Are You Qualified?

What kind of benefits come along with position? How much does it pay? Do I get vacation days? Does my office have a window?

I’ve been in the hiring seat throughout a large portion of my adult career. I can skim a resume in 7-10 seconds to determine if a candidate has what it takes just to receive a phone call to set up an interview. It’s not just their experience or education that I skim; it’s also the presentation of this information. I want to know if the position they applied for is important enough for them to pay attention to the fine details of presenting their qualifications.

Once in the interview, it’s up to the candidate to articulate why they are the best fit for the position. I can read their resume but a good candidate can bring that resume to life and reflect how they are the answer to the problem my organization has. After a match has been made, the candidates’ credentials are verified to make sure they can do what they have claimed they can. If they pass that portion of the hiring process, an offer of employment is extended to them for their consideration. Typically, this information includes a benefits package and additional information the organization thinks is necessary for the candidate to know.

More often than not, the questions that opened this blog are what I hear BEFORE the candidate has begun working for the company. Once hired, they realize that their heart was solely in pursuit of a prize: a title or a position. Their eyes were so fixed on their end goal and how they would benefit from having this title in front of their name that they don’t realize they are expected to do what they were hired to do.

That’s exactly how companies, marriages, families, and friendships fall apart. We spend a lot of time chasing a title or a position without realizing that the chase is keeping us from gaining what we really need in order to be successful. Women are taught that they need to learn how to cook, clean, and stay sexy for their husbands and most of them learn how to do all of those things. Their credentials say they’re qualified but their hearts say otherwise. They did everything they were told but there is no passion for the calling that comes along with being a wife, they simply wanted to hold the title.

How effective would a company be if the CEO only wanted to be the CEO of any company that would take him instead of being concerned with the well-being of the company he was running? Soon and very soon that company would crash and burn! Why would a marriage work any differently? Not even a friendship can stand without a vested interest in sustaining the relationship instead of just being excited about being affiliated with someone because of who they are. You see, we enjoy the benefits and the perks that come along with being a wife, an entrepreneur, and a friend but that is not where the glory is.

The glory is getting in the trenches and moving beyond whose list of qualifications you meet and really examining why you gained the qualifications to begin with. Any woman can cook, clean, and give sex for a man. That simply involves repeating what you’ve been told to do. But we fail when it takes more than what we were told to maintain the position we’ve so persistently chased. 

Food, a clean house, and a nice body will mean nothing if you aren’t called to be a wife. NO, THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING!

We all know beautiful, clean women who can put Betty Crocker to shame that are in miserable, dead-end or in non-existent relationships. The person who succeeds in the position they hold seeks qualification because they’re drawn to the responsibilities of the position and not just the recognition. These are the people that know who they are before they even pass the “hiring process”. They are not moved by the title they now hold because they know that is a consolation prize for pursuing God instead of a position.

Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

A marriage that pleases God is one that was a result of chasing after Him. The women that are obsessed with capturing a title in a man’s life find it difficult to hold on to that very title. Pursuing a relationship status overlooks the responsibility that goes along with it. Titles are never your validation because when you are created to do something; your credentials are strictly confirmation of what you already know.

Walking down the aisle can’t be your ultimate goal when God is your portion. As a woman, He created you to be a wife just like He created Eve for Adam. A man giving you his last name is confirmation of what God already validated in the beginning. Qualifications and credentials are necessary and valuable, however if you have no passion for the responsibilities of the position they won’t get you very far.

With All My Love,
Mrs. Truscott