Catholic Publishers Struggle With Recruiting Talent

Heidi Schlumpf |

Sep 25, 2000

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Catholic Publishers Struggle With Recruiting Talent Heidi Schlumpf -- 9/25/00 *Searching Alternatives to Compensation* Priests and nuns take vows of poverty, but often those who work in Catholic publishing live that way without having taken vows. So quipped one Catholic publisher at a September 8 workshop in Chicago on "Finding, Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining the Next Generation of Talent for Religious Book Publishing," sponsored by the Catholic Book Publishers Association (CBPA). More than 40 publishers, editors and marketing managers attended the workshop, which was designed for heads of houses. Low salaries may be a fact of life at most Catholic houses, many of which are small operations, but that d sn't mean they can't attract and retain top-notch employees. The trick is to emphasize the positive corporate culture, flexible working environment and greater mission, according to speaker Ed Mruk, senior partner at the executive recruiting firm EMA Partners International in New York. Alternatives to Compensation "When we can't use compensation as a hook, we spend a lot of time on the organizational culture, like flex time and spirituality," said Steve Hrycyniak, co-publisher at Sheed & Ward. "That's important to young people." A "fishbowl" session with two recent recruits to religious publishing houses and one recent college grad currently looking for a job in Catholic publishing revealed that young people often stumble into careers in religious publishing. "If we're looking for good people, we might find we're able to get the top draft picks if we're a little more proactive," said Greg Erlandson, editor-in-chief at Our Sunday Visitor. A presence at college career fairs was suggested as one possible step. The perception of Catholic publishing as a "ghetto" may be another stumbling block, although the attitude might be easing with the explosive growth of religion publishing, which has resulted in more respect for the field. "There's still the idea that religion publishing is for priests or nuns, although that's less prevalent than it used to be," said Kay Weiss, marketing manager at the Liturgical Press. "It's all about finding people who have interest in your mission, since they're not going to be designing commercials for the Super Bowl." An Untapped Source One large untapped but perhaps fertile source of mission-driven employees is the pool of college graduates who spend a year or two doing service through programs such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corp., suggested Mary Prete, general manager of World Library Publications. "These are people who have a social conscience, who believe that life has more meaning than just getting a paycheck," she said. "I think we as an industry haven't presented ourselves to people who want to make a difference." Among the ideas discussed during a final brainstorming session was a possible scholarship or internship sponsored by the CBPA; a Web site or listserv for CBPA to post job openings, résumés and freelance opportunities; and continuing professional development to help retain current employees by helping them feel part of the larger industry.

News

Catholic Publishers Struggle With Recruiting Talent
Heidi Schlumpf -- 9/25/00
Searching Alternatives to Compensation

Priests and nuns take vows of poverty, but often those who work in Catholic publishing live that way without having taken vows. So quipped one Catholic publisher at a September 8 workshop in Chicago on "Finding, Recruiting, Developing, and Retaining the Next Generation of Talent for Religious Book Publishing," sponsored by the Catholic Book Publishers Association (CBPA). More than 40 publishers, editors and marketing managers attended the workshop, which was designed for heads of houses.

Low salaries may be a fact of life at most Catholic houses, many of which are small operations, but that d sn't mean they can't attract and retain top-notch employees. The trick is to emphasize the positive corporate culture, flexible working environment and greater mission, according to speaker Ed Mruk, senior partner at the executive recruiting firm EMA Partners International in New York.

Alternatives to Compensation
"When we can't use compensation as a hook, we spend a lot of time on the organizational culture, like flex time and spirituality," said Steve Hrycyniak, co-publisher at Sheed & Ward. "That's important to young people."

A "fishbowl" session with two recent recruits to religious publishing houses and one recent college grad currently looking for a job in Catholic publishing revealed that young people often stumble into careers in religious publishing. "If we're looking for good people, we might find we're able to get the top draft picks if we're a little more proactive," said Greg Erlandson, editor-in-chief at Our Sunday Visitor. A presence at college career fairs was suggested as one possible step.

The perception of Catholic publishing as a "ghetto" may be another stumbling block, although the attitude might be easing with the explosive growth of religion publishing, which has resulted in more respect for the field. "There's still the idea that religion publishing is for priests or nuns, although that's less prevalent than it used to be," said Kay Weiss, marketing manager at the Liturgical Press. "It's all about finding people who have interest in your mission, since they're not going to be designing commercials for the Super Bowl."

An Untapped Source
One large untapped but perhaps fertile source of mission-driven employees is the pool of college graduates who spend a year or two doing service through programs such as the Jesuit Volunteer Corp., suggested Mary Prete, general manager of World Library Publications. "These are people who have a social conscience, who believe that life has more meaning than just getting a paycheck," she said. "I think we as an industry haven't presented ourselves to people who want to make a difference."

Among the ideas discussed during a final brainstorming session was a possible scholarship or internship sponsored by the CBPA; a Web site or listserv for CBPA to post job openings, résumés and freelance opportunities; and continuing professional development to help retain current employees by helping them feel part of the larger industry.

A version of this article appeared in the 09/25/2000 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: