Building A Resume That Showcases Your Marketable Ministry 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 when you have had to read a complicated document on a computer screen.

Maybe it was a contract of some sort, like a mortgage, 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 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.

1. It is ATS-friendly

2. It is reader-friendly

In the Interview Accelerator, our clients use our custom tool AI tools – the Resume Bullet Builder and the Translator Coach – to ensure both are true for their resumes.

You need to put all of the right keywords on your resume, and 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

Your resume should

• Have sections that mark the important things like your experience, your education, your skills, etc.

• Be in bullet point format and no long sentences or 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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

   
   Pause! Should you actually change your job title?
   
   Let's be clear: you don't have to.
   
   This is 100% your decision.
   
   But here's some food for thought: if someone asks, "What do you do?" and you answer with your job title, and then have to explain further what you do - or the person already has a pre-conceived notion of what you do - your title could be hurtful to your job search.
   
   This comes up a lot in our coaching calls inside the Interview Accelerator community: "But Todd, is it unethical to change your job title on your resume?"
   
   Let's define what a job title actually is: it's a word or series of words that is a reference point for what the actions, functions, and responsibilities of a job are, according to the organization where the job exists.
   
   Think of how many different "pastor" or "director" jobs there are, and how many ways there are to say "youth, next gen, young adults, family, student…"
   
   In the same way, if you already perform the actions, functions, and responsibilities of a job as outlined in a job description by another organization, then according to that organization, you do that job (or most of it) - which may carry a different title than the one you currently have.
   
   So who is right? Wrong question. The right question: "What is most helpful to the hiring team to see the alignment you have with the job they are hiring for, so that they can hire the best person possible?"

   
   As I outlined in the newsletter about finding your Top Job Type, there are a few different jobs that fit your experience, skills, and wiring. Job titles are typically structured in two parts: the first word or series of words describes the function of the job within the organization, and the last word describes the level - and therefore the responsibilities - of the job.
   
   Here's the formula, starting with the job function:
   
   

   • You found a job you really want - let's say "onboarding specialist." When you look at the job description, if you see that you've done 80% or more of that job, you can change your job title to "onboarding specialist."

   • If you've done less than 80% of what the job description says, you can either lower the level ("specialist" → something more junior), or pick another job title that most closely resembles the job you have now.

   • If it's a job earlier in your history with less than 80% alignment, you can keep the same title, or follow the formula in step 2.

   
   Now, the level of the job - this is where changing your title becomes unethical.
   
   The rule of thumb is to keep your current level, unless the job description for the role you're applying to shows you actually had more responsibility than you're giving yourself credit for (see the "onboarding specialist" example above).
   
   Remember: the title is just the reference point for the actions, functions, and results of a job within a given organization. If using the hiring organization's language helps the hiring team find and hire the best person, it's to everyone's benefit to change it.
   
   

4. Education: List your most relevant education first, followed by certifications in order of relevance.

5. 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.

6. 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.