Getting Skills Fit Right
You’ve found someone who looks great on paper – education credentials, relevant work history, maybe even some shining recommendations. It seems like a perfect skills match for your open role.
But beware, leaning too heavily on skills fit alone. Education and experience don’t always translate directly into ability and potential. Take a deeper look at skills alignment before hiring.
In fact, sometimes candidates that look great on paper would be a horrible fit at your church once you get to know them. (and the opposite can be true as well).
Going Beyond the Resume
It’s tempting to equate skills fit with simply matching keywords on a resume to the requirements in a job description. But skills evaluation requires going deeper. At Chemistry Staffing, we assess each candidate's abilities upfront through a 25-question skills assessment before interviews begin.
This gives us insight into areas of alignment and gaps between what the church needs and what each candidate offers. It prevents wasting time interviewing candidates with poor skills fit for the role.
Allowing Room to Grow
Keep in mind that skills assessment involves evaluating both past accomplishments and future potential. Very few candidates will check every box perfectly from day one.
The right fit often means someone has demonstrated foundational proficiency but has room to grow into more advanced skills with coaching. Setting unrealistic expectations for “perfect” skills fit can cause you to miss great candidates.
Key Skills Questions
- What skills from your background are most relevant for this role? How have you applied them?
- What parts of the job description seem well aligned to your abilities? What gives you confidence?
- What skills would you be excited to develop in this new ministry role?
- How have you adapted your skill set to shifting needs at past jobs?
- What training would help accelerate your growth in this new position?
- Avoid Box-Checking. Take time to thoroughly assess skills alignment beyond just what’s written on a resume.
Next Steps
Evaluating skills fit beyond a resume is crucial but can be an ambiguous process alone. At Chemistry Staffing, we specialize in thorough skills alignment assessment. We take time to deeply understand your church’s needs and goals. Then we leverage our expertise to evaluate both abilities and future potential to prevent gaps.
Don’t go it alone – let the experts help. Partnering with Chemistry can minimize the risk of a bad skills fit. We screen for fit all day long, exclusively for churches, because we know it matters. You don’t have to figure this out yourself.
Feel stuck at your church? Let's chat.
