Hiring procedures for a parish musician
  • rvgregerson
    Posts: 10
    Hello. Can anyone tell me whether it is industry standard for a parish that is interviewing / auditioning a candidate for a music director job from out of town to pay for travel expenses such as mileage, airfare, or hotel accommodations for a candidate to come to an audition? Obviously this would be after a phone / Skype interview, etc.

    Thanks!
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,190
    Of course it is standard fare to pay these costs.
  • Incardination
    Posts: 832
    I'm not sure about "industry standard". In the business world that is fairly typical, but it depends (at least in part) on the position being interviewed.

    For church musicians, I had a friend who recently went through 2 interviews for a church that was 800 miles distant from his home. They did not give any consideration for travel expenses at all... which personally I thought was bad form. He was able to make light of it as he had family in the area he was interviewing, but - especially when they called him back for a 2nd interview - I thought there should have been compensation.
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    Every job I was ever a finalist for (meaning came to town, stayed 2-3 nights, played for Masses, rehearsed choirs, met parish people, etc) paid for the whole trip. Lodging and airfare/gas. Food was on me, except a couple meals on parish expenses. This includes interviews where they had another candidate and didn’t hire me. They were doing the same for all finalists.

    If a parish is advertising nationally, then they should expect to pay travel expenses for candidates.
    Thanked by 1francis
  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,323
    YES. When I've interviewed places that required more than a couple hours of travel, the parish/institution has paid for the whole trip, minus incidentals and some meals on-my-own.
    Thanked by 1francis
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Yes... and while being a prudent steward of the church's funds is paramount, don't be too cheap... You're interviewing for them too - you want them to want to work for you. You don't need to put them up at the Four Seasons, but make sure there aren't bullet holes and police tape in the lobby of the hotel.

    Yes, that happened to me.
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Interviews are somewhat like dating: the process suggests what the employment environment is likely to be. If people are cheap on a "first date," then how are they going to be with the budget, education, raises, etc.? Be a woman. Insist on respect. Some purple bold going on here.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,411
    Yes.
    They should pay travel, lodging, and meals.

    Kathy put it succinctly, purple or not.
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • Marc Cerisier
    Posts: 536
    In the searches I’ve been involved with, the final three candidates were brought in at the expense of the church.
  • JaredOstermann
    Posts: 488
    It's the Church - there is no such thing as an industry standard. That said, how the parish handles this question should tell you a great deal about the value they place on music, and the respect they would offer you if you were to work for them.

    And I would add, after personal experiences and stories from friends - how they handle basic communication should tell you a lot, too. Unfortunately sometimes there is no clarity about application deadlines, or the timeframe of the search process, or updates on whether you've made the short list, etc. I have actually found out before from Facebook that a job was accepted by someone else, before the pastor contacted the applicants to update them on the search process.
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    See older discussion of this topic here:
    https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/13360/expenses-for-out-of-state-interview
    Thanked by 1eft94530
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