Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

Why You Should Be Proud To Be A Youth Worker

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Youth worker
You don’t have to be a teacher to be a professional youth worker

When people ask me what I do for my job I tell them that I’m a professional youth worker.

When I lived in the UK this was widely accepted as a real thing. At the very least, people recognized that it was a job that I could have that didn’t involve working for a church as a youth pastor. In the UK and Australia, people know what you’re talking about when you say you’re a youth worker. They may or may not quibble over the ‘professional‘ part, but they get it.

When I get asked what I do here in the US, I say ‘I’m a professional youth worker’. They reply with ‘Oh, are you a…. (insert one here – teacher, youth pastor, youth minister, psychologist or social worker)?’

No. I’m a professional youth worker. I’m a qualified, trained and experienced person who works with youth between the ages of 5-21 (definitions vary about children and youth workers but my current role includes 5-10’s). I love what I do. I informally teach skills, concepts and interesting things to youth in an effort to help them become the best people they can be, now and when they get older.

I’m passionate about this distinction.

However, there is one place that I get super sensitive and shy about it and completely doubt my abilities.

When I’m around other ‘professionals’. You know, the (insert one here – teachers, youth pastors, youth ministers, psychologists or social workers). I get nervous and completely doubt my abilities.

I spent a whole day in training recently freaking out because I was with a bunch of teachers. All of them knew what a pacing guide was (incidentially, this is the document they create that tells them which parts of the text/curriculum they’re teaching in what week/lesson. I was like ‘Oh, you mean like a “plan”- just say plan!’). They all knew about block schedules and how to best fit the evidence-based curriculum we’re working with in with their text book. I felt completely out of my element all day.

Until I found out the one thing that I knew about which many of them didn’t. How to work with youth: how to accept them, see the best in them, be patient with them, dialogue with them. Not teach at them, but work with them – how to best facilitate discussions, create games and activities to make social education come alive, icebreakers, and 101 things to do with post-it notes.

This isn’t a rag on teachers or other professionals. It’s a praise for youth workers. Know what you do, do it well and be proud of yourself. Whether you have qualifications or not, conduct yourself like a professional because you are one. You’re a professional at working with youth in a way that other adults in their lives can only dream of.

Don’t take on the shame of being under or unqualified, lacking in your MDiv, MSW or MEd.

Be proud of being what you are: A Youth Worker.

Question: Have you ever felt intimidated in a room full of qualified, professionals before as a youth worker? Share your experience in the comments below.

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What Do Youth Pastors Need More – Experience Or Qualifications?

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Youth pastor qualifications vs experienceLast week we discussed whether youth work qualifications are more important than experience. A follow-up question was submitted regarding youth ministry specifically – here’s our answer.

Q: How about in terms of youth pastoring – is having several years working in christian youth groups better than qualifications?

A: In days gone by, I’d have told you that all you needed to get a job as a youth pastor at many churches was some experience running a youth ministry or volunteering, a heart for youth and a heart for God. And for many churches that’s still the case. There can also be a shocking lack of professional boundaries in the warm and fuzzy world of church youth ministry.

But times, they are a-changin’. Many churches want more staff for less money, qualifications as a requirement and significant experience.

Here are three things that you might expect to see required when researching jobs in youth ministry nowadays:

  1. Qualifications – You probably need some kind of qualification and often it’s required to be in theology, not youth ministry. Many churches view the role of the youth pastor as a short-term vocation; eventually you’ll mature and get into ‘real ministry’, in which case it helps if you already have the theological underpinning needed to provide pastoral care to adults within other ministries.
  2. Talents – You might need to be multi-talented to be truly competitive. I’ve seen so many ‘youth pastor / worship leader’ jobs. Churches need more bang for their buck and, like in agencies and organizations worldwide, they’re looking for people with more than one skill set that can better meet the needs of their organization.
  3. Flexibility – You may need to broaden your ministry options to include working with children, or maybe the whole family as a ‘Family Pastor’. Many churches – particularly smaller churches – are including the need to work with 3rd graders through to college age young people in the job description of the youth pastor.

If you’re someone planning to recruit for a youth pastor and one, two or all three of these thoughts have crossed your mind, or been a discussion point in a committee meeting, consider these thoughts:

  1. Qualifications – Theology is important, especially in a church leader. However, consider meeting with candidates who have diverse qualifications and experience, as well as a long term commitment to their faith. Simply because they haven’t been to seminary doesn’t mean a youth pastor can’t be effective in ministering to youth. When in doubt, ask for a sample youth ministry session and test it out with your youth. Alternatively, have them come and speak on several occasions on various topics in both large and small group settings to find out more about them and their ministry style.
  2. Talents – Be willing to consider a great youth pastor who can’t also fulfill your worship leader requirement. If you have a need God will provide, but not always in the way you think. You may end up with a great youth pastor who is completely tone deaf, but who’s effective at raising up youth. They might mentor a young person who would make a great worship leader – all they needed was someone to believe in them.
  3. Flexibility – Children’s ministry is very different from youth ministry. The needs are diverse and the way in which a youth pastor relates to teens will be very different than to a small child. Even if they’re just ‘oversight’ for the children’s ministry, it’s important that they care about it if that’s the route you decide to go. Otherwise your children’s ministry might flounder while your youth group grows and gets all of the attention. Alternatively, you may lose all your youth by hiring a gifted children’s pastor who doesn’t know how to relate to teenagers.
Question: What have been your experiences when applying for youth ministry jobs – are youth ministry qualifications more important than experience? 

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Are Youth Work Qualifications More Important Than Experience?

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Youth work qualifications vs experienceQ: How important are youth work qualifications when looking at a career, in comparison to experience through volunteering?

A: Unfortunately there isn’t one straight answer for this question. Each organization and agency is different and therefore is looking for different things in an applicant. Some are looking for qualifications and some are looking for experience.

Youth Work Qualifications

Requiring youth work qualifications benefits an employer for a couple of reasons. By requiring a type of degree or certificate, they can be better informed about your knowledge-base. Some degrees or qualifications are required for certain types of youth work, such as at activity centers or in social work.

Requiring a certain level of education also provides a benchmark for all applicants and helps them weed out some candidates. In the current economic climate that can be a very valuable tool for recruiters and employers, as they’re receiving so many applications for each position.

However, having qualifications doesn’t necessarily mean more experience or better rapport with young people. It can be frustrating to be a fantastic youth worker who just hasn’t had the opportunity to pursue higher education, thereby costing you the opportunity to be considered for a job before someone has even met you.

I’ve experienced this on occasion with my degree – a Master’s in Youth Work and Community Development – because a ‘youth work degree’ isn’t really something offered in the US. There are social work degrees, youth ministry degrees and other human services degrees but not a ‘youth work degree’. It can be frustrating, but the right role and employer for you will see beyond your unconventional or lack of qualifications.

All that being said, theoretical underpinning (a base of theory from research and studies that informs your youth work practice) is essential. You can be a fun youth worker, make up great games and build relationships with youth, but knowing about things like group dynamics, the effects of Personal, Cultural and Structural barriers on youth, the history of modern youth work and adolescent development issues will only serve to make you that much better of a youth worker.

Take your professional development seriously and attend training, conferences and courses whenever it’s appropriate and possible.

Youth Work Experience

Some organizations rely heavily on youth work experience when recruiting for a youth worker. While theoretical underpinning is important, there’s no substitute for real world experience working with youth. If you’re interested in youth work as a career, the more opportunities you have to work with young people, the better.

Youth workers with some experience are often better able to:

  • Think on their feet – the more you practice coming up with games, creating new activities, changing the plans to suit the mood of the room and judging the feeling in the room during a discussion, the better at all of them you will become
  • Build rapport quickly – you find more ways to engage young people in conversation the more you practice it. You’ll be able to get beyond, ‘so do you like any subjects in school?’ or ‘what’s your favorite color?’ as your opening line

That doesn’t mean that a youth worker without the experience doesn’t possess these qualities. It takes time to get better at what you do. It’s true for musicians, artists, managers and youth workers. Use volunteer opportunities to increase your level of experience, especially if you are planning to change careers from something completely un-youthy like corporate tax law.

Years of experience are still not a complete replacement for training. You’ll be better able to serve the young people you work with when you can understand youth behavior or where a certain law came from. Best practice is often rooted in both theoretical underpinning and real life practice in the profession of youth work.

The best of both worlds is a youth worker who is well-rounded. One who has some experience working directly with young people – learning how to plan, build rapport, knows the lingo of youth culture and has proven dedication to a low-pay, low-appreciation (at times) job. But also one who takes their professional development seriously and makes every effort to increase their knowledge and understanding, even if it’s not possible to undertake a degree course.

Question: Which do you think is more important in youth work – Qualifications or Experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Previous Experience Required… But Not Desired

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Youth work experience
Acting like you work here doesn’t go over well in most youth work settings

We’ve all seen it on a job description: ‘Those with Previous Youth Work Experience Preferred’ or ‘Previous Experience with Youth Required.’

Experience is becoming much more valuable to youth work employers, even for faith-based youth workers. Unless you’re planning to start at the bottom – with volunteering, an internship, part-time position or an entry level position without very good pay – you’ll need some kind of previous youth work experience.

But is all previous experience good? Is every type of youth work the same as every other? Is ‘working with youth’ all that’s really required while the rest is teachable? My answer to all three is ‘No’ and here is why:

No, I don’t think that all previous experience is good

As a reflective practitioner, you’ll want to reflect and determine if your experience was good for the youth and best for your professional development. There are a lot of youth programs out there, including faith-based, that:

  • Hire poor, inexperienced and/or unqualified staff
  • Don’t have important procedures in place
  • Have unsupportive management
  • Have poor youth to adult ratios
  • Don’t have child protection policies
  • Don’t do background checks
  • And much more

The reasons for this are varied and too much to cover right now, but they can range from cost-cutting measures to lack of organizational structure.

If your experience included any of the issues above or others, take the time to identify what changes you would make in your own practice going forward, finding out best practice in those areas and unlearning bad habits. 

No, I don’t think every type of youth work is not the same as every other.

Taking 5 minutes one day, I identified over 45 different types of youth work that I know about or have worked with; that’s not even taking into account hybrid programs that merge two or more types of youth work together.

These could include programs that focus on ‘Sexual Health of Youth,’ ‘Homeless Youth’ and ‘Sexual Health of Homeless Youth’. Just about the only thing they all have in common is that they work with youth. So while some previous experience of working with homeless youth may be beneficial in building relationships with youth in a sexual health youth program, you may find it difficult to transfer a lot of your skills, education and experience to the new role. Don’t try to ‘fake it ’til you make it’, as you’ll do the youth in your programs a disservice.

Additionally, the previous experience from one type of youth work can be really challenging to ‘unlearn’ when entering a new type, especially if you’ve done it for a long time.

For example, I once knew a worker who had done ten years working as a detention center guard. He then moved to the more ‘warm and fuzzy’ role of staff at a family-style foster care program, where all interactions were supposed to be natural, like in a loving family. His years of previous experience kicked in whenever there was conflict and he often ran the home like a detention facility with strict schedules, cleanliness regimes and zero-tolerance rules.

His experiences were great when it came to finding youth who stole things or were lying, but many times the youth felt attacked and ‘guarded.’ He had the best intentions but was unable to overcome so much of his previous experience. It’s possible that a better fit, for his experience, would have been in a more regulated residential foster care program or as a youth offending officer.

Youth work is as diverse as the youth within the programs, therefore you can’t say that all experience you gain within each of them is the same. Take the time to identify your transferable skills and those where you need further professional development.

No, I don’t think that all you need is experience working with youth and that everything else is teachable.

There are some things that are teachable in youth work; using our example above, sexual health statistics can be taught, homeless issues and their solutions, methods for scripture memorization in faith-based programs – all those can be taught. But you need to recognize what can’t be taught. Some types of youth work are better suited to certain youth workers than others and no amount of previous experience with youth will change that.

I have a lot of experience with youth, but I wouldn’t apply for a role teaching youth outdoor activities. Yes, I could learn all the safety information in the world and maybe even be ‘passable’ in the role, but it wouldn’t be best for the youth in those programs.

Why? Because it’s not my passion, nor is outdoor education something I care very much about. When we do things that we don’t care about, things get sloppy and mistakes are made.

I wouldn’t want to have any of those mistakes happen at an outdoor center or in the middle of a lake with a group of youth – would you? I’d want a youth worker whose experience and passion match up in the perfect role for them which, in turn, will make the program outstanding through knowledgeable, safe and experienced staff  for the youth participating.

Your strengths and what you’re passionate about will provide a natural fit for your natural abilities in relating to youth and the skills you learn through education and best practice.

Remember these three things when you see ‘previous youth work experience required’:

  1. Reflect on areas of best practice and room for improvement in your previous experiences
  2. Remind yourself that all youth work is different and decide if you have the appropriate skills and experience for the job. If you don’t, try your desired role out as a volunteer and gain some insight and new experience in that area of youth work.
  3. Identify your strengths and passions. Learn what can be learned, trust your natural skills and choose a path based on what you’re passionate about. If you’re passionate about something, it’s much more likely to positively affect more youth in your program. 

Questions: Do you agree or disagree about my thoughts regarding previous experience in youth work? Why or why not? What are some things you consider when applying for a new youth work position? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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