NEW ORLEANS (BP)–An online resume referral system, designed to connect students and alumni to churches with employment opportunities, has been launched by New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Instituted and tested since last winter, Ministry Connections allows the seminary’s church-minister relations (CMR) office to process resume requests for churches more efficiently, taking advantage of the World Wide Web as its medium. In addition to rapid access to resumes for churches, those posting resumes have greater control over updating their information, customizing up to three different resumes and selecting preferred demographic information.
The bottom-line benefit of Ministry Connections is that applicants’ resumes will be going out to more churches, ensuring greater exposure, said Ron Holman, the seminary’s CMR and alumni affairs director. With the increased efficiency of the system, CMR is able to process more resumes on a monthly basis to more churches, he said.
Holman further explained that church search committees can realistically have resumes in their hands the same or next day of their request. He cited an example of an alumnus who called one morning to activate an account and, after finishing the process, got a call from a church that very night. Though not the norm, that possibility exists for every user, he said.
“For the student and alumnus, the system is light years beyond anything offered before,” Holman said. “It is so convenient and user-friendly. An alumnus or student can log onto the system after setting up an account with our office, and complete the registration process and upload a resume in a matter of minutes.”
With this system, no hard copy resumes are necessary; therefore, maintenance of accounts and resumes is very easy, he continued. With Ministry Connections, students and alumni have the ability to make immediate changes to their resumes, ensuring that prospective ministries always have access to their most current information. The system also allows the resumes to be maintained in Microsoft Word, allowing the applicant to format their resumes in their preferred styles, rather than relying on the computer-limited styles other services offer.
While the system requires an e-mail address for alumni, students and churches, Holman said no one will be left out from the service and its technology. “Our office will provide assistance and support for those needing to establish e-mail accounts, and we will do whatever we have to for churches that do not have Internet access,” he said. “We are here to serve all churches and all of our alumni and students.”
For more information or to set up an account with NOBTS’ church-minister relations, contact Holman at 1-800-662-8701, ext. 3332, or by e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected].
–30–
