FC Experts Blogs
October 10, 2007
Careers: Work Among True Believers?
Do you work in a predominantly Christian workplace? Increasingly, Christian job boards are making this mission, as some put it, a reality.
My take on the job boards that match "followers" with "Christian employers" is that a Christian workplace is at least partially about excluding non-believers who may undermine their value system.
This statement on Christian Staffing's website summarizes the mindset: "Have you dealt with staff problems including stealing, fraud, sexual harassment, lack of work ethic, tardiness, etc? We did, and so we have decided to try to hire people we knew had a good reputation ... and more specifically followers of Jesus Christ."
In a pitch to Christian recruiters and employers, Bill Clark, Director of Sales & Business Development for ChristianJobs.com, writes on About.com that there are 200,000 job seekers on their site each month. "These folks are in need and we believe that it is our responsibility as members of the body of Christ to help them in every way possible," writes Clark. "As such, we invite you to visit our site and see if you can embrace our mission ... expressing your faith by posting your positions ...."
What is unclear to me is how a Christian employee differs from, say, a Hindu, Islamic or Jewish employee. Of course, it's no secret that religious cultures and subcultures often hire amongst themselves; what's different here is these job boards are explicit about it.
Biases are part of the American fabric, right? The federal government, including the U.S. Justice Department, recruits from Christian law schools and colleges. (That hasn't gone so well.)
I wasn't able to reach several of the larger job boards directly, but a Christian recruiter took my call. "We network with people who believe that Jesus is the Christ," explains CJ Elliott, a recruiter and co-owner of Christian Recruiters Affiliated in Hoopeston, Ill. Speaking of the Christian employers to whom she supplies candidates, she says, "We like to work with people we feel are trustworthy and we can count on."
Elliott, who says she worked for a big oil company for 10 years, tried to lead by example rather than evangelize in the workplace. She adds, "I know there are people who are not born-again who still have a good work ethic."
Still, for those who wish to explore a faith-based workplace, a site called FaithInTheWorkplace.com offers some interesting content, including legal advice, about what's permissible in terms of expressions of faith.
And here are a few job boards that appear to be leaders in this specialized field:
- ChristianJobs.com - a job board "focusing on employment within the Christian community ... catering to the hiring needs of Christian-friendly companies." The site is a subsidiary of Salem Communications Corp., a powerhouse in Christian-based media.
- ChristianStaffing.org - "Connecting Christian staff with Christian employers. For the result of a Christian work environment."
- ChristiaNet - It bills itself as "The Worldwide Christian Marketplace."
- AllChristianJobs.com - "A Christian career job site with the added benefit of a global freelance marketplace."
- ChristianOpportunitiesOnline.com - Although this appears to be a work-at-home kind of site, which doesn't qualify, I like their Google ad: "Use your God-given talents to do something extraordinary."
Christians are not the only religious group with job boards or career sites. However, based on my Google searches, Christian boards appear to this observer to be more prevalent than many other religious-based job sites. I visited New York Jewish Jobs Board; the Musalman Career Center (Muslim, not really a board); and, by contrast, Hindu job sites - which seem to seek candidates with Hindu language or cultural skills. The Church of Latter-Day Saints provides a range of different job boards and states that it is not exclusive to Mormons.
For many cultures and subcultures a homogeneous, immersive environment is the most appealing way to live and work. But where are the winners here? People who seek faith-based work environments lose the value of collaborating with people from different cultures, who offer different ideas and perspectives; and people who are excluded from faith-based workplaces may be victims of discrimination.
Rusty Weston, My Global Career • San Francisco, Ca • http://www.myglobalcareer.com/ •
Posted by Rusty Weston at October 10, 2007 8:09 PM | Topic: careers |
9 Comments
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By implication all the murders, rapes and muggings committed in the US are by people of other religious faiths and/or aliens? Its nothing but unabashed propaganda about religion.Let them analyse this data world over and then make a comment.
I am a Christian but do not wear this distinction as a badge of honor because of the repugnant reputation many well-intentioned, but misguided Christians have created for the followers of Jesus Christ.
The statistics show that divorce rates, addiction rates, and adultery rates for Christians are about the same as the general public in the US.
We are not sinless. If we were, there would be no need for Christ. However, the church has created a system that makes Christians have to pretend to be perfect. And because we inevitably sin, in order to make ourselves feel better, we constantly look for others to judge as being worse than us, and then we self-righteously point it out.
We are indeed just like the rest of the population. We sin. The difference is supposed to be that when we do, we confess and ask forgiveness which is ours for the taking. Although we will never be perfect, this process of humility and interaction with Jesus does change us for the better, as we begin to accept and love others, just where they are, as Jesus does for us.
Some of Christians are striving to walk this path of humility and love, but this is not the general emphasis of mainstream Christian churches.
The essential message of Jesus is very appealing to people of all religions and to those of no religion. It is the church and it's people that are being rejected, and rightly so.
"Have you dealt with staff problems including stealing, fraud, sexual harassment, lack of work ethic, tardiness, etc? We did, and so we have decided to try to hire people we knew had a good reputation ... and more specifically followers of Jesus Christ."
What a bunch of crap.
Christians would *never* engage in theft (Jim Bakker anyone?), fraud (Oral Roberts and his brood), sexual harassment (Jimmy Swaggert, Jim Bakker, your average Catholic priest, ad nauseum), tardniess (Jesus' second coming has been a long time coming, but then again, he was a Jew, not a Christian)...
And *which* believers in Christ are we talking about here? The reason their are so many Christian sects is because Christians just don't get along very well together. Oh, sure, give them a Jew, a Muslim, or a Hindu to gang-up on and they're all one, big happy family, but once you've gotten rid of the heathens, attention immediately turns to the heretics, who are usually the group with the smallest number or bank account or both.
About the only good thing I can say about this "trend" is that it keeps these whackos away from people and organizations that actually want to accomplish something and not argue around the water cooler over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
Whoa! I had to jump out of the way of Jeff's broad brush. Those comments reek of stereotyping and prejudice - and they're just as bad as those based on ethnic or racial characteristics. Every faith tradition has its "bad apples" among its adherents. Not all people of a particular spirituality are extremists or "whackos" - that goes for Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other faith tradition.
I once worked for an evangelical Christian organization - and as a Catholic, I was in the minority in terms of the faith I practiced. While there were a couple of people who expressed disagreement with the way I practiced my faith, the vast majority of my coworkers welcomed me with open arms. I worked with these people, worshiped with these people, and became friends with virtually all of these people. I also worked at an ad agency that had a similar spiritual focus and the co-workers there were also very accepting and welcoming of me; it was the best place I at which I every worked.
I think it only makes sense for organizations whose mission springs from a particular spiritual point of view to target their recruitment efforts towards people who share that point of view. I think it's perfectly reasonable that a Christian rescue mission expect its employees to reflect and practice Christian values, a Muslim organization expect its employees to reflect and practice the values of that faith, and so on.
But I think any organization that comes from a particular spiritual "point of view" and reflects that in their management or employment practices should be up front about it with prospective business partners or employees. Most such organizations do this.
Similarly, prospective employees need to take a long, hard look at a prospective employer's values and see if those values would be a "good fit" with their own before deciding on pursuing or accepting employment with such a company. The job hunting process is not just employers looking for employees that are a "good fit" for their organizations but employees also screening potential employers for a "good fit".
Doesn't the use of religion (ethnicity, sexuality, age, etc...) as a employment criteria violate fair hiring practice? i.e. wouldn't an entity no longer be an 'equal opportunity employer'?
I think you need to reread my post in the context of it's opening paragraph, which is a word-for-word recitation of the advertisement cited in the source article. I was juxtaposing by citing specific individuals and one major sociological phenomenon that has been allowed to flourish by the Roman Catholic Church - my brush was quite narrow, thank you very much.
The ad states that Christians and only Christians are capable of holding down jobs without "stealing, fraud, sexual harassment, lack of work ethic, tardiness, etc." That set the tone and that's where the reek of stereotyping and prejudice you smelled came from.
Also, even simple, unabashed anti-religious bigotry is nowhere near "as bad as those based on ethnic or racial characteristics" - people learn their religious convictions and, in most societies, are given the intellectual tools they need to challenge and refine them so that things like crusades, fatwahs, honor killings, etc. don't happen.
Racial and ethnic minorities, as well women and sexual minorities are born, not made. Pointing out that there are a lot of people who indulge in bizarre behavior in defiance of all logic - and sometimes even common sense - in the name of religion is hardly the same thing as discriminating against a person for how they're born.
It's wonderful that you have nice religious friends. So do I, for that matter, but I'm calling B.S. on the recruiting tactics of "Christian workplaces."
Wow, I'm not jumping into the middle of all of this...
Just wanted to mention that the thing that wasn't mentioned much in the article was that employers who thought enough to post on this site, may be a tad more tolerant to work for than some I have known. Good employees ae everywhere, good employers are sometimes harder to find...
The NYJewishJobBoard.com does not promote any religious or cultural values. All of the employers and posters agree to the EOE terms of service.
It's primary purpose is to allow employers to target a niche market in the same manner as other "diversity" boards. There is no requirement for candidates to be jewish and all people of any faith and culture are welcome to browse and respond to the job postings.
The NYJewishJobBoard.com mentioned in the article does not promote or endorse any religious or cultural beliefs.
Similar to other diversity job boards, the NYJewishJobBoard allows employers to reach a niche demographic to seek qualified employees.
The board is open to all employers and job seekers regardless of religion or culture.