The School of Divinity offers vocational assistance, guidance, and empowerment for students through Career Services. Available resources include vocational seminars and workshops, career counseling and assessment, denominational connections and networking, and tools to build and improve resumes, cover letters, and interview skills.
We invite you check out the many resources available online, in the resource library, and within the larger university. For more information, contact John Senior, Assistant Dean of Vocational Formation and Director of the Art of Ministry Program, at seniorje@wfu.edu or 336.758.5523.
Pathways in Ministry
Pathways in Ministry provides workshops and panel discussions to support students in their vocational discernment by exposing them to the many paths of engaging in professional ministry and to provide resources for personal and professional skill development so students may attain and thrive in life-giving ministry careers.
During the year we host about 12 Pathways in Ministry workshops and panel discussions covering a range of topics exploring vocational and leadership development. Some of the topics include:
- Chaplaincy as Vocation
- Clinical Pastoral Education Day
- Navigating the Ordination Process
- The Gifts and Challenges for Women in Ministry
- Finding and Keeping the Perfect Job
- Building A Narrative Resume
- Strengthening Interview Skills
- Financial Realism: Salary Expectations & Negotiating Compensation
- Ministry in Non-Profits
- Financial Realism: Budgeting
- Managing Conflict in Ministry
- The Gifts and Challenges for LGBTQ persons in Ministry
- Cultivating Healthy Boundaries in Ministry
- Internship and Career Fair
- First Time on the Job
- Entrepreneurial and Bi-Vocational Ministry
- Prison and Jail Ministry
- Media Training
Visit Pathways in Ministry to learn more about our current seminar and workshop offerings.
Career Counseling
Students are invited to participate in individual career counseling sessions. Through these individual meetings, students can clarify vocational options, develop application strategies and plans, update resumes, and prepare for interviews.
All students are strongly encouraged to participate in an individualized meeting at least once each year. These meetings provide an opportunity for students to discern their vocational paths, to develop a plan to move forward on their path, and to receive personalized advice on the resources and opportunities that will put them in the best possible position to realize their vocational goals.
To set up a meeting with John Senior, please schedule an appointment here.
Career Assessment Tools
As a part of the Wake Forest University system, the School of Divinity has access to resources that many independent seminaries are not able to provide. In collaboration with the Office for Personal and Career Development, Career Services is able to offer the following assessments for students:
- Strong Interest Inventory: Identifies your interests and highlights how those interests fit into different career paths.
- Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI): Identifies your orientation to cultural difference and your ability to manage culturally-influenced situations.
- Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Helps you explore how your personality and preferred way of being might fit best in particular occupations and work environments.
- Enneagram: A powerful tool for personal and collective transformation that fosters greater understanding of self and others.
For more information about career assessments, contact John Senior, Assistant Dean of Vocational Formation and Director of the Art of Ministry Program.
Resources Library
Career Services provides a number of vocational resources that students may borrow, including books, media, and learning tools including:
- Let Your Life Speak
- Healing the Purpose of Your Life
- Leading Lives that Matter
- Sleeping with Bread
- Discovering Your Personal Vocation
- Vocation: Discerning Our Callings in Life
- What to Do With the Rest of Your Life: America’s Top Career Coach Shows You How to Find or Create the Job You’ll Love
- What Color is Your Parachute?
- How to Interview Like a Pro
- Resume Magic
- This Odd & Wondrous Calling
- The Work of the Chaplain by Naomi K. Paget
- Pastoral Care in Hospitals
- Chaplaincy in Law Enforcement
- Start and Grow Your Faith-Based Nonprofit: Answering Your Call in the Service of Others
- Life After Graduate School: Getting From A to B
These resources and more are available in the Career Service Office, located within Wingate Hall, Suite 108.
Networking
Career Services provides networking opportunities for students in person through Pathways in Ministry, Denominational Days, Internship and Career Fair, Clinical Pastoral Education Day, and other on-campus events. See Pathways in Ministry and the School of Divinity calendar for opportunities to network with alumni/ae, area clergy, and other professionals.
We provide virtual networking through the Wake Forest University Alumni/ae LinkedIn group. In the LinkedIn group we offer:
- job feed that includes current positions from the School of Divinity job listings.
- career discussions section where interesting jobs that the Career Services office and members find around the web are re-posted. This is also the place where alumni/ae may directly post openings in their organization.
- front page, where alumni/ae are more than happy to take your career questions and provide their experience and advice.
The LinkedIn group is reserved for Wake Forest School of Divinity students and alumni/ae, so please submit a request to join.
Denominational Resources
As an ecumenical School of Divinity, Wake Forest offers students connections and resources with multiple denominational traditions through Pathways in Ministry, Denominational Days, Career, Day, and other events.
For those who are interested in serving in a particular denomination – as a pastor, Christian educator, chaplain, etc. – the following links offer a first step to learn more about these traditions, discover requirements for ordination, and make connections with denominational staff.