Government Jobs

by Neil Heaton Entrepreneur

Help with crossing that hurdle when your application consists of addressing the Key Selection Criteria

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Key Selection Criteria
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Review on Government Jobs

Ten Golden Rules:

Substantiate claims with fact. For example, "I have excellent communication skills" is without foundation.
Provide examples of skills in context: "My interpersonal skills are best demonstrated by..."
Don't presume. Panel assessors are unfamiliar with each candidate's background.
Give it time and intensive thought.
Qualify answers in terms of "In my position as a Team Leader at ABC Corporation, I...." rather than, "in my current role I do this...."
Proofread every word.
Spelling, grammar and punctuation are crucial to being considered a serious candidate.
Be Results-Focused. An action should yield a result - money saved, money made, productivity raised, errors reduced, duplicated work tasks eliminated.
Where possible produce numbers - increased sales by 32% in just 3 months.
Give an example of a situation, the task at hand, the action taken and show results.

Be a STAR!

Look carefully at this sample response to a Selection Criteria question, which uses the S-T-A-R approach. This concept is developed to allow for a given Situation, the Task at hand, the Action taken and the accomplished Result. Tell me, which employer would not want to hire someone, who is seen to bring proven benefits to their Company? Keep this in mind and take note of how we need to go about it:

Look at the example Selection Criterion below:

Ability to effect and monitor change in a demanding working environment.

Situation:

When I was appointed Postal Manager of the Endeavour Hills Post Office...

Task:

...time spent on sorting and delivering mail to the private boxes was much longer than that of all other post offices in the South East suburbs. The goal was set to not only meet the standard time of the other offices, but also to better those times.

Action:

I started work about three hours earlier than my normal starting time to see why the task took so long. Over a week, all the work practices of the mail sorters were carefully examined. Areas where work was either being duplicated or "best practice" was not being followed, were identified.

After identifying these areas, the staff agreed that improvement was needed. We formed a committee consisting of a mail sorter, the area supervisor and the union representative. This committee drew up an action plan and we established how we would get the staff to implement it.

Result:

This procedure resulted in time spent in these tasks being reduced by 10.5 person hours per week. Over a full year, this meant a reduction in the overtime budget in one area alone of nearly $10,000. Staff team work improved and morale increased as this was a solution that was brought about from the bottom up and not the top down.

By providing an example, and following the STAR method, we have made an immediate impression on the Selection Committee. I endeavour to follow this technique when I address each criterion in every Selection Criteria document. Although not always possible, thinking on these lines certainly helps! I also try and include statistical data, at every opportunity, if available. By quantifying accomplishments, we can prove to the Selection Panel the benefits we will bring to the organisation.

If you would like more FREE information on jobs, interviews, cover letters, resumes or addressing the selection criteria, please head to my website.

I wish you a successful and satisfying career ahead.