Building A Resume That Showcases Your Marketable Ministry Skills
Building A Resume That Showcases Your Marketable Ministry Skills
Building A Resume That Showcases Your Marketable Ministry Skills
Read Time: 4 minutes
Read Time: 4 minutes
Overview
Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! In today’s episode, we’re talking about the #1 thing killing your resume - which impacts your ability to get interviews, and ultimately make a transition from your ministry job to a new career. It isn’t your bullets, it isn’t metrics, it is simpler than that. It is the structure. Let’s dive in.
Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:
Mindset Shift: Becoming an attractive candidate as a former pastor
Strategy Shift: Design the resume to show ministry marketable skills
Do This Right Now: Redoing your resume structure
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors
Overview
Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! In today’s episode, we’re talking about the #1 thing killing your resume - which impacts your ability to get interviews, and ultimately make a transition from your ministry job to a new career. It isn’t your bullets, it isn’t metrics, it is simpler than that. It is the structure. Let’s dive in.
Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:
Mindset Shift: Becoming an attractive candidate as a former pastor
Strategy Shift: Design the resume to show ministry marketable skills
Do This Right Now: Redoing your resume structure
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors
LAUNCH YOUR JOB SEARCH
LAUNCH YOUR JOB SEARCH
🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Becoming an attractive candidate as a former pastor
🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Becoming an attractive candidate as a former pastor
Your resume is your most important asset in the job search. But what if it isn’t working for you? What if you’re not getting interviews?
When hiring managers or recruiters read resumes, they read groups of them at the same time.
They do an initial run through to weed out the candidates that obviously don’t make sense on paper.
30, 40, 50 at a time.
Your resume will get 5-10 seconds maximum. As will the rest.
It is black and white, yes or no.
Your resume needs to stand out.
In the first 5-10 seconds, from the group of 30, 40, or 50.
This doesn’t mean
- use color
- your photo
- design it to look unique.
That will actually hurt you.
What it does mean is that they need to see the things that make you “an attractive candidate” at first glance.
Not because you’re awesome or skilled.
But because you can do the job.
Because you can show your marketable skills as a former pastor.
Your resume is your most important asset in the job search. But what if it isn’t working for you? What if you’re not getting interviews?
When hiring managers or recruiters read resumes, they read groups of them at the same time.
They do an initial run through to weed out the candidates that obviously don’t make sense on paper.
30, 40, 50 at a time.
Your resume will get 5-10 seconds maximum. As will the rest.
It is black and white, yes or no.
Your resume needs to stand out.
In the first 5-10 seconds, from the group of 30, 40, or 50.
This doesn’t mean
- use color
- your photo
- design it to look unique.
That will actually hurt you.
What it does mean is that they need to see the things that make you “an attractive candidate” at first glance.
Not because you’re awesome or skilled.
But because you can do the job.
Because you can show your marketable skills as a former pastor.
♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: Design the resume to show ministry marketable skills
♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: Design the resume to show ministry marketable skills
How do you do this?
Your resume needs to be designed for the brain to not have to work too hard.
Here’s why:
Think of a recent time where you have had to read a complicated document on a computer screen.
Maybe it was a contract of some sort like a mortgage or lease or insurance.
Probably over 30 pages.
Likely, you were looking for specific parts of the agreement. Probably the parts that you cared about the most:
What could get you into trouble and what needed to be true for you to sign on the dotted line.
Lucky for you, the contract is broken down into specific sections to make it easy to find these things.
Your resume needs to be the same.
How do you do this?
Your resume needs to be designed for the brain to not have to work too hard.
Here’s why:
Think of a recent time where you have had to read a complicated document on a computer screen.
Maybe it was a contract of some sort like a mortgage or lease or insurance.
Probably over 30 pages.
Likely, you were looking for specific parts of the agreement. Probably the parts that you cared about the most:
What could get you into trouble and what needed to be true for you to sign on the dotted line.
Lucky for you, the contract is broken down into specific sections to make it easy to find these things.
Your resume needs to be the same.
The #1 thing killing ministry resumes is…
The #1 thing killing ministry resumes is…
The structure.
I’ve seen it all.
Both from my time hiring when I worked at a large church,
To my time in corporate HR in talent acquisition,
And now as a career coach for the last 5 years.
Your resume needs to make sure two things are true.
It is ATS friendly
It is reader friendly
Yes, you need to put all of the right keywords on your resume.
Yes, you need to address the P.A.R.T.S. of the job description, which I wrote about here.
But even if you have those things, if the structure isn’t right,
The ATS won’t recognize your experience (auto-rejection)
And the reader won’t see your experience (swipe left)
Your resume should be easy, and intuitive, for the brain to find the specific experience that matches the job.
The structure.
I’ve seen it all.
Both from my time hiring when I worked at a large church,
To my time in corporate HR in talent acquisition,
And now as a career coach for the last 5 years.
Your resume needs to make sure two things are true.
It is ATS friendly
It is reader friendly
Yes, you need to put all of the right keywords on your resume.
Yes, you need to address the P.A.R.T.S. of the job description, which I wrote about here.
But even if you have those things, if the structure isn’t right,
The ATS won’t recognize your experience (auto-rejection)
And the reader won’t see your experience (swipe left)
Your resume should be easy, and intuitive, for the brain to find the specific experience that matches the job.
The 6 Parts of a Standout Resume
The 6 Parts of a Standout Resume
Your resume should
Have sections that mark the important things like your experience, your education, your skills, etc.
Be in bullet points format and no long sentences and paragraphs.
Use metrics to show impact and proof.
Here are the 6 parts, in order from top of the page to bottom of the page:
Contact Information: Keep it minimal and obvious. Avoid using a picture. Use the nearest major city instead of a suburb to make your location recognizable.
Professional Summary: Instead of generic statements, include the most impressive bullet points relevant to the job you're applying for. Limit this to three bullet points and tailor them to each job description.
Relevant Work Experience: Include 3 to 5 jobs, focusing on those most relevant to the position. Adjust job titles to reflect your responsibilities accurately, and include a summary of the scope of work, such as the number of people served, annual revenue, and team size.
Education: List your most relevant education first, followed by certifications in order of relevance.
Skills: Highlight technical skills relevant to the job. Integrate these into your impact bullets and list any remaining relevant skills separately. Limit soft skills to a maximum of five, ensuring they are highly relevant to the job.
Interests: Include 3 to 4 specific non-work interests that can help you connect with others. Be specific to make them relatable.
When your resume is designed like this, you’re more likely to have the right person see the right things that move you through the process.
Your resume should
Have sections that mark the important things like your experience, your education, your skills, etc.
Be in bullet points format and no long sentences and paragraphs.
Use metrics to show impact and proof.
Here are the 6 parts, in order from top of the page to bottom of the page:
Contact Information: Keep it minimal and obvious. Avoid using a picture. Use the nearest major city instead of a suburb to make your location recognizable.
Professional Summary: Instead of generic statements, include the most impressive bullet points relevant to the job you're applying for. Limit this to three bullet points and tailor them to each job description.
Relevant Work Experience: Include 3 to 5 jobs, focusing on those most relevant to the position. Adjust job titles to reflect your responsibilities accurately, and include a summary of the scope of work, such as the number of people served, annual revenue, and team size.
Education: List your most relevant education first, followed by certifications in order of relevance.
Skills: Highlight technical skills relevant to the job. Integrate these into your impact bullets and list any remaining relevant skills separately. Limit soft skills to a maximum of five, ensuring they are highly relevant to the job.
Interests: Include 3 to 4 specific non-work interests that can help you connect with others. Be specific to make them relatable.
When your resume is designed like this, you’re more likely to have the right person see the right things that move you through the process.
QUICK WINS
QUICK WINS
✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: : Redoing your resume structure
✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: : Redoing your resume structure
Reorganize your resume into sections.
Rewrite your experience and professional summary in bullet point format.
Fill in the other sections.
Reorganize your resume into sections.
Rewrite your experience and professional summary in bullet point format.
Fill in the other sections.
🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP
🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP
I submitted my resume last night with a target organization and got an email this morning to set up a first interview with HR.
I submitted my resume last night with a target organization and got an email this morning to set up a first interview with HR.
🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.
🤝 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 533+ others, every Friday morning.
Because of the time sensitive nature of job postings, we post these in the newsletter only.
Get the newsletter, along with 463+ others, every Friday morning.
Rooting for you! 🚀
Todd Linder
Founder and Head Coach // Connect with me on LinkedIn
How we can help you:
The Ministry To Marketplace Coaching Program: Join 89 others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. Our coaching program will give you our proven step by step process to getting a job faster in the marketplace, weekly coaching calls and check ins, and community with others on the same journey as you. Book a call here.
The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 453+ 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.
Want to hire someone with a ministry background? We always have 20-30 people in our coaching group who are hire ready! Email me (todd@launchpoint.co) with a link to the job description and I'll personally take a look in our coaching community for someone that fits, make sure their resume is lined up, and connect you with them directly. (completely FREE)
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