabled him to enhance the camaraderie and collective performance of groups in previous settings. In this new role, he believed he had a good chance of doing that again. He was hired on the spot.
Third bias: Opposing cultures, “You won’t understand how we do things around here because you’re not acquainted with our values, processes and procedures.”
Most pastors operate in a “transformational” culture whereas secular venues offer a “transactional” one. The transformational culture focuses on relationships, joint cooperation, collaboration and development of peoples’ ambitions, keying on the fulfillment of self-agency. Transactional cultures emphasize measurable performance, numbers, production, processes and procedures, and calibrations. The focus is not so much on relationships as on tangible results.
Most pastors operate in a “transformational” culture whereas secular venues offer a “transactional” one.
Long-time BV pastor Tyg Taylor bumped into this difference when he joined a local municipal agency to introduce “community formation” programs and events for the houseless population.
Over coffee, I remember him telling me of his surprise and disbelief when he first informed his potential supervisor about a BBQ event he hosted for houseless families. Eagerly describing how participants ensured the community was well informed, he emphasized that families took up the cooking without hesitation and how strong bonds of togetherness were formed.
Taylor noticed her silence. The supervisor wanted figures: how many were in attendance? What were expenses compared to the budget? She operated out of the transactional culture and expressed little regard for how strongly the “neighborly” bonds were forged.
Countering the third bias.
Taylor learned to begin each conference with the supervisor by describing all activities using numbers. Once he adopted this strategy, his relationship with her improved dramatically. She even freed up more funds for his projects. By mastering the nuances of her culture, he completed his plans more effectively.
Fourth bias: Spontaneous availability, “Can you drop what you’re doing when we need you here on site?”
Managers wonder if a pastor would drop their congregational activities to help out at their secular job when an unanticipated problem develops. The inability to fulfill this expectation is, from my experience, a prevalent reason why BV pastors don’t get hired for mid-to-upper level management positions, even though their skill sets would warrant it.
If pastors want to attain more responsibility and higher income levels, they must change this scenario. They will have to demonstrate they can be available to contribute when necessary.
Countering the fourth bias: The best way to achieve “spontaneous availability” is through collaborative leadership – training others to take over tasks when the pastor is unavailable. Pastors should develop the skills and talents of their congregants so that they can step in and take over an activity when the pastor has to turn to other (secular) obligations.
The best way to achieve “spontaneous availability” is through collaborative leadership.
Ken Michaels serves as pastor for a small but growing congregation in a Denver suburb. He is also a principal in a thriving family business located in Georgia. At the time of our conversations about his career, Michaels was helping this enterprise relocate its operations to Colorado. He was instrumental in this process. However, it often required him to be on-site in Georgia, usually for a week at a time.
To fulfill the needs of his congregation, he recruited several people to help when he was out of town. He trained them to run Bible study and lead group discussions; he coached them on the fine points of visiting the unwell and those needing comfort and empathetic companionship. Teaching scriptural lessons was also part of the training package. Such development of his home-grown talent enabled him to successfully fulfill his obligations to his congregation as well as his family’s business transition. Neither setting missed a beat: the congregation continued to grow and prosper while the business move came through without a hitch.
Knowing the biases they face in the secular hiring process allows pastors to reinterpret and pitch their skills for a new culture.
In summation, BV pastors are becoming increasingly popular as the church reinvents itself in the 21st century. However, it can be difficult for trained pastors to find success in the secular world and correctly demonstrate their transferrable skills. Knowing the biases pastors face in the secular hiring process allows them to reinterpret and pitch their skills for a new culture. The countermeasures in this article will empower them to thrive in those nontraditional job venues and open doors for their careers.
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