How to Explain Your Career Change from Ministry in Job Interviews
Read Time: 3.5 minutes
Todd Linder
Founder & Head Coach
Overview
Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! Today we're talking about your story - specifically, how to help people understand why leaving vocational ministry makes sense by crafting a compelling career change story. You have a great ministry background, but how do you explain that experience so it makes sense, and so people want to hire you? We call this the Throughline Story. Let's dive in!
Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:
Mindset Shift: Your story is the most important thing about you - and how to explain your transition from vocational ministry.
Strategy Shift: How to build and use your Throughline Story to market your skills as a former pastor.
Do This Right Now: Put your Throughline Story together.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.
🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Your story is the most important thing about you.
What do you say when someone asks, "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?
I believe this so deeply because I've seen it over and over and over again: your story can get you in the door.
Your career story may actually be the thing that helps you get into the interview process, and the job offer, even if…
You don't look like the right fit on paper
Your experience is "non-traditional"
You don't feel like you're qualified
What is the most powerful way to help someone understand a complex concept or situation? 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. Check out the interview I did with Anna here - she got the offer purely because of 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?
What Anna perfected, and what we're going to cover today, is your Throughline Story - and there is a very specific way we want to structure it that will be useful in interviews, and for when you create cover letters or update your LinkedIn profile.
♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: How to build 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.
There are three reasons to share your Throughline Story:
So that you can communicate effectively that you are qualified.
So you can bust objections against your ministry experience.
So you can build trust that you are the right person to hire.
Great, so now how do we do this? Here are the 4 steps to creating your Throughline Story.
1. Where you are going.
Start with jotting down the following ideas, more than anything structured:
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.
2. Where you are now.
Think through interests, skills, and values again. Answer these questions:
Why did you take your current job?
Why do you work at your current place of employment?
What do you love about your current job and are really good at?
3. Where you have been.
Think of this as your journey from the beginning - even odd jobs in high school or your college degree - all the way 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.
4. Now put them all together, in a different order.
Use this order specifically to help the person you are talking with track and understand your story and why it is relevant:
Where I am now is… (what you developed in point 2 above)
How I got there was… (what you developed in point 3 above)
Which leads me to my next step, moving towards… (what you developed in point 1)
Write it down and try to make it a story that you can tell 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.
Quick additional note of encouragement:
If you are saying this out loud or creating this and don't feel confident, that's okay to wrestle with.
But don't stop there.
Work backwards from your emotions. What thoughts are leading to those feelings? And then what beliefs (about yourself, others, the world, or God) are leading to those thoughts? It is important to share this confidently. Good interviewers will be able to sense hesitancy.
✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Put your Throughline Story together.
Jot down ideas for each part of your Throughline Story: where you are going, where you are now, and where you have been. Make sure all details are relevant to the job you will be doing next.
Put it all together in the "where I am now / how I got there / next step" order.
Practice sharing the story out loud, and time yourself, so you're ready for your next coffee, lunch, or interview where you'd need to share it!
🚀 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.
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