Vocations placement is on the mind of sisters and other religious, such as those who gathered at the IRL’s 2017 National Meeting.
If vocations placement was simple, God could just supply a discernment GPS. Such a device would help people walk with certainty on the path of vocational awareness.
There are many methods for promoting vocations, and one such method is that used by Vocations Placement. Their work has been successful in leading people to finding their vocation. Their method finds candidates on the internet, and these individuals fill out a survey, or quiz. The survey is intended to funnel them towards his or her best fit.
Vocations Placement candidates are shared
These names are shared with many religious communities. Thus, each candidate receives emails, post office mailings and phone calls from many vocation directors. But this can be overwhelming, as some candidates of such services have reported.
Vocations Placement, which was developed by Natalie Smith, also says that it offers a “free 4-6 page detailed personal analysis that highlights your individual strengths and weaknesses.”
This report is computer-generated, and it goes to each candidate. We will admit that it is a rather thorough report, offering reflections on how certain questions were answered.
(You might also want to read this website’s review of a similar program, that of Vocation Match.)
How Vocations Placement and Come & See Program are different
Another program is the Come & See Vocation Promotion Program, developed by Kevin J. Banet, of TreeFrogClick marketing. The Come & See program differs in that each quiz is customized for one religious community. Thus, when the candidate takes the quiz, he or she is then contacted only by one community, not many. Moreover, the customized quiz features photos from the one community.
Furthermore, the Come & See Program not only finds candidates but develops their interest. It does so with a newsletter system. Newsletters are sent by email, and they are customized for one community. The newsletters help them discern their vocation, learn more about religious/consecrated life, and they teach them about the charism and apostolate of that community.
Thus, instead of sharing the candidate names with dozens or even hundreds of other communities, the Come & See Program works one-one-one with each candidate.
Unique qualification system
Furthermore, the Come & See Program uses a unique qualification system that gauges not only how they answered the quiz, but how they have responded to the newsletters sent to them. Each month, a list of the best candidates is sent to the vocation director. The best candidates are not only those who look good on paper, but have expressed an interest in that particular community.
Through the Come & See Vocation Promotion Program, a one-on-one approach is achieved that concentrates vocations placement on the characteristics of a particular community, and also develops the interest of each candidate in that community.
