Part 1: Looking for a job

I decided to back up a little bit and talk first about how you find a job.  I’m guessing that in the Youth Ministry world a lot of people don’t realize that where you find out about positions will have a lot to say about what type of negotiating you will be able to do.  For example if the only place you look for jobs is in the “Employment” section of a newspaper you are severely limiting the type and quality of jobs you will be applying for.

There are  3 main ways that you can go about looking for a new youth ministry job. 

Online Job boards

Recruiter Services

Referrals.

Online Job Boards:   The granddaddy of search engines for youth ministry jobs is Youth Specialties . If you don’t know what YS is then you might want to do some homework because having a solid understanding of their training and resources is something you will need when you negotiate. The YS site is uptdated regularly and really easy to use.  Another great site that isn’t just for youth ministry is Churchstaffing.com This site isn’t just for youth ministry but typically has a number of youth ministry jobs listed.  What I like about this site is that churches actually have to pay to post jobs so immediately you know if it is there that they are taking their job search seriously and are committed to finding good candidates and investing money to do that.    Another online resource that is a good place to look is the Willow Creek Exchange. The exchange is made up of the Willow Creek network churches (of which there are a ton) and it is sometimes lists jobs that aren’t in other places.  Another great resource to look at is on the websites of Christian Colleges and Seminaries as they often have them as resources for students and alumni and there will often be some great jobs put up there.  Fuller Seminary where I went is a good resource. There are a ton of other online job boards, your denomination probably has one.   Several youth ministry magazines such as Group or YouthWorkers Journal are also good places to start.

Tech Tip: One thing that I have done in the past when doing job searches is to create a bookmark folder on my toolbar that has all the links for each job search engine listed.  This is pretty easy to do in Firefox or Safari.  Then what you can do each morning is simply right click on the folder in your Bookmark menu and you should see a menu that gives you the option to “Open all in tabs”  That’s a easy time saver to open up all the search sites at one time and see if any new jobs have been posted.

Recruiter Services: In recent years there have been a number of organizations that have been formed to help churches find the right people for their youth ministry needs.  Some of these organizations are M7:7 staffing and Youth Ministry Architects.  These ministries can help take your resume and skill set and match you up with one of their client churches.  Some of these organizations actively recruit great youth workers who might not have thought about leaving their job and moving to another one.  You might try to use them and see what type of ministries and churches they represent.  They might know of jobs that are not being officiallly publicised on search engines for a variety of different reasons.

Referrals:  The age old belief that it is “Not what you know but who you know” is still alive today and maybe even stronger than ever.  With the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and myspace connecting us to literally thousands more people than ever before you now have access to friends and aquaintances from every stage of your life as well as their friends and network.  It’s not surprising anymore to post a note on your Facebook page about looking for a job and to have many leads in a very short amount of time.  Referals also can come offline too.  You should do some work with your phone to contact people you have worked with before and see if they can help.  One of my best ever resources for referrals was a Christian camp I worked at for a number of years after college.  I got my first two youth ministry jobs through connections that I had made at the camp.  Years later on the hiring end I called friends from that camp and asked who they had seen that I should look at hiring.   Sometimes referrals just get you job leads but other times they can actually get you in the door to an interview.  Never feel weird about asking people to make a call for you or send an e-mail to someone.  One of your best resource is the middle man who knows you and knows the church hiring.

There are other ways to find youth ministry jobs but these are the big three that I have found most helpful.  I think that you should employ all 3 at the same time and see what results you might get.  If you have any other ideas please put them in the comment section and we can chat about them.

Series: Finding a job and negotiating with a church.

Part 1: Looking for a job

Part 2: Approaching the church. Tips to get your resume read.

Part 3: Tips for Interviewing. What interviews to be prepared for.

Part 4: Negotiation 101.  All the things you should consider.