Resources e-letter 12:2 - April 2012
The issue provides an outline of two new sets of Training Notes to be uploaded to the Resources section of the website. TN65: Sharp interview questions supplements Article A17 on selection processes for church or mission agency staff. TN66: A daily office for church staff considers the issue of a church's staff all working from one base.
Sharp interview questions
These notes at TN65 in the Resources section of the website provide a wide range of questions that can be asked or adapted at staff selection interviews.
Starter questions
Twelve ideas are given for areas to explore with two or three questions you can ask for each. All are designed to provide helpful information about the candidates. Some are straightforward but others are more off the wall: asking candidates how an honest friend might sum them up in a reference for the post, or where they feel they have failed in their present role, or what would scare them most if they were offered the job.
Supplementary questions
But the real information comes out in responses to supplementaries, most of which cannot be prepared in advance. There are ideas for ensuring primary questions are answered, moving the interview on, setting case studies, challenging supposed knowledge, and more.
A formal interview can be a pretty blunt instrument in a selection process but Training Notes TN65: Sharp interview questions, are designed to sharpen everything up. These notes supplement Article A17 on the website, Staff selection step-by-step, which takes a wider approach to the whole process.
A daily office for church staff
Larger churches are used to the idea of all the staff working out of one base rather than from individual homes. These notes suggest that many other churches might consider something similar, provided there is suitable accommodation available.
Advantages include improving home life, team working, shared facilities, safety and accountability. Against these have to be noted the snags of finding suitable plant, changing to a different way of working, the roaming style of ministry of many church staff, the danger of developing a power base and constant interruption.
But the key is what is termed the ‘water-cooler concept’, the idea that staff who work together will be bumping into each other regularly and so sharing ideas and keeping in step with each other. The shared office is not the answer to everything but it is an idea to consider seriously. The notes can be found at TN66: A daily office for church staff.
Comments, please!
When Article A28: Rooms to let, was uploaded at the beginning of February it raised a number of comments on its cover sheet. If you have not yet registered on the website, please do so (see the red ‘Log in / Register’ in the right hand column of every page, and then click ‘Register as a website user’). You then you have access to the comment boxes on all 99 resource items.
The next article is due to be uploaded at the end of May to make 100 online resources. Something to celebrate!