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Pastor Interviews Crossroads Career® Network Founder

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CCN Founder Brian Ray speaks with Senior Pastor Mel Lawrenz, host of Elmwood Church’s radio ministry Faith Conversations. This podcast serves as a great resource for understanding some key steps and action items that you can employ during your job search and career transition.

How to Obtain Confidence in Your Job Search
We all know that careers go well when we’re employed, and not so well when we’re unemployed – and vice versa.  Brian shares with the Faith Conversations’ audience that the main thing to do is to connect with Christ – seek to hear and follow God in the midst of your crossroads.

How to Walk Thru a Crossroads
Getting out of unemployment or misemployment is more than just getting a job. It’s applying 6 proven steps that Crossroads Career discovered by observing those going through it.

  1. Attitude - It’s all about what’s in your head (generate a positive attitude), 85% get jobs and get promoted in jobs is due to attitude.
  2. Aptitude – Understand your aptitudes, what does that look like and how can I better understand my aptitude – We’re all gifted in so many different talents.
  3. Altitude – It’s the connecting place between positive attitude (motivation) and a clear understanding of aptitude (direction), which equals altitude. This allows an individual to focus on their workplace/marketplace so they can find their next job or career.
  4. Searching – Seeking potential job opportunities from networking, conducting research, etc.
  5. Sorting – Taking active steps to measure, evaluate and interview for potential job opportunities.
  6. Selecting – Looking for work that God has prepared for you. God has gone before you and already prepared your work for you. It’s a matter of doing the work of looking for a job or career and then doing the work of walking in it and doing well in it.

How to Find Your Unique Design
Most recruiting professionals focus on 5 factors of understanding one’s aptitude for all the traits and talents that God has given you. These 5 factors shape our natural capacities and personal passions as it relates to work.

  1. What is your background/ life history?
  2. What are your abilities? Understand what you’re really good at
  3. What are your interests? You are always going to perform better doing something you like.
  4. What is your personality type? These are our natural behaviors that define how we do what we do best.
  5. What do you value? Do you value accomplishment? Relationships? Work environment and outcomes?

One way to find out the answers to the questions is to take an inventory and look for the common threads that are woven throughout. These common threads will help you see and feel the kind of aptitude that God has given you.

  1. Do your own personal inventory (it’s a pencil and paper exercise). What did I like most? What did I not like most? What abilities does that show? What interests do I have? How did you do things from a personality point of view? Crossroads Career Network provides forms for you to do this.
  2. Ask people you know (obtain a reference assessment). Crossroads Career Network has a form that you give people or do it or give it people that know you over the phone. The form asks questions that help identify how people see you as it relates to personalities, interests and values, etc.
  3. Take a career assessment. While there are several to choose from, Crossroads Career Network uses CareerDIRECT by Crown Financial.

Not Sure Your Job Creates Dignity?
An important reminder is that a job does not give an individual dignity – but the individual gives the job dignity. It’s not so much what we do, but every minute of every day how we do it so that we exercise it with patience, gentleness, humility and love.

How to Do Your Job Search Well
A key reminder each day is to work heartily as unto the Lord – because it is the Lord that you serve. Key tips to help you make the most of your job search.  

  1. Use the Internet – Crossroads Career Network has an alliance with the most powerful job search engine on the web to help you identify where jobs are. It showcases Crossroads Career Network employers on top, with other postings right below. Approximately 15-50% of your time should be spent on this.
  2. Invest other time in networking on the ground – 85% of jobs being filled are not found online – but through a personal referral. Brian shares that you have a 42 times greater opportunity of landing a job thru a personal referral than if you do not have a personal referral.  Approximately 50-85% of your time should be spent networking.
  3. Bathe your entire job search in prayer – The toughest area to overcome in a crossroads is fear. No one is immune to hitting speed bumps, whether if it’s fear of failure or rejection. But how you handle them you can control. Before, during, after each action, pray – 100% of your time should be spent in prayer.

Not only is praying important, but what you pray is as equally as important. Brian shares a quick some quick prayer reminders to help your prayer stay focused and impactful.

  • Pray, rejoice, always pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks even though the last three calls went south.
  • Knock, seek and search and the Lord will guide you. It’s the truth of the scripture, prayed back to Him and then received back to you is just a very powerful thing.

If you’re going through a crossroads in your career, it’s important that you don’t go through this journey alone. Reach out to your local Crossroads Career Network member church or contact them directly at http://www.CrossroadsCareer.org.