Step Seven

Actively Seek to Have Your Candidate Accept Your Invitation to Serve

As soon as the board has made its selection and had the selection approved as may be required, telephone the successful candidate and assure him/her that the formal offer will be placed in the mail immediately.

Provide the candidate with a formal written job offer. Include job description, salary package, beginning and ending date of contract.

If the person chosen is on the ELCA roster, the bishop's office must be informed in writing. Also notify the ELCA Department for Schools.

The board arrived at its decision with prayer, thought and care. The candidate will now engage in prayer for discernment. God has placed two “calls” before that person. One is a call to your school. The other is the calling your candidate has at her/his current school or place of employment. It is not appropriate to insist on an answer to your invitation immediately. Generally two weeks is an acceptable time frame to offer. If this person would require a significant geographic re-location, you may want to offer more time as well as another visit for the candidate and spouse. If you thought enough of the person to offer this invitation to serve, you certainly want them to say yes. But, be sure their “yes” is whole hearted and not premature or rushed.

It is assumed that the person to whom the position has been offered is indeed someone the Board hopes will lead its school. Therefore, that person should be shown every possible professional courtesy. The board should:

1. Designate one contact person to be available for consultation.
2. Pray for the candidate that she/he may make the decision right for them.
3. Provide information such as community overview, schools in the area if the candidate has children in programs or grades not offered by your school and housing options if your candidate is from out of town.
4. Send a package of materials including information such as school handbook, school policy manual, yearbook, budget, etc. Also supply information on the sponsoring congregation such as the annual report, Sunday service folder, congregation brochure.
5. Extend appropriate professional hospitality, e.g. facilities tour, dinner or lunch, consideration for family of person who has been offered the position.

If your selected candidate has accepted this invitation to service, move to Step 8.

If your selected candidate has declined this invitation to service:

1. Providing the timing is right, meet quickly to determine if another candidate was acceptable by consensus to the group. Repeat Step 7.
2. If there are no other candidates acceptable to the group, go back to Step 5. Put your interim plan in place if it is unlikely a candidate will be secured by the start of the school year. Also review steps 2-4 based on your first experience and anything you learned which may require the board to rethink some of its decisions made in those steps.

See also
Eight Steps to a Successful Executive Director Evaluation 
Director/Principal Assessment Questionnaire 
Sample Administrative Policy