Tonight I'll present the findings of my survey instrument to the Candidating and Transition into Ministry class at Covenant Seminary.To those who have come to visit the Placement Reflections blog for the first time, you may be interested in viewing the survey instrument I developed for my initial research. (Incidentally, an updated and expanded version of that instrument will be used if I get the grant

I've already blogged about how the interview begins the moment the plane touches down. But when does it end?Rands, the Silicon Valley manager I've mentioned before, suggests that the interview really lasts for 90 days past your first day on the job. And I think he's right.Look folks can't evaluate you accurately by just your information packet-- and neither can they really assess your value during

The New York Times recently posted an article called, "How Much Should You Get Paid?" It's a good article, with helpful advice about negotiating (and re-negotiating) salaries.While the article is geared toward businesses and the secular workforce (naturally), it did point to a few interesting resources:Salary.com posts the results of its own salary surveys.PayScale.com goes a different route, actually

Those of you who have followed my several posts on resumes (here, here, and here) will find this information helpful:A Silicon Valley engineer and manager posted a very interesting piece on how he reads resumes. While written about the programming community, it's likely that many of these sage tidbits are relevant and applicable to churches and ministries, as well-- after all, the context he describes

In a recent interview, I was asked 35 questions over the course of about 90 minutes. These are the questions:Tell us about yourself-- who is Ed Eubanks?How did you come to know Christ?What about our position description made you excited about considering our church?What are your spiritual gifts?There are two kinds of people-- visionaries and task-oriented. Where do you place yourself?What does church

Father Matthew Moretz of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Yonkers, New York files a new one (at least in my book) for the "they don't teach you that in seminary" complaint file: they didn't teach him good marketing skills.Moretz says, "I'm doing more print jobs than sermons. Hmmm..." and from the looks of it, I can believe it. He goes on to suggest that perhaps one of his classes in Church History could

I friend whose church recently completed a search for Senior Pastor told me about his conversation with the search team leader about two weeks before the final candidate was announced."How is the search going?" my friend asked. "I mean, I know you can't tell me any details-- but how are YOU doing with the search?"The team leader told him candidly: "I'm really tired. In the past two weeks I've listened

A friend and classmate from seminary reminded me of an important set of priorities a few days ago. He said:"Remember that place is more important than timing."This is good advice, and important to keep in focus. When you're in the midst of transition (as I am), it is natural to want to place as quickly as possible-- and when you have an opportunity near at-hand, the temptation to be ready to jump at

The morning of a recent telephone interview with a candidate-church, I rose from bed, showered, shaved, and put on dress pants and a pressed, starched shirt. No, I didn't have any other appointments that day-- I was dressing for my phone interview.I know: they can't see me when we're on the phone. (And no, the interview was not a Skype video call.) But how you dress doesn't just affect the way oter

I know a guy who has been going through a "crisis of calling" recently. He's about transition from seminary into ministry after beginning seminary five years ago, and he's only now facing hard answers to questions that should have been asked years ago.My friend has had his sights set on a particular area of ministry since early in seminary, and as he has moved through his training he has focused on