The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
We're all about helping create a healthy, positive, and spiritually positive environment for church staff members and leadership teams.
The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Finding (and Keeping) Great Staff Fits
Ever wondered how to transform your church staff into a passionate, dedicated team aligned with your mission? Discover the essential steps to create strong, long-term ministry partnerships in this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Todd Rhoades, co-founder of Chemistry Staffing, guides you through understanding your church's unique needs, values, and culture while sharing strategies for casting a wide net to find the perfect candidates. Learn the importance of assessing character and alignment beyond resumes, conducting thorough interviews, and doing meticulous reference checks to ensure a healthy, long-term fit.
Creating a supportive and collaborative staff culture is not just a goal; it's a necessity. We delve into the significance of building an environment where new employees feel valued and aligned with the church's vision from day one. Todd discusses how search firms like Chemistry Staffing can find candidates who are likely to stay for the long haul, enhancing stability and growth. The episode wraps up with insights on robust onboarding and training processes to smoothly integrate new staff members. For those needing personalized assistance, Todd invites listeners to reach out and take the next step toward building a thriving church staff.
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
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Is Your Church Hiring?
If your church is searching for a new staff member, reach out to Todd for a conversation on how he might be able to help.
Are You Looking for a New Ministry Role?
If you are open to a new church role in the next few months, add your free resume and profile at ChemistryStaffing.com.
today we're diving into the exciting yet often daunting world of church staffing. It's like a matchmaking game, but instead of finding love connections, we're searching for the perfect ministry partnerships. Thanks for joining us today. I am your host on the healthy church staff podcast, todd rhodes, and also one of the co-founders over at chemistry staffingcom. Thanks for joining us today. I am your host on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, todd Rhodes, and also one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom.
Speaker 1:Now staffing your church can feel like navigating a minefield. There are resumes to sift through, interviews to conduct, references to check, personalities to assess and even when you think you've found the one, there's no guarantee that it'll be a match made in heaven. But here's some good news With the right approach and a little bit of wisdom, you can find and keep the perfect staff fit for your church. I say perfect no one's ever perfect but you can find a really what we call at Chemistry a healthy, long-term fit. Now, this is one of my passion areas. So if I get up on a soapbox, just push me down and you know what to do. You know the drill, but it's something I'm really passionate about, something I've given my life's work to here, for the last seven years at chemistry, but earlier than that, back when I founded churchstaffingcom. Let's dig down. Let's break down some of the ministry matchmaking process. Okay, so these are just some. Overall, I think I've got eight different ideas here that will help you as you start that staff search process for your church.
Speaker 1:First of all, clarity is absolutely key. Before you even start looking for candidates, make sure you get a crystal clear view on your church's needs and your values and your culture. What specific roles do you need to fill? What kind of personality and skill set would thrive in your environment? You have to be clear on this. So many times, whenever there's a resignation or a church just decides that they want to hire a new staff person, the first thing they do is they write up a job description or not a job description, a job posting, a couple paragraphs this is what we're looking for, this is about what we'll pay and they pop it out on the internet and hope that things will go well. But that's not the first thing you should do. The first thing you should do is get really crystal clear on what your church needs and, if it's coming out of a resignation, see if you really need that position. Is that the position you need to rehire? Do you need to rehire something different? Do you need to readjust that job description? So clarity, absolutely Number one. Before you ever get started, clarity is absolutely key.
Speaker 1:Number two cast a wide net. Don't limit yourself to traditional channels. Use online job boards and social media and networking events, word of mouth to find potential candidates. I would encourage you because and I have to say this, it's in my contract with the podcast I have to say this you should check out Chemistry Staffing. We work with churches all day, every day. We're currently doing, I think, about 65 or 70 searches for churches across the country. We do this all the time and we have a very good process to help you cast that wide net. We take a lot of the initial grunt work out of your search. Okay, so you can reach out to me anytime if you're looking for some help as you hire staff persons. Reach out to me at chemistrystaffingpodcast, at chemistrystaffingcom. So cast a wide net.
Speaker 1:Number three look beyond the resume. Resumes are just a piece of paper. They can be deceiving. Don't just focus on skills and experience. You need to also look for passion and character and alignment with your church's mission and values. You're only going to find so much out on a resume and sometimes resumes can overperform and sometimes they can really underperform. So don't be afraid to have conversations with people, even when you're not quite sure because of their resume. Conversations are very important. Have as many conversations as you can.
Speaker 1:Number four conduct thorough interviews. Ask open-ended questions, probe for some deeper insights and observe how candidates interact with others. Observe how their spouse interacts with others. See how they interact with other people on your team. It's really important so much, particularly since the pandemic. So many of the initial interviews have been on Zoom, which I think is great. We use Zoom every day. But the on-site visit, the boots on the ground, that's where you're really gonna be able to ask those. Go deeper and ask those deeper, probing questions. Number five don't miss this one.
Speaker 1:You have to check your references carefully. You can't just take a candidate's word for it. Do the references, do a background check. Yes, you have to do a background check. Talk to their former employer, talk to their former church, talk to former colleagues and mentors. That will help you get a well-rounded perspective. But you do need to make sure that you check your references and do your due diligence there. Number six when you get your candidate. When you get the candidate you'd like to offer the position, to make sure you do everything in your power to really make a compelling compensation package. That means competitive salary, it means benefits, it means opportunities for professional development. All those things are crucial for attracting and actually closing the deal with the right candidate. And if you need any help with compensation packages and just knowing what to pay and what to include, reach out to me again. I'd love to be able to help you with that.
Speaker 1:Number seven invest in onboarding and training. It doesn't start, it doesn't end with a hire, it just starts with the hire. So don't just throw new staff members under the bus or throw them in the deep end. Make sure you provide comprehensive onboarding, onboard training, mentorship to help them. I never will forget we hired at one of the churches I worked at. We hired a new youth pastor and his first day he came into the office and the pastor was on vacation and had given no one any instruction on where this person's office would be. Even he had no desk, he had no office, he had no one there to greet him. So onboarding and training is huge. Make sure you don't. Just because you hire doesn't mean it's done. It's just the start, baby and number eight just ongoing create a positive work culture.
Speaker 1:We've talked a lot on the Healthy Church Staff podcast about creating a healthy staff culture. It needs to be supportive and collaborative and appreciative, where everybody feels valued, and this is especially important for brand new employees, to make them feel valued from day one. So just remember, it's not hiring is just not about filling vacancies. That's a big part of it. You need somebody on your staff and you want to hire them. But it's also about building a team of passionate and skilled and dedicated individuals who are committed to your church, they buy into your church's vision and mission and hiring people that are going to love to be a part of your community and that will be there for a good long time.
Speaker 1:So bottom line is finding a really great staff member. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and a good amount of discernment, but by following these steps, prioritizing clarity and communication and culture, you can do it. If you need any help, and I really recommend that a lot of churches look at different search firms to bring a certain level of expertise to your search, and I would love to talk with you about how chemistry staff can come alongside with you and your church and help you to make a really good what we call a healthy, long-term fit, which is someone that we hope will stay on your team and on your staff and at your church for five years or more. Will stay on your team and on your staff and at your church for five years or more. If you need more information on that or would like to work with me on your next church staff search, reach out to me anytime. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I would absolutely love to hear from you and love to work with you church.
