Statistics show that rental vacancy rates across the city are stuck at historic lows – at around 2%. "In the market at the moment, you have to take an extra step to get over the line,'' Michelle Galletti, the director of a property management company, Just Rent Sydney, said.
Some real estate agents interviewed think that it gives a good impression for people to show they are serious, and it gives them an edge to prepare a statement similar to a 'resume' or 'curriculum vitae (CV)'. Agents like it because they can see at a glance if the customers are suited – it is a nice piece of 'window dressing'.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/in-the-fight-to-snare-a-rental-property-a-cv-is-the-weapon-of-choice-20100430-tza2.html
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson maintains that all this might be the situation, but ... surprise, surprise ... this has been the norm for many years.
As Christian churches began springing up all over Sydney, and whether they be Anglican, Baptist, Uniting, Presbyterian, Salvation Army, Lutheran or something else, they all provide Manses (Rectories) for their Minister.
Before taking the house keys, the person who was applying to become any congregations' Minister, always had to provide a CV, whether that came through the Denominational system or through a local church 'committee' whose recommendation becomes by which a Minister is 'Called'.
"What therefore," asks M V Tronson, "should be in the Minister's CV, to qualify him/her to take the house keys of the Manse (Rectory)?"
Here are some generalisations that you may need to include if you were applying for a job as Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of a local church:
Documentation of your theological training – depending on the position, it may be Bible College courses if you were applying to many Pentecostal and Salvation Army situations; or a full three-four year theological undergraduate degree for a small church in the main denominations. However, for larger and more substantial congregations if any denomination, you wouldn't even be seriously considered unless you had an Honours after your degree, or a Masters or a Doctorate under your belt or a serious international ministry reputation.
Next you would need to have proof of your experience. This has always been an important criterion for ministers in Sydney churches. Many of them do a stint in regional and rural New South Wales before being 'promoted' to a large Sydney suburban church. References from senior people associated with your previous appointments would need to be provided, or phone numbers of those who have already agreed to testify to your suitability.
A very tricky problem, on paper, is how to promote your leadership skills. Not only does a Minister lead a congregation in worship, there is also a range of other leadership duties which includes roles in the wider community, the church property committee (some properties are valued at several millions of dollars), the finance committee, the spiritual oversight committee and many others, and not least, the fete committee. References or phone numbers of referees, and maybe lay members of your previous congregation, are essential to back up your claims of leadership.
The new Minister will also be expected to have a gracious manner, to be able to pacify a disgruntled congregation member and yet humbly but surely redirect him or her to see things from a different angle. This is one of most cherished things any committee looks for in a Minister. You need to be creative in finding a way to communicate this on a CV.
You will also have to document your track record on family life, as the Good Book is pretty strong on the idea on the domestication of the family. Unfortunately, it is not just your own upstanding morals that is on the line here, but that of your whole family – including teenage children who should be 'clean as a whistle' too. The congregation would not want to see anything untoward that might lead the young people of the church going astray.
When all in considered, it is a hefty looking CV that any suburban Christian Minister is required to have on hand in order to get the house keys.
You are absolutely right Louise Schwartzkoff of the SMH, you do need a CV for a rental.
