How to Explain Your Ministry Career Change in Interviews: Guide for Former Pastors

Read Time: 3.5 minutes

LAUNCH YOUR JOB SEARCH

Overview

Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! Today we’re discussing how to help people understand why leaving vocational ministry makes sense - specifically by crafting a compelling career change story to help you get more interviews for jobs for former pastors. Let’s dive in!

Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:

Mindset Shift: How to explain my transition from vocational ministry?
Strategy Shift: How to market your skills as a former pastor.
Do This Right Now: Craft your story to give you good career options.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

Overview

Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:

Mindset Shift: How to explain my transition from vocational ministry?
Strategy Shift: How to market your skills as a former pastor.
Do This Right Now: Craft your story to give you good career options.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: How to explain my transition from vocational ministry?

What do you say when someone says, “Tell me about yourself?" or “Why are you leaving your ministry job?”

Many people I speak with believe that they need to defend themselves, or prove something - especially coming from ministry.
But that can be counter-productive.

What’s the best thing to do?

Let me pose a question to you:
What is the most powerful way to help someone understand a complex concept or situation?

The answer? Tell a story.

I had a friend move from Executive Assistant to the lead pastor of a church, to going to a top 20 law school. She later became a lawyer at one of the top firms in the country.

How did she do it? She told her story.

Whether you are in an interview or a conversation with a connection, sharing your story is key to helping them understand:

Why you are leaving your job
Why you are moving into a specific role next
Why you are qualified for that next role

It will also help that you’re talking to the right people - which I wrote more on here: Who Will Help You Get A Job As A Former Pastor?

There is a very specific way we want to structure your story that will be useful in this scenario, and for when you create cover letters or update your LinkedIn profile (more on that in a future newsletter).

What do you say when someone says, “Tell me about yourself?" or “Why are you leaving your ministry job?”

Many people I speak with believe that they need to defend themselves, or prove something - especially coming from ministry.
But that can be counter-productive.

What’s the best thing to do?

Let me pose a question to you:
What is the most powerful way to help someone understand a complex concept or situation?

The answer? Tell a story.

I had a friend move from Executive Assistant to the lead pastor of a church, to going to a top 20 law school. She later became a lawyer at one of the top firms in the country.

How did she do it? She told her story.

Whether you are in an interview or a conversation with a connection, sharing your story is key to helping them understand:

Why you are leaving your job
Why you are moving into a specific role next
Why you are qualified for that next role

It will also help that you’re talking to the right people - which I wrote more on here: Who Will Help You Get A Job As A Former Pastor?

There is a very specific way we want to structure your story that will be useful in this scenario, and for when you create cover letters or update your LinkedIn profile (more on that in a future newsletter).

♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: How to market your skills as a former pastor.

How do you tell your story?

You want to build your story so it makes sense.

We call this your “Throughline Story.”

A Throughline Story is how you explain why your next step makes the most sense to potential employers, recruiters, friends, or anyone else for a specific company and job type.

Here’s how you formulate it:

How do you tell your story?

You want to build your story so it makes sense.

We call this your “Throughline Story.”

A Throughline Story is how you explain why your next step makes the most sense to potential employers, recruiters, friends, or anyone else for a specific company and job type.

Here’s how you formulate it:

Where you are going.

Start with jotting down the following ideas:

What interests do you have that are pulling you in a direction towards the specific companies or industries you’re looking at?
What skills do you want to continue to develop/refine in a new environment, as well as explore how you can use them to help an organization that operates differently from where you are now?
What values do you hold that align with the companies and the jobs you are pursuing?

Quick note: You need to have clarity on what job you’re looking for next in order to explain this well. I wrote two newsletters about that. Read this one first, and then this one.

Start with jotting down the following ideas:

What interests do you have that are pulling you in a direction towards the specific companies or industries you’re looking at?
What skills do you want to continue to develop/refine in a new environment, as well as explore how you can use them to help an organization that operates differently from where you are now?
What values do you hold that align with the companies and the jobs you are pursuing?

Quick note: You need to have clarity on what job you’re looking for next in order to explain this well. I wrote two newsletters about that. Read this one first, and then this one.

Where you are now.

Think through interests, skills, and values again. Answer these questions:

Why did you take your current job?
Why did you work at your current place of employment?
What do you love about your current job and are really good at?

Think through interests, skills, and values again. Answer these questions:

Why did you take your current job?
Why did you work at your current place of employment?
What do you love about your current job and are really good at?

Where you have been.

Think of this as your journey from the “beginning” to where you are now.

Outline the steps you took from where you are now all the way back to when you first remember making a big life decision in alignment with your interests, talents, skills, or values.
Make these “where you come from” stops in the journey a bit shorter. You are looking for quick highlights of why you chose that thing, and then move on to the next stop.

Think of this as your journey from the “beginning” to where you are now.

Outline the steps you took from where you are now all the way back to when you first remember making a big life decision in alignment with your interests, talents, skills, or values.
Make these “where you come from” stops in the journey a bit shorter. You are looking for quick highlights of why you chose that thing, and then move on to the next stop.

Write your story.

Use this order specifically to help the person you are talking with track and understand your story and why it is relevant.

Currently, I…
In the past, I…
Which leads me to my next step, pursuing…

You need to be able to share your story in 1-2 minutes, maximum.

If someone can see the “throughline” in your story that makes the job or company you are pursuing the obvious next step, you’ve done your job!

Hint: Before trying it live, practice saying it out loud, and time yourself. You likely speak more quickly in person, or embellish and add time. It is good to get this down (even memorized) so you can make your mark.

Use this order specifically to help the person you are talking with track and understand your story and why it is relevant.

Currently, I…
In the past, I…
Which leads me to my next step, pursuing…

You need to be able to share your story in 1-2 minutes, maximum.

If someone can see the “throughline” in your story that makes the job or company you are pursuing the obvious next step, you’ve done your job!

QUICK WINS

✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Craft your story to give you good career options.

Start jotting down ideas for each section of your story: Where you are now, where you have been, and where you are going. Make sure all details are relevant to the job you will be doing next!

🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP

Thank you to everyone in this community for your encouragement, wisdom, and support through the process. It truly made a difference!

🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

Because of the time sensitive nature of job postings, we post these in the newsletter only.

Get the newsletter, along with 632+ others, every Friday morning.

Subscribe here.

Because of the time sensitive nature of job postings, we post these in the newsletter only.

Get the newsletter, along with 632+ others, every Friday morning.

Subscribe here.

Rooting for you! 🚀

Todd Linder

Founder and Head Coach // Connect with me on LinkedIn

Todd Linder

Founder and Head Coach // Connect with me on LinkedIn

How we can help you:

The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator: Join 94 others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. The Interview Accelerator will give you our proven step by step process, coaching, and community to getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 500+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator: Join 94 others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. The Interview Accelerator will give you our proven step by step process, coaching, and community to getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 500+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator: Join 94 others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. The Interview Accelerator will give you our proven step by step process, coaching, and community to getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 500+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

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