How To Get Unstuck In Your Pastor Career Change: 5 Core Beliefs To Launch Your Marketplace Job Search
Dec 5, 2025
Read Time: 5 Minutes
Todd Linder
Founder & Head Coach
Overview
Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! Today, we’re talking about mindset and beliefs. But before you skip this one, we’re going to get practical. And if you apply what you learn here, I promise you it has the potential to transform your job search. So below, I break down the 5 Core Beliefs To Help You Win. Let’s dive in.
Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:
Mindset Shift: What truly launches your ministry to marketplace job search?
Strategy Shift: The 5 Core Beliefs for ministers in career change to get better results.
Do This Right Now: Start with one.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.
🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: What truly launches your ministry to marketplace job search?
Beliefs are the most underrated and most powerful part of the job search. Hands down.
Before you skip this newsletter because you don’t need another pep talk… this isn’t another pep talk.
I’m going to get really practical.
What you believe to be true will dictate your success. I’ve seen it over and over again.
I’m not talking about “I believe in myself!” type of (often unhelpful) beliefs. I’m talking about your hard-wired perspective. Your filters through which you see the world.
Your beliefs on how great the experience you have is, objectively.
Your beliefs about what other people think about you.
Your beliefs on how the world actually works.
When you establish your true filters and true beliefs about these things, the way you see the world changes.
The way you see your potential to add value in that world changes.
And the way you see the job search radically changes.
Alright, ready for the practical stuff?
♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: The 5 Core Beliefs for ministers in career change to get better results.
Let’s talk about the 5 Core Beliefs That Help You Win.
The Game Has Changed
What I’m about to share with you comes from over 10 years of experience in HR and Talent Acquisition, as well as being a career coach since 2020. I know how this game works.
Put this image in your head.
You’re in a big city and you want to go meet up with someone who works on the 37th floor of the skyscraper you’re in front of.
If you don’t have an appointment, you’re not getting into that office. You aren't getting on the elevator. You’re not getting past the front desk. You might not even get in the building.
But if that person comes down from their desk to the front door to get you, then you don’t need to belong there. Because someone who has a keycard bypasses all the security for you.
In the same way, HR has a system. A series of security measures that don’t let the wrong people through. Think ATS, resumes, one-way video screens.
But with a connection to the right person, you can bypass that security.
You Need A Team To Bypass The System, And You Need To Ask Them For Help
Still not convinced? < 2% of people who apply online get an interview!
But stats show that an introduction increases your chances of getting an interview 15X!
In the Interview Accelerator, people are getting interviews 35%, 40% or even up to 50% of every application they put in.
Why? Because they have a team that can help them bypass the system. And they talk to that team. And they ask that team for help.
Here’s the truth they know about asking people for help, and the beliefs that will help you:
People like helping other people.
People don’t like asking for help from other people.
You will go further with people’s help.
Being good at getting help is a superpower.
You can ask people for help incorrectly.
Play The Long Game To Win The Game
Think about American football (hopefully I don’t lose you). Follow me here:
Winning comes from scoring more points than the other team.
Points come from touchdowns and field goals.
Touchdowns and field goals, most of the time, don’t come from 60-yard plays. Most of the time, it comes from 4, 5, or 7-yard plays over and over and over again.
Running those plays consistently requires doing the small things correctly.
So how do you win? Do the little things right. Over and over again. Not the Hail Marys.
Communication Trumps Experience
The name of the game is not, “whoever is the most qualified gets the job.” It’s, “whoever communicates that they are the most qualified gets the job.”
I want you to drill this into your brain: Perception is reality.
How you communicate
on your resume,
through your story,
on your LinkedIn profile,
in your cover letters,
in connecting conversations,
and in interviews…
… matters in convincing someone that you are the most attractive candidate for the job.
If you can do that well, your chances of getting an offer go way, way up. (All of those links go to other newsletters I’ve written that will take you deeper on each topic.)
Your Emotions Dictate Your Outcomes
Here’s what I mean:
You are playing an emotional long game.
Your emotions should mirror the level of your wins and losses. If you get really down about EVERY loss, you’ll drain yourself emotionally. (Remember, getting an interview 3 out of every 10 applications you put in is amazing! But that also means 7 rejections before the interview. Prepare yourself for that.)
If you get really excited about EVERY win, you might overvalue things that lead to interviews, but not the true results you’re looking for.
How you feel about yourself, others, and the environment will ooze out of you in your communication.
If you aren’t confident, that will come across in your communication through your tone and your body language.
Where do your emotions come from? Hint Hint. Your beliefs about yourself, others, and the world around you. (Call back to the Mindset section here.) That’s why we’re covering this in the first place.
✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Start with one.
You’ve got the 5 core beliefs.
Choose one that you want to really work on internalizing.
Write it down somewhere you can see it when you’re on the job search.
Before you dive into your next job search session, read that and try to notice where it might be true as you go through your activities. Start to notice patterns of how your beliefs (if different) are getting you the results that you’re seeing now.
🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP
In the first 25 days of November, I have interviewed with 13 different people for 5 different jobs… Two jobs are still on the table as possible “yeses”!
🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.
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How we can help you:
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