Employment Tests

Employment tests are common in many jobs, but not in the church. They should be. The only employment tests given in a church is for the pastor or musician. For the pastor it is called a "trial sermon." On a given Sunday he or she is in a pulpit and preaches before a congregation that includes a search committee. The sermon might even be in front of the entire congregation that is considering him or her.


Employment tests can be of great value in saving time and head aches for personnel committees.

SECRETARY --

• Test the typing speed.
• Ask the candidate to print up a sample bulletin and run off 10 copies using the printer, duplicator and folding machine
• Give the candidate a mock up of the newsletter that contains some spelling and grammatical errors. Have the candidate locate and correct the errors (extra point for finding unintentional errors!)

JANITOR

• Ask the person to clean a small rest room. Prior to the test, take a Vis A Vis temporary marker and mark the bottom of the toilet seat that is not seen without lifting it. Also mark something below the rim. You'll need to have a small mirror to see if the test subject cleaned under the rim.

MEDIA SPECIALIST

• Have the person edit the power point for Sunday.
• In the same way that candidates for pastor are asked to preach a trial sermon, pay this person to be your media specialist for a single service

EDUCATOR OR YOUTH WORKER

• Have the committee meet for a social time together with their families and the candidate and have this person lead some intergenerational recreation. This is a great test because it evaluates discretion of age appropriate activity, leadership, social interaction as well as a general skill.
• Ask the person to substitute as a Sunday School teacher for a Sunday.

MUSICIAN

• Auditions are a must!
• Let the finalist substitute for a Sunday service to evaluate the interpersonal skills with volunteer choir members.