Church Jobs, Pastor Jobs, Ministry Jobs, Christian Jobs

You did it! You reworked your resume, perfected your cover letter and landed the big interview. But walking through the door is only the beginning — especially if the interviewer throws some hard-hitting questions your way and you don’t know how to respond. “The interview is an elimination process,” says Dr. Thomas J. Denham, a career counselor at Careers in Transition LLC in Colonie, New York. “The employer is trying to weed out those who are not the most worthy of the position.” Here, Denham offers some advice on how to answer five of the toughest interview questions:

1. What is your biggest weakness?
Questions like these, says Denham, are asked so that interviewees admit a weakness that justifies their being shown the door. He recommends responding with: “I have a tendency to say yes and get overcommitted.” Then follow that with an example of how you are working on prioritizing and setting personal limits. Never draw negative attention to yourself by stating a weakness that would lead an employer to think you are not the best person for the job, Denham says. “The focus of your interview should be on your strengths,” he says.

2. What salary do you think you deserve?
“The person who states the salary is the loser,” says Denham, explaining that if you are the first to throw out a number, the number you give could be less than what the employer was planning to pay. Wait for the employer to give a range, and when it does ask you for a figure you expect to be making, choose a salary that is higher than the median they provide. Use online tools and resources to find out what you can realistically expect. Also, don’t talk salary on the first interview.

3. Why should I hire you?
For this one, Denham says it’s important to prepare before the interview. “Go back to your resume and look through it for the three to five things that make you outstanding,” he says. These qualities should accent your work ability, like “I’m a hard worker” or “I get things done.” You have to demonstrate a track record of results. “The notion is that past performance is always the best predictor of future performance,” Denham says.

4. What didn’t you like about your last job?
The employer who asks this question could be looking for you to answer with something that would indicate a weakness of yours, once again in an attempt to eliminate you. So while it may be tempting to trash your boss or complain about the hours (they expected me to be in at 8 a.m.!), try answering with something like this: “I did not feel my responsibilities were challenging enough.” Then the employer will feel confident that you are ready for whatever they may throw at you.

5. Where do you see yourself in three to five years?
The worst answer you can provide to this one, Denham says, is “I have no idea,” even though that might be the truth. “It’s basically like saying, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing with my life and I have no idea how long I’ll stay with this job,’” Denham says. Try a response like “I’ve done a lot of self-assessment, and what I’ve learned about myself is that I want to make a commitment to this career and I want to build my career here.”

By Nicole Williams

Easter means that this life on earth
is not all there is.
Jesus went “to prepare a place for us”
in His Father’s heavenly mansions
for all eternity.
Jesus died for our sins,
paying our penalty,
so that we could be forgiven.
He was resurrected, to prove
that death has no hold
on those who repent
and accept Him as Savior.
This life on earth is a prelude
to eternal joy with our Lord.
Easter is a celebration
of our eternal destiny.

By Joanna Fuchs

Many people are facing the prospect of finding a new job. And some are even contemplating a complete career change. If it has been years since you’ve updated your resume, you may be wondering where to start. Follow these six steps to turn your dusty retro resume into a high-powered personal marketing tool for winning interviews in today’s competitive job market.

Find Your Resume’s Focus

Before you start refreshing your old resume, you need to clarify your job target. Without a clear vision of your career direction, your resume won’t do a good job selling you to potential employers. If you have more than one career interest, you’ll be much better off developing different versions of your resume rather than trying to construct a one-size-fits-all document.

Having trouble finding your focus? You might want to start with some self-assessment tests or by speaking to a career counselor.

Research Your Target Job

Thoroughly research your job target before writing the first draft of your resume, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve been in the job market. Talk to people in your target industry, and scour job postings on Monster to get a good idea of the qualifications employers are looking for. If you are changing careers, your research may prompt you to enroll in continuing-education classes to gain new skills.

Look for keywords that continually crop up in different ads. If you see terms used frequently, they should probably be in your resume whenever applicable. Pay attention to skills that aren’t mentioned in these ads as well, and remove items from your old resume that will make you seem outdated.

Develop Your Career Profile/Objective

Now you’re ready to begin writing. If you’re a career changer, you’ll need a clearly stated objective to open your resume. Don’t expect busy hiring managers to figure out what you want to do. Use this section to explain key skills you can leverage from your prior career into your new job target. Emphasize how you can help the organization, rather than what you want in a job.

Here’s a before-and-after example:

* Before: Seeking a challenging position with a future-oriented company offering opportunities for growth and advancement.

* After: Dynamic public speaker/presenter with advanced technical knowledge, seeking to leverage these strengths as an award-winning computer instructor into an entry-level software sales position.

If you’re looking for a new position within your current field, use the Objective section on Monster’s Resume Builder to write a compelling career summary. This is the perfect place to write a few hard-hitting sentences emphasizing the breadth of your experience and the value you bring to the table.

Zero in on Your Achievements

Your resume must have an accomplishments-driven focus to compete in today’s job market and maximize calls for interviews. Avoid simply rehashing boring job descriptions. Instead, detail the results and outcomes of your efforts.

If you were a hiring manager, which would you find more compelling?

* Before: Responsible for troubleshooting and maintaining workstations and systems.

* After: Improved systems uptime from 91% to 99.9% for 350 corporate and remote users through expert, cross-platform (Windows NT/UNIX) troubleshooting/maintenance.

For each of the positions you’ve held, use action verbs and phrases to describe how you contributed to your employers, such as cut costs, generated revenue, improved service, enhanced processes, solved problems and saved time. Use numbers, percentages, dollar amounts, comparisons or other key details to back up your claims. Be sure not to reveal facts that disclose proprietary or confidential company information.

Design Your Resume

Does your retro resume resemble a typing job circa 1970? To stand out from the crowd, use your word-processing program’s advanced formatting features, such as bold, italics, line draw, industry icons, attractive fonts, etc. — without going overboard — to give your resume a distinctive look. If you are not confident in your design capabilities, seek assistance from a resume writer or talented friend.

Proofread and Test-Drive

Your resume must be perfect. Carefully proofread your resume to ensure proper grammar, punctuation and usage. If you are changing careers, ask for feedback from hiring managers in your targeted field for valuable input on how your resume stands up to the competition. After it’s complete, post your resume online where thousands of employers will see it, and you can apply for jobs easily.

Matthew 20: 1-19

What we think is of worth and importance usually is not. We seek wealth and power; He seeks reconcilement and relationship. This parable also portrays God as sovereign, gracious, and concerned with humanity. It shows the contrast between the people society throws away as being first, and what the world considers first as really being last because their true colors come out as they complain and blame.

This is also about grace in the workplace. Grace is very hard for some people to understand because it is without merit. Nobody likes to work hard and see someone who does not do so get a reward. But, grace is not about rewarding those who are lazy or foolish, it is about God’s control, and His vision sees all; ours does not.

• Real Grace does not criticize or tear others down!
• We are not to keep our focus on what others are doing or the rewards they seem to get. Rather, we are to focus upon our Lord and what He is seeking to do within us so we can give it to those around us. Let Him deal with you fairly, that is, what He thinks is fair—not what we think!
• Grace is impossible to understand or receive; that is why we need the work of the Holy Spirit.
• This is a reflection that He is the ultimate last in faith and humbleness. Submitting to God to be last, as He modeled, exalts us in ways we cannot fathom, as God is the One who brings us to be first. God is the One who vindicates us(Matt. 16:21; 17:22-23; 19:30)!
• Salvation has more to do with our worship of Christ and less about our rewards!
• Passages that help us see God’s call in relating to others in our vocation: Colossians 3:23; Galatians 6:9; Proverbs 12:24; 13:4; 19:15; 24:30-32; Titus 2: 9-20; 1Timothy 6:1-2; James 1: 8.
• To be interesting and liked, you need to be interested in and like others!
• Be open to others around you who can teach you more about your job!
• Care about what you do, and show you care.
• Be a pleasing and warm person, not a gossiper or conniver and schemer!
• Find an expert from whom you could learn insights about your job, so you can seek how to be better in it. No matter how long you have been there, you can always learn more, and ultimately become the best you can be for our Lord!
• Avoid laziness and procrastination like the plague (Proverbs 10:4,5,2:11, 15:19; 18:9)!
• Remember, your work is an act of worship, since it is God you are serving!
• Reevaluate your attitude toward your employer and fellow employees as much as you can.
• Notice others in your workplace, how you can learn from them, and how you can come along side and help them!
• Focus on objectives, not obstacles, and make sure your objectives are clear!
• Be totally honest with your time, expenses, and relationships!
• Remember your workplace is also your most effective outreach. You may not be able to verbally share the gospel, nor should you on work time, but you can be a Christ-like example so others will seek you out and ask you what makes you different!
• Keep your focus on Christ. Look at your work as worship, and as serving Him, not just a labor or chore. Be open for opportunities, and take them as gaining insights and experience so as to be better for Him and others around you! If you get stuck, consider a new perspective. Try to look at your work from a different viewpoint. You cannot always control your situation, but you can control your attitude and respond as our Lord has called us to do!

What would we have to gain if we put all of ourselves and our time in our career, giving up all the other aspects of life? Nothing! When I visit rest homes with youth groups, I ask the youth to get life stories and perspectives from the elderly residents to catch sight of what they have learned in life, and what youth can learn from them. These were very rewarding. With dozens upon dozens of visits over twenty years, we never had anyone say they regretted that they did not spend more time in their career. The regrets expressed, if any, were about losing time with family by being workaholics, forfeiting relationships, and such. All could have been avoided just by adhering to Jesus’ simple words in Mark 8:36. Look it up and see for yourself!

The key to a great work environment is possessing the attitude that Christ is our employer so we do our work for Him. We should view our job as a mission field and keep coworkers and bosses in constant prayer. If you feel stress, hatred, lack of accomplishment, or if you are unhappy and in the wrong place, then pray more! We are to be our best for His glory, regardless of our circumstances (Rom. 8:17; Eph. 6:5-8;Phil. 2:1-11; 1 Pet. 2:18-25). We may have a paycheck from McDonald’s and a boss who may need some acne treatments, but our ultimate authority and manager is Christ Himself! We show our value—that Christ paid a price for us—so we in turn can respond with a good work ethic (1 Cor. 7:23). We must adjust our mindset to see work as an opportunity to please Him, and in so doing, be a blessing to those around us with our practical obedience and diligence! This allows us to do our best for Christ’s highest with excitement and passion in order to complete our work and call from the Lord. He asks us to love our call and pursue our work so we are doing our best for His glory. (Prov. 10:4; Rom. 12:11; Col. 3:23).

Here are some more Scriptures about being an employee: Exodus 23:12; 35:2; Proverbs 10:26; 25:13; Ecclesiastes 2:4; 5:12; Colossians 3:17, 22-25; 2 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Timothy 6:2; Titus 2:9,10; 1 Peter 2: 18-20

Questions

1. How do you feel when you see co-workers who are lazy and do not do their work, yet they get a raise or are promoted over people who do work hard? Has this happened to you? Did you get mad at God?

2. How would you define the “me first” mentality? How is it a part of our sinful nature? Why is it embraced so much, even by people in the Church?

3. How does our selfishness deprive us of God’s power? Have you been deprived by your misdirected deeds and ideas?

4. Which would you rather live under, an oppressive régime, or freedom and liberty? Why? In what category is God’s régime?

5. Why do you suppose the workers demanded the amount by contract? Does this mindset work in business? What about in the church?

6. If you demand that God meet your demands, He just might do that. How would you feel to receive what you want when you could have had so much more? How do trust and faith come into play?

7. What do you think of the expectations of the different workers? How does this relate to how some Christians tend to expect God just to bless them?

8. Why do you think Grace is very hard for some people to understand? How do you understand it?

9. What do you say when someone says that God is unfair? Have you ever felt that way?

10. What do you need to do to have a better attitude at work and display the wonders of Christ without opening your mouth?

So a lot has been made on the Rob Bell book, Love Wins.  What are your thoughts on it?  Here is the trailer if you havent seen it.

When you are searching for a new church job, ministry job, or pastor job – what do you look for?  What things are important to you?

Let us know.  Would love to hear your comments.

Unemployment in America has reached its lowest in two years at 8.8 percent. FindAChristianJob.com has aided in that
process by connecting the unemployed with jobs in the Christian industry. Employers need to take this opportunity to get their
ministry openings known to the public on a much larger scale by utilizing this Christian job search engine.

With more than 21,000 Twitter followers and 45,000 email newsletters sent out weekly, FindAChristianJob.com ensures
every employment listing the exposure needed to connect employers with the right kind of people they need.
FindAChristianJob.com focuses on job postings, not resume services, books and all that other stuff just to try to make a buck.

Employers don’t have to worry about any sign-up hassles; all they need to do is post their job description and candidates can
contact them directly. There’s even a 100 percent Money-Back Guarantee for those who don’t believe the site is working for
them. Thanks to specialty job search engines like FindAChristianJob.com, America can continue to see that beautiful decrease
in unemployment rates.

If you haven’t already experienced angst with a job, probably you will soon, particularly in this season of cutbacks and workplace instability. Maybe you’re working at a job you’re not passionate about right now. Or at a job that seems meaningless? Or your job feels like only a stepping-stone to something else. So what do you do?

When it comes to looking for a new job and evaluating potential job offers, there are five important areas to watch for. These key criteria are built of off the acronym P.A.P.E.R. and are not given in the order of importance.

When it comes to seeking a job, look for:

P: Provision: Like it or not, receiving a paycheck is a huge reason for working. That’s not wrong at all. 1 Thess. 4:12 instructs us to work “so you won’t be dependent on anybody.” Will the job you take provide for your financial needs, whatever they are in a given season of your life?

A: Aptitude: Can you do this job, or can you learn it? If you hate the ocean, don’t look for a job as a tugboat captain. You might want to be a fighter pilot, but if you wear glasses as thick as Coke bottles, it’s not feasible to seek being a pilot as a career direction. At what school subjects did you excel? Where does your current training lie? If you like math, then look for a job that uses those skills. Do you like computers? Stay in that field. God has given you natural talents, abilities and preferences—consider all those factors in the jobs you seek.

P: Partnership: Single or married, this is always something to think about as you look for a career direction. It’s easy to think only of yourself when it comes to a job. But you’ll want to factor in what your spouse thinks about a job situation. If you love a job and your spouse hates it, or vice versa, it probably won’t be a long-term fit. Also, with some jobs, it’s virtually impossible to do the job well and have a family. For instance, a friend of ours works as a military contractor and is gone overseas for up to two years at a time—he’s often forbidden to disclose his whereabouts or even to have contact back home. That makes it really tough to be a husband and father. So, when seeking a career, factor in the partnership equation. Will what you do allow you to be around home enough to be fulfill that role in your life as well?

E: Excitement. Being passionate about a job is a good thing. You might not love everything about a job, but maybe you’re excited about what you’ll learn, or the opportunities it provides, or where it leads. If you absolutely hate a job, chances are it won’t be a good fit for you long-term. Sometimes a job carries a level of excitement only for a season. That may be your nudge to seek something new.

R: Reason. Last, but perhaps most important, does this job matter? Does it affect people in a positive way? Does it lead people closer to Christ? Is God glorified by what you do? If you see your job as without purpose, it will be hard to sustain it over time. Sometimes people think they can only find purpose in their job if they’re pastors or missionaries. But you can serve God anywhere, and with virtually any job. A friend of ours is a dentist who cleans teeth all day, but she’s got an amazing ministry in who she talks to and in how she conducts her business.

You’ll probably have a lot of jobs throughout your working years, some you’ll like, some you’ll hate. Rest in the fact that God guides in good directions. Continue to seek his face and he will make your paths straight.

By Shaun Blakeney and Marcus Brotherton

The list of violations we know today as the Seven Deadly Sins is believed to have been compiled in the first few centuries after the death of Jesus.  But these sins continue to be alive and well in workplaces around the world.

From anger, to envy, to greed, and even sloth, we can  get tripped up by the Seven Deadly Sins in the office and on the shop floor.

Pride – As Al Pacino’s character said in The Devil’s Advocate, “…It’s my favorite sin.” It’s the one that gets us in the most trouble and is interwoven with all the others.  It’s our efforts to soothe, stroke, and magnify our ego that drive us to believe that we’re really the center of the universe and that it’s really all about us.  It’s not.  It’s about God.

Anger – Jesus never asked us to not get angry.  He told us that when we get angry “with cause” we should talk to “our brother” to resolve the problem.  We can easily find a cause to justify our anger.  When we do lose our temper we often choose to ignore the person, talk about them, or retaliate with passive / aggressive behavior rather than talk out our issue and solve the problem.

Envy – We envy the money, positions, and power of others. It’s so easy to get caught up in this earthly existence and compare what others have to what we have.  When we envy others we’re telling God that we don’t appreciate what He’s given us and we lose focus on what should really be the center of our joy:  Our heavenly Father.

Gluttony – Workaholism is gluttony in the workplace.  By constantly trying to fill ourselves up with work, and by overloading our plate with tasks and projects, we attempt to fill a void in our hearts that can only be filled with the healing power of God’s love.  It’s time we asked ourselves why we continue to work more when we seem to enjoy it less all the time.

Greed – We live in a state of abundance that’s amazing and take it all for granted. Whether we demonstrate greed for money, for “face-time” with the boss, or for a bigger kingdom to manage, it’s easy to get caught up in this quicksand of always wanting more. Remember Jesus’ admonition that “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Lust – We lust for power; we lust for sexual contact; and we lust for things.  Lust is the emotion of desire taken to the extreme.  While there’s nothing wrong with the desire we have for our spouse or the desire to improve ourselves and grow in our career, we must remain vigilant that those desires don’t become the focus of our lives.  That’s the spot reserved for God.

Sloth – When we accepted our jobs we agreed to put our employer’s objectives ahead of our own business objectives.  Our employer pays us the wages we accepted and in exchange, we agreed to give our all to the tasks asked of us.  When we don’t do that, we demonstrate sloth at work. We can rationalize and make excuses all we want, but that’s not living up to our end of the bargain.

Being Christians 24-hours a day means we’re supposed to live our faith every moment of every day.   We spend more time at work than we do with our families.  The workplace is where our faith is tested most and where we have to work the hardest to align our behavior with our spiritual beliefs.  As Christians, we are to reflect the light of Christ in our words and actions no matter where we are. Even at work.

By Winnie Anderson