Staff Development

The Best Fit: How We Hire

Our thorough recruitment process is intentionally designed to help prevent the people we hire from later being fired.

When employees not only work for your organization, but they also worship at your church, it's important to be especially sensitive to every aspect of their experience. Doing the work up front to determine if they're the right fit prevents a lot of hurt feelings later.

Our applicants sometimes come through a referral, but for the most part, they find us through our careers page. Every application is reviewed in the first stage, and if the person isn't right for a role, they receive an email thanking them for applying. Sometimes, it's an automated email, and sometimes it's a personal email. For example, if a committed volunteer applies for a position, we would follow up with them personally to preserve the relationship.

If a candidate is qualified for a position, they'll receive a phone call from the hiring team leader. If the call goes well, another call or video chat may follow. During this stage, the team leader is getting to know the candidate, answering questions, and looking for any deal-breakers.

When a team leader decides they'd like to meet the candidate in person, they set up an interview. This could be a one-on-one interview or a group interview.

Once the in-person interview portion of the process begins, the candidate also takes a few tests to help us dig even deeper into their talents and personality. Right now, we administer the following tests available online:

"Can Do" Attitude Test (CDAT), Skills Profiler Test, and Aptitude Test

Find them at gNeil here

Keirsey Temperament Sorter personality test

(similar to the Jung and Myers/Briggs personality tests)

Spiritual Gifts test

We use a test created by Basden/Johnson, and you can find other versions online

These tests help us get to know the candidate on a deeper level and gauge whether they are a good fit for the position. Once results are in, the hiring team leader will discuss the tests with the candidate—they'll go over strong points and weaker ones and figure out how they'd affect the duties of the position.

Once a person has gone through this process and has demonstrated the ability to do the job well, he's offered the job! The whole process can take as little as a couple of weeks or as long as a couple of months.

Open Idea
Throughout the hiring process, have two goals: First, to help every candidate gain self-awareness and be comfortable worshipping in the church, and second, to fill the position.
Sign up to read the full article.