Is Freemasonry a Good Career Move?

I'm often confronted with variations on the assertion that Freemasonry is a business networking opportunity. Let me be clear: it's not. But there's a related question to which the answer is more complex, and I think Freemasons don't promote this question enough: is Freemasonry good for your career?

To this, I give an unequivocal "yes". In fact, it's a great career move for many reasons, some of which I won't get into, here, such as the role of self-knowledge in professional life. They're all useful topics, but for now I'll just stick to the simple question of why you might get hired for a job because you're a Freemason.

Now, if you're thinking, "the hiring manager might be a Freemason, and so they'll hire me," then stop right there. Not true. First off, the hiring manager almost certainly isn't a Freemason. Since the 1960s, membership in Freemasonry has declined substantially, and there's no reasonable case to be made that one should expect to run into a fellow Mason at work. There are probably on the order of 100 Freemasons in my city whose work plus residential population is probably around a half a million. That's 1 in every 5,000 people you might run into that are going to be Masons. Good luck with that.

So why, then?

Because the Masonic Lodge is one of the most profoundly impressive leadership training systems in the world, even though far too few people within the Fraternity seem to realize this, or at least the avoid talking about it.

Think about it: you spend somewhere around 7 years (depending on jurisdiction) learning every facet of running the Lodge, from setting up the tables and regalia to organizing the caterers and candidates. Then you spend a year or so actually being the executive management in charge of the Lodge. You have to learn how to work with a Secretary and Treasurer to actually run the business of the Lodge. You have to learn how to manage volunteer labor. You need to learn what works and what doesn't when it comes to getting work out of people.

These are not just relevant skills, they're the kinds of skills that the majority of people will never learn! I know of less comprehensive programs that are entirely based on simulation and classroom work that cost a fortune! But Freemasonry tends to cost less than going to see a movie once a month and gives you a fully rounded experience. Is it draining and demanding? Of course it is, but it will be when you do these things in your professional life, and learning to balance professional and personal demands is yet another part of the lesson.

So that brings us to how you sell yourself on this basis. How do you tell an employer? Well, here's what I wrote up recently to answer that very question:

Your resume should list Masonic leadership experience, but no one cares about the 10th word in a paragraph in a resume. The first two words need to make it clear why a paragraph is relevant.

This means that you really need to know why you're adding it. For example, this is nearly useless:

Personal Interests:

Freemasonry - Joined my local Lodge, moved up through officer line, was Master of the Lodge.

You might as well put a dividing line on the page with the words "IGNORE BELOW" in the middle of it. But this would be extremely useful, I think:

Relevant, Non-Professional: 

Leadership of Masonic Lodge - Multi-year officer training, executive leadership position for one year with duties including arranging and running meetings, managing volunteer labor, coordinating financial planning with treasurer, etc.

Here, the very first work is the key. After that, we throw out as many key terms as we can quickly to keep attention ("training", "executive leadership", etc.) It's okay to explain at length, but keep the lead-in punchy. Everything after the first few words is there to provide fodder for conversation during an interview. it probably won't ever be read until then, if at all.

Notice how I'm not afraid to drop Masonic in-house terms and replace them with more business-friendly labels. If you say "officer line," you're wasting words because no one reading that is going to understand the implication that it's a progressive line that teaches you how to run a Lodge. If, however, you describe it as "officer training" with "executive leadership" right after it, then you're telling the same story, but in a way the reader can understand.

So, armed with this, think of the Masonic Lodge as promoting your development in every part of your life. As a family member, professional and as a community member. Freemasonry gives you the tools to improve yourself. How much and in what directions are mostly up to you and what you want to put into it.