Video Interviews

Part of The Settled Ministry Search Handbook

Scrabble tiles spelling out the word "interview"

Starting in mid-January, the search team will be discerning which applicants will be chosen to be their pre-candidates, both by interviewing the ministers and checking their initial references.

Checking Initial References

Your team should have already requested and received the list of references and their contact information in early January when the applicant profiles were released.

Video Interviews

After the initial review of ministerial records, the search team selects their first set of potential candidates around mid-January. The first set is usually conducted by video conference. Generally, these interviews last sixty to ninety minutes, reserving at least 15 minutes for questions from the applicants.

Note: You may be in a situation where one or more of your interviews could be conducted in person, but you should not do so unless all of the interviews can be in person. Being granted an in-person interview would provide an unfair advantage over those only available for a video interview.

All search team members should participate in these video interviews. If there is a unavoidable schedule conflict or personal emergency where a team member cannot be present, it is possible—with the ministers’ prior knowledge and consent—to record the session for the sole purpose of sharing it with the absent team member, then deleting it.

Preparing for the Interviews

From your December conversation with the Congregational Transitions Director about the “discernment phase” of the search, you should have a draft set of interview questions and a rubric for assessing individual interviews. After revisiting the Interviewing Tips page, your congregational record, and your draft questions, your search team can meet to establish final interview questions and rubric for the interviews. By the time of your 1st interview you should have agreed upon:

  • A script for the interview (e.g. welcome, hospitality, break, who asks what). See Design the Interviews to Be Relational under Interviewing Tips (link above).
  • A list of questions to be asked of all applicants
  • A common rubric for each search team member to privately record their impressions after each interview (to be shared later)
  • Any particular follow-up question or clarification your team may have from the applicant’s ministerial record, or after checking initial references (e.g. “how has your previous career as a _____ informed your ministry?” or “One of your references mentioned a conflict involving [add a few details]. How were you able to minister to all parties?”)

Discernment after the Interviews

After the search team members has interviewed all of the applicants, you can then all meet together and compare the rubric notes that each search member took privately. Here are some tips for fair and fruitful discussions:

  • Discuss one applicant at a time.
  • Randomize the order in which you discuss them
  • Talk about each applicant without comparing them to other candidates or known ministers.
  • Take turns sharing individual assessments and the reasoning behind them (such as using a circle process).
  • Be curious about differences in perception and assessment

The search team then decides which applicants they would want to invite for a pre-candidating weekend, and which candidates would not be a good match. Promptly notify the applicants which are no longer considered.

Even though each congregation is allowed three pre-candidates, don’t limit the initial list to that number. The team may have one (or more) of their top three applicants decline the invitation.

This is the point where the team may feel some anxiety, because the search process is an exercise in mutual discernment. It’s possible that one of the initial choices may no longer be as interested or available. (There are many reasons for this that have nothing to do with your congregation!) If your team is feeling a little tender about this stage, please reach out to the Congregational Transitions Director.

Protocol for Communicating to Applicants Not Chosen

After having spent time with an applicant, it is appropriate to send a kind note of gratitude for the time spent in the interview. The search team still uses the “Dismiss” Button within MinistrySearch to update the UUA Transitions office. They can also can customize the automated note to the minister to complement the one sent privately. Prompt communication frees the minister to concentrate on their other possibilities.