How does CovConnect work?

CovConnect provides a process for both churches and candidates to reduce a large number of potential candidates or positions to a reasonable number based on an individually customized matching process. CovConnect creates a customized and unique profile for a church position. The same is done for every candidate. The power of the computer is harnessed to examine how well every potential candidate matches to the church position (or vice versa). Those who match at the desired level are reported to the church for a more personalized stage of the process.

Some will immediately point out that there are factors or traits that a successful candidate must posses that we cannot objectify (which is not the same as measure). They are correct. No one can measure and predict what in the end is a work of God. A computer program cannot determine the Spirit's leading of the church. However, since wisdom is one of the ways God directs the church, CovConnect can assist a candidate or church in obtaining needed information and understanding what that information means.

A special feature of CovConnect is that churches and candidates can give more or less weight to many of the items used for matching, thus creating a true custom matching process. If your initial matching does not yield many potential candidates or churches, you should review how strictly you asked for matching on the various matching items. Sometimes just a little more flexibility can create a significantly larger pool of potential matches.

For some churches and some candidates, there is no need to pursue a match if certain criteria do not match. If a candidate or a church chooses the "Must match exactly" option for a criterion, then irrespective of how well the candidate and church match up elsewhere, the candidate will not be matched to the church unless both have indicated the same position. In other words, any single item with a "Must match exactly" option can be used by a candidate or church to stop the matching process irrespective of all other issues. It is very likely that an otherwise good match will be eliminated by this one item. If you do not want a particular criterion used as "kick-out," then do not use the "Must match exactly" option.

The matching algorithm used in CovConnect is based on only a part of the information in a church position profile and candidate profile. Other items in the profiles are important for a good match, but are not quantified in the algorithm although they are reported to the church and candidate.

When a match is run, either the church position’s profile or the candidate’s profile is used as the point for comparison, depending on who is being matched to whom. That is why the reported matching percentage may be slightly different when a match is run from a position to a candidate than from that candidate to that position.

Since most matches are run using a church position to look for candidates, the following uses the church profile as its starting point to list the factors used in the matching algorithm. When a candidate can modify the algorithm in a way that a church cannot, it is so noted. The following factors are used in the matching algorithm. Each factor has equal initial value. However, many of the factors can have a higher value in the algorithm because of the ability of a church or candidate to vary its importance. In other words, a church or candidate can give greater or lesser weight to many of the factors used to compute the matching percentage. Thus, the maximum potential points for a position will vary, depending on how the various factors are weighted. That is why we report a matching percentage.

SECTION 1 OF 5: Church Information

SECTION 2 OF 5: Position Information

SECTION 3 OF 5: Preferences for Candidates

SECTION 4 OF 5: Style of Ministry

SECTION 5 OF 5: Documents