If you are new to the XP world, I would encourage you to think through your hiring process. What steps do you need to take to make sure everything is done correctly and in the right order? Our church is currently hiring for a new Associate Pastor of Discipleship & Mobilization, so I thought I would share our hiring process with you this month. Below are the steps we follow at our church: -
Discussion & Prayer: The Lead Pastor, Executive Pastor, Elders, and CFO should discuss the position in detail and spend time in prayer. The goal during this step is to be unified on the need for the position, and to have confidence that we can afford to hire a new staff member.
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Hiring Schedule: Once the decision is made to move forward in the hiring process, a hiring schedule should be established. This will help us set goals and stay on track with our hiring schedule.
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Job Description: A job description should be created for the position. Once created, it should be sent to our network of pastors, partnering churches, and any other place we deem necessary to promote the position (seminaries, local and state conventions, etc). The job description should also have clear instructions of where to send a resume.
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Resumes: Once resumes have been received, we should carefully review each candidate to determine a top tier (potentially the top 5-10 candidates). The Executive Pastor will contact these people to let them know that they are being considered for the position and schedule a phone interview with each of them.
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Phone Interviews: The top tier will participate in phone interviews with the Executive Pastor to go over basic information about our church and the position, and to ensure that there is chemistry with the candidate. During this time, the Executive Pastor will discuss the compensation package.
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Face-to-Face Interviews: Face-to-face interviews (virtual or in-person) will be conducted with the top 2-3 candidates. The Pastors, Elders, CFO, necessary ministry staff, and certain key volunteers will be invited to provide a voice in the process for the Lead Pastor and Executive Pastor.
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Offer: Once a candidate is selected, the Executive Pastor will contact all of the candidates with the decision and extend an offer to the candidate we believe is right for our team.
Your process might look different than this, especially if you have a Personnel Committee or a Pastor Search Committee at your church. But regardless, I would encourage you to have a documented process that you follow. This will not only keep you on track, but it will also make sure that you are intentional with how you move forward with candidates that you are considering for your team. |
