Navigating Job Boards After Ministry: How Former Pastors Can Find Fulfilling Corporate Jobs That Fit
Aug 22, 2025
Read Time: 3.5 minutes
Todd Linder
Founder & Head Coach
Overview
Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! Today, we’re talking about how to navigate the job boards when looking for jobs as a former pastor. How can you actually find jobs that fit you and you’ll get hired for? And, which job boards are better than others? Let’s dive in.
Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:
Mindset Shift: How to find jobs as a former pastor.
Strategy Shift: The ministry transition method of searching for a marketplace job through job boards.
Do This Right Now: Your post-ministry job search strategy.
Who Will Hire Me?: 6 job boards with jobs for ex-pastors.
🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: How to find jobs as a former pastor.
When looking for a job, the most obvious place to look is on job boards.
LinkedIn, Indeed, Google Jobs, Work For Good, Praxis Jobs, Christian Tech Jobs, etc.
These (and plenty more) are where companies post open jobs that they have so that more people will see them.
It is a great way to find open positions that you can take action on quickly.
But most people are using the job boards wrong.
Most that I talk to search for keywords or job titles.
Searches like, “human resources,” “customer service,” or “learning and development.”
The problem here is two-fold.
Job titles often don’t reflect the job itself. I’ve seen the same job title for completely different job descriptions. And those job descriptions can have completely different requirements!
There are no rules for job titles. It is HR’s naming convention for what probably makes the most sense, plus some part of the culture of the organization.
Instead of searching for job titles, search for job functions.
♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: The ministry transition method of searching for a marketplace job through job boards.
Job functions are the most accurate search basis for a job that fits you.
When I say, “A job that fits you,” I mean a job that fits your skills, experience, and wiring.
Before searching on job boards, you have to know what job functions you want to do AND can do (more on that later).
But if you do have that clarity, here’s what you need to know about searching these job boards.
Use keywords to find jobs you want to do.
Basically, find the words that describe the job you want, rather than the common title.
To do this, you can either
Ask someone you know who has that job what keywords they would be searching for that match the functions of their job
Look at multiple job descriptions for jobs that you get excited about. Copy them into ChatGPT and ask it to pull out all of the common job functions that appear across more than one job description. Ideally, it would be all of them.
Use filters to eliminate the wrong stuff.
Filters are powerful tools for eliminating the wrong opportunities once you have already plugged in the right search values.
Filters that I like that can eliminate the wrong postings and give you an edge are filters like,
Location / remote (read the job description carefully, though)
Job type (full-time, part-time, internship)
When the job was posted
Industry or Area of Focus
Salary range
Under 10 applicants
Connections are your best friend.
This one applies to LinkedIn, but you can also cross-reference other job boards with LinkedIn.
Your best way to get a job with a non-traditional background is by securing an interview through a connection. I’ve talked about this in length in my newsletter, Who Will Help You Get A Job As A Former Pastor.
The LinkedIn Jobs page has a special filter that allows you to filter the job postings by “In your network.”
This means that the only jobs you will see are at organizations where you have a LinkedIn connection.
Pretty cool, huh?
What if I don’t have clarity for my next job?
This is the most important part. Not having clarity is like asking for directions to the beach in the middle of Kansas.
It is just confusing for others.
You could check out my articles, Best Jobs for Pastors: What Jobs Can Former Pastors Do After Leaving Ministry or 6 Steps to Finding the Right Corporate Job Title After Leaving Ministry.
Or you can join us for the Job Clarity Intensive on September 12.
✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Your post-ministry job search strategy.
Discover the common job functions for jobs you want.
Plug those into a few different job boards.
Use the filters to eliminate jobs that are in line with your skills, experience, wiring, or vision.
🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP
Job clarity done! Feels good to have a direction!
🤝 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 email newsletter only.
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How we can help you:
FREE Ultimate Guide To Your Ministry To Marketplace Transition Our entire process in a free (yes, FREE) guide that walks you step-by-step through the essentials of landing a marketplace job that you'll enjoy, and supports your family. Each section builds on the next: clarity, translation, resume, and LinkedIn connections… everything you need to start seeing traction in your search. You can sign up here >>> Sign up for the Ultimate Guide.
The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator Join 115+ others who 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 for getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
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