wfn.org | Technology Makes Job Seek-and-Find Almost Instantaneous

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

29-September-1999 
99321 
 
    Technology Makes Job Seek-and-Find Almost 
    Instantaneous for Church Professionals and Congregations 
 
    Computer System Just Days Short of Being Fully Operational 
 
    by Evan Silverstein 
 
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - New web-based technology - a computerized 
employment matching system - will soon allow church-affiliated 
professionals and entities to ride the latest wave in finding jobs and 
job-seekers by surfing the Internet for immediate matches. 
 
    Set to become fully operational by Friday, Oct. 1, the Church 
Leadership Connection uses computers and personal profiles to match 
ordained and lay job seekers with new employment opportunities, and 
identifies job candidates for churches, organizations and governing bodies 
seeking to fill positions. 
 
    "It's just not church positions, but it will have presbytery positions, 
synod positions, General Assembly positions as well as other organizational 
positions," said the Rev. Bill Peterson, acting associate director of the 
denomination's Churchwide Personnel Services office, the developer of the 
new program. 
 
    Information forms used in the matching process are already available 
online. Once the network becomes fully operational, job seekers and 
employers will be able to transmit them to the web site of the Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.). The new surf-and-find method will be a big leap forward in 
job-placement capability, because the new system replaces a much slower 
computer data base. 
 
    "It's very different from what we've been able to do before," Peterson 
said. "One of the neat features of it is `Opportunity Search.' When a 
minister is looking to move, or somebody is looking to find a position, 
they can put in their criteria for the job - like where they want to live 
and their salary - and they'll get a personalized `opportunities list' 
printed out by state or by presbytery." 
 
    Use of the system will be free of charge through any computer that has 
a modem and access to the Internet - although additional software must be 
downloaded to view and complete the online profiles. And access to the 
names of people searching for new employment won't be available to just 
anyone; ID numbers and passwords will protect information from potential 
hacks, such as snooping congregants trying to get the scoop on a pastor's 
plan to bolt. 
 
    "For matching purposes it can only be accessed by presbytery 
executives, synod execs, seminary placement officers and our staff here," 
Peterson said. "It's a very secure system." 
 
    People who use the Church Leadership Connection can also apply for 
specific positions. The system is part of a wider effort to upgrade the 
church electronically and to make employment information more easily 
accessible. News of the system was made public on Sept. 24 during the 
meeting here of the General Assembly Council (GAC). The project is a 
collaboration among the National Ministries Division (NMD), Mission Support 
Services (MSS), the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and the GAC. 
 
    "It should be of great help to those involved in the search process," 
Peterson said. 
 
    Utilizing the World Wide Web through the Churchwide Personnel Services 
Web page -  http://www.cps.pcusa.org  -  pastors, church educators, church 
administrators and presbytery and synod executives can already download and 
complete a newly revised Personal Information Form (PIF) or Church 
Information Form (CIF). Once the system is fully operational, the 
information can be submitted over the Web or on disk to an electronic data 
base maintained at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Ky. Hard-copy 
versions also are available and may be used, but the process is slower. 
 
    Pastor nominating committees and search committees will be able to 
complete simplified information forms and add them to the same data base. 
Presbyteries, theological institutions and Call Referral Services (part of 
Churchwide Personnel Services), will match positions and people. 
 
    The forms are distributed when a match is made, but only to authorized 
persons. Candidates' personal information will remain in the system for one 
year. All PIFs will have to be signed electronically by the stated clerk of 
the presbytery before being entered into the data base. Meanwhile, CIFs 
must be electronically signed by the clerk of session and the chairs of the 
Committee on Ministry and the Pastor Nominating Committee. 
 
    The new process also will streamline the time-consuming task of 
updating PIFs, said Trish Brown, the ministers' representative in the 
office of Call Referral Services, who is responsible for updating files 
kept on nearly 1,000 ministers. "I hate the term `user friendly,' but I do 
believe it will open up the system to where more people can use it and 
benefit from it," Brown said. 

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