How to Translate Your Ministry Experience for Corporate Jobs: Step-by-Step Guide for Former Pastors (part 1)

How to Translate Your Ministry Experience for Corporate Jobs: Step-by-Step Guide for Former Pastors (part 1)

How to Translate Your Ministry Experience for Corporate Jobs: Step-by-Step Guide for Former Pastors (part 1)

Read Time: 5 minutes

Overview

Backed by popular demand! In today’s issue, we are going to cover how to translate your ministry or pastor experience into words and phrases that make sense to a hiring manager… even if they haven’t stepped foot inside a church before or have no idea what your job does. 


Before we dive in, this is part 1 of 2. Translating ministry experience is probably the most difficult part of the entire corporate job search method, so I’ll give you something to do today, and then next week you’ll be able to translate all of your experience when you put the two parts together.


Let’s dive in.


Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:

  • Mindset Shift: Translating your vocational ministry experience.

  • Strategy Shift: How to show your marketable skills as a former pastor.

  • Do This Right Now: Step 1 to translating church and ministry experience.

  • Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors

Overview

Backed by popular demand! In today’s issue, we are going to cover how to translate your ministry or pastor experience into words and phrases that make sense to a hiring manager… even if they haven’t stepped foot inside a church before or have no idea what your job does. 

Before we dive in, this is part 1 of 2. Translating ministry experience is probably the most difficult part of the entire corporate job search method, so I’ll give you something to do today, and then next week you’ll be able to translate all of your experience when you put the two parts together.
Let’s dive in.

Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:

  • Mindset Shift: Translating your vocational ministry experience.

  • Strategy Shift: How to show your marketable skills as a former pastor.

  • Do This Right Now: Step 1 to translating church and ministry experience.

  • Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors

LAUNCH YOUR JOB SEARCH

LAUNCH YOUR JOB SEARCH

🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Translating your vocational ministry experience.

🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Translating your vocational ministry experience.

I believe this to be true:
“It isn’t the person who is the most qualified that gets the job, it is the person who can communicate that they are the most qualified.”


Translating your experience isn’t just about using the same words on the job description. It is so much more than that.


Think about some bible translation work that you’ve done. You don’t just translate the Greek to English, right? It is a process of understanding the nuance of the word, the context it is in, and even the culture it is written to.


In the same way, you’re translating your job experience from Christianese to whichever job type you want to go into next - sales, marketing, operations, project management, etc. To do this…


You need to understand the perspective of the hiring team. 


They are hiring someone to use a specific solution and set of skills to solve a specific problem for their specific organization, product/service, and client base.

I believe this to be true:
“It isn’t the person who is the most qualified that gets the job, it is the person who can communicate that they are the most qualified.”

Translating your experience isn’t just about using the same words on the job description. It is so much more than that.

Think about some bible translation work that you’ve done. You don’t just translate the Greek to English, right? It is a process of understanding the nuance of the word, the context it is in, and even the culture it is written to.

In the same way, you’re translating your job experience from Christianese to whichever job type you want to go into next - sales, marketing, operations, project management, etc. To do this…

You need to understand the perspective of the hiring team. 

They are hiring someone to use a specific solution and set of skills to solve a specific problem for their specific organization, product/service, and client base.

♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: How to show your marketable skills as a former pastor.

♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: How to show your marketable skills as a former pastor.

This strategy has three parts.

  1. Get clarity on the job type you will move into next.

  2. Use P.A.R.T.S. to identify your relevant job experience.

  3. Translate the relevant actions of your job, rather than the functions of your job - using the “Impact Bullet Formula.”


For this issue, I’m going to focus on number 2.

This strategy has three parts.

  1. Get clarity on the job type you will move into next.

  2. Use P.A.R.T.S. to identify your relevant job experience.

  3. Translate the relevant actions of your job, rather than the functions of your job - using the “Impact Bullet Formula.”

For this issue, I’m going to focus on number 2.

So what are the P.A.R.T.S of a job description?

So what are the P.A.R.T.S of a job description?
  • P = Problems. What are the problems that the person doing this job will solve. Who will they solve it for? Where do those problems come from?

  • A = Actions. What actions will the person doing this job be expected to perform in order to solve those problems?

  • R = Results. What results will be considered successful if the person completes the actions?

  • T = Technical Knowledge/Expertise. What technical knowledge or expertise are required to perform the actions that will yield successful results?

  • S = Soft Skills. What soft skills will make the person in this role successful when it comes to engaging with the team and customers?


If you understand these, you understand the nuance, the context, and the culture of what you would be translating. 

This may require some additional research (I recorded this video for our coaching group on how to do deep research on a company before applying for a job).

  • P = Problems. What are the problems that the person doing this job will solve. Who will they solve it for? Where do those problems come from?

  • A = Actions. What actions will the person doing this job be expected to perform in order to solve those problems?

  • R = Results. What results will be considered successful if the person completes the actions?

  • T = Technical Knowledge/Expertise. What technical knowledge or expertise are required to perform the actions that will yield successful results?

  • S = Soft Skills. What soft skills will make the person in this role successful when it comes to engaging with the team and customers?

If you understand these, you understand the nuance, the context, and the culture of what you would be translating. 

This may require some additional research (I recorded this video for our coaching group on how to do deep research on a company before applying for a job).

How do you use P.A.R.T.S. to translate your experience?

How do you use P.A.R.T.S. to translate your experience?
  1. Find 3 job descriptions for your Top Job Type. The title and level of the job matter. You can find these on Google Jobs or LinkedIn Jobs pretty easily. 

  2. Copy and paste these into a document so you don’t lose them if the job posting closes.

  3. Use an AI tool like our P.A.R.T.S. Breakdown Tool (Access the FREE AI tool here) to upload those job descriptions and find common themes and language.

  4. Now that you have the P.A.R.T.S. of a typical role, look at each point and answer the question, “have I done that or not?”

  5. Write out what you did in your job history that matches each point in your own words. Continue through the entire list.


Now you have all of your job experience that is relevant to your Top Job Type. 


Let’s look at an example:


Community Pastor targeting Customer Success Manager

  • "Managing and growing relationships with key customers, acting as their primary point of contact."
    Have you done that? ✅
    Now you’d write: “I’ve been the primary point of contact for every volunteer leading community groups with the responsibility of growing those relationships so that they have everything they need to do their role well.

  • "Gathering customer feedback and communicating product improvement suggestions to the development team."
    Have you done that? ✅
    Now you’d write: “I’ve used surveys and called attendees of our group meetings to hear their feedback and then communicated that to the team that executes the events and gatherings.”


Voila! You’ve just started step 1 of translating your experience.

Step 2 is structuring the bullet correctly with the correct wording. All of that coming in next week’s issue.

  1. Find 3 job descriptions for your Top Job Type. The title and level of the job matter. You can find these on Google Jobs or LinkedIn Jobs pretty easily. 

  2. Copy and paste these into a document so you don’t lose them if the job posting closes.

  3. Use an AI tool like our P.A.R.T.S. Breakdown Tool (Access the FREE AI tool here) to upload those job descriptions and find common themes and language.

  4. Now that you have the P.A.R.T.S. of a typical role, look at each point and answer the question, “have I done that or not?”

  5. Write out what you did in your job history that matches each point in your own words. Continue through the entire list.

Now you have all of your job experience that is relevant to your Top Job Type. 

Let’s look at an example:

Community Pastor targeting Customer Success Manager

  • "Managing and growing relationships with key customers, acting as their primary point of contact."
    Have you done that? ✅
    Now you’d write: “I’ve been the primary point of contact for every volunteer leading community groups with the responsibility of growing those relationships so that they have everything they need to do their role well.

  • "Gathering customer feedback and communicating product improvement suggestions to the development team."
    Have you done that? ✅
    Now you’d write: “I’ve used surveys and called attendees of our group meetings to hear their feedback and then communicated that to the team that executes the events and gatherings.”

Voila! You’ve just started step 1 of translating your experience.

Step 2 is structuring the bullet correctly with the correct wording. All of that coming in next week’s issue.

QUICK WINS

QUICK WINS

✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Step 1 to translating church and ministry experience.

✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Step 1 to translating church and ministry experience.
  1. If you know your Top Job Type, go to Google Jobs and find 3 job descriptions for that job type. 

  2. Use our P.A.R.T.S. Breakdown Tool to get a list of what the role requires. 

  3. Copy that list into a Google Sheet or Doc and put checkboxes next to each point.

  4. Check off the ones that you have done so that you can know what you need to start working on translating from your experience to show that you’re an attractive candidate for that role.

Not sure what jobs could fit you as a pastor? You can get our Job Clarity Assessment + mini course to help you find the exact job types that match your skills, experience, and wiring.


Normally, the people in our coaching group are the only ones that get access to it, but having clarity on that next job is a critical step in this process.

Buy the Job Clarity Assessment and mini-course here.

  1. If you know your Top Job Type, go to Google Jobs and find 3 job descriptions for that job type. 

  2. Use our P.A.R.T.S. Breakdown Tool to get a list of what the role requires. 

  3. Copy that list into a Google Sheet or Doc and put checkboxes next to each point.

  4. Check off the ones that you have done so that you can know what you need to start working on translating from your experience to show that you’re an attractive candidate for that role.

Not sure what jobs could fit you as a pastor? You can get our Job Clarity Assessment + mini course to help you find the exact job types that match your skills, experience, and wiring.

Normally, the people in our coaching group are the only ones that get access to it, but having clarity on that next job is a critical step in this process.

Buy the Job Clarity Assessment and mini-course here.

🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP

🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP

(2 interviews + another networking call.) Thanks @Todd Linder for the valuable connections!!

(2 interviews + another networking call.) Thanks @Todd Linder for the valuable connections!!

🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.

This list is made up of “ministry friendly” companies. They have a redemptive vision for their products and services, are led by a Christian founder, or have hired someone with a ministry background before.



*Launch Point does not make any introductions to hiring managers or recruiters based on this list except to those that have joined the Ministry To Marketplace Coaching Program.

This list is made up of “ministry friendly” companies. They have a redemptive vision for their products and services, are led by a Christian founder, or have hired someone with a ministry background before.

*Launch Point does not make any introductions to hiring managers or recruiters based on this list except to those that have joined the Ministry To Marketplace Coaching Program.

Rooting for you! 🚀

Todd Linder

Founder and Head Coach // Connect with me on LinkedIn

How we can help you:

How we can help you:
  1. The Ministry To Marketplace Coaching Program: Join 81 others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. Our coaching program will give you our proven step by step process to getting a job faster in the marketplace, weekly coaching calls and check ins, and community with others on the same journey as you. Book a call here.

  2. The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 324+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

  3. Forwarded to you? Get this newsletter into your inbox, along with 405+ others, every Friday morning. Subscribe here.

  4. Want to hire someone with a ministry background? We always have 20-30 people who are hire ready! Email me at todd@ministrytomarketplace.co with a link to the job description and I'll personally take a look in our coaching community for someone that fits, make sure their resume is lined up, and connect you with them directly. (also, completely FREE)

  1. The Ministry To Marketplace Coaching Program: Join 81 others that have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. Our coaching program will give you our proven step by step process to getting a job faster in the marketplace, weekly coaching calls and check ins, and community with others on the same journey as you. Book a call here.

  2. The Ministry To Marketplace Quiz: Join 324+ other ministry to marketplace job seekers that have taken our 60-second (FREE) quiz to find out what is hindering your job search. You'll get a video and PDF results report straight to your inbox that will identify where you are, and what you need to focus on right now to get results. Take the FREE quiz here.

  3. Forwarded to you? Get this newsletter into your inbox, along with 405+ others, every Friday morning. Subscribe here.

  4. Want to hire someone with a ministry background? We always have 20-30 people who are hire ready! Email me at todd@ministrytomarketplace.co with a link to the job description and I'll personally take a look in our coaching community for someone that fits, make sure their resume is lined up, and connect you with them directly. (also, completely FREE)