IN PRACTICE
Qualifications could also include the length of prior experience as a director of music ministries, whether the candidate has significant performance experience, and whether they must be a practicing Catholic. Tis first section goes on to give general recommendations for determining a salary range for the position. While membership associations like NPM are not able to give specific salary ranges, the Handbook suggests that a salary be comparable with other professional positions in the geographical area with similar education and responsibilities. It also suggests consulting salary figures published by local musicians’ unions.
Advertise It!
Tis first section of the Handbook concludes with information on the process of advertising the position. It outlines what information to include in an advertisement: the position title, name of the parish or organization, the address (physical or electronic) for submission of their application materials, a summary of the position description, required qualifications, salary range and summary of benefits, and any special information about the parish that could attract highly qualified applicants. Recommendations for where the advertisement should be placed at both local and national levels are provided. Clickable links to these platforms will be available in the document.
Selecting Candidates
Te Handbook’s second section addresses the process of selecting a candidate for the Director of Music Ministries position from among those who have applied. It explains how to acknowledge the applications received with a template email, so the search committee does not have to create an email themselves. Once applications have been received, the pastor/search committee are invited to review the needs and goals of the parish since some time may have elapsed since the committee first developed them. Te Handbook offers criteria for evaluating the applicants’ credentials and experience in order to determine which of them seem well suited to the parish or organization’s position. If the search committee determines there are several good candidates for the position, the committee can notify the applicants they would like to interview, as well as those people whom the committee does not plan to interview. Email templates for these communications are provided.
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At this stage of the process, the Handbook considers the scenario in which very few or no qualified applications are received. Te committee may need to reevaluate how the salary range being offered corresponds to the expected responsibilities of the position, whether a wider or more aggressive search needs to be conducted, or if more time than was given is needed for people to update their résumé and to submit application materials.
Interviews and Auditions
Once the candidates are notified, interviews and auditions may be scheduled. Te Handbook explains possible ways to conduct the interviews with candidates and provides a guide for preparing the search committee for the interviews. Sample questions to ask the candidates are provided for the search committee. Te document guides the search committee through the audition stage after the interviews are completed. Recommendations for how to conduct auditions for a director who will also be choral director, guitarist, or organist/pianist are given. Forms are provided to assist the members of the search committee in evaluating the candidate’s musical abilities. Each of the basic skills to be evaluated is listed, along with questions to guide the committee in their assessment of the candidate. A one-to-five numbering system is suggested to rate each candidate’s ability in a skill area. Te completed evaluation forms will remind the committee members of how well they thought each candidate did after hearing multiple candidates, when they need to compare them with one another.
Final Steps
After the auditions are finished, the search committee should decide on the candidate they discern is the best one for their position. Te next step is to contact the references of that candidate. Sample questions that the search committee might ask of the references are provided. If the committee is happy with the choice of candidate, then the person is contacted and details of the position, salary, benefits, and starting date are finalized. Candidates not selected for the position are notified and again a sample letter/email is provided to assist the search committee creating the notification. Te final part of the document provides some suggestions for welcoming the new Director of Music Ministries to the parish.
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