How long should a selection criteria response be?

Follow the limit in the job ad or information pack, whether it is set in words, characters or pages. If no limit is given, keep each response focused on one or two strong examples, which usually means a few paragraphs. The APSC’s advice is to be clear and to the point and to avoid lengthy responses.

What is the STAR method for selection criteria?

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. You set the scene briefly, say what you were responsible for, spend most of the response on what you did and how, then finish with the outcome and how it relates to the job. Some careers services teach a shorter version called CAR: Context, Action, Result.

Do APS jobs still use selection criteria?

Some do, but the APSC notes that many agencies now ask for a resume and a one or two page pitch explaining how your skills and experience fit the job. The information pack tells you which format to use. If it is unclear, contact the officer named in the job ad.

Can I use ChatGPT to write selection criteria for an APS job?

The APSC’s principles for candidates allow AI to help refine your draft, clarify ideas, research the agency and check spelling and grammar, unless the agency says otherwise. They rule out inflating or fabricating experience, pasting in generic AI-generated responses and entering confidential workplace information. If an agency asks how you used AI, you are expected to answer truthfully.

What is the difference between selection criteria and key selection criteria?

There is no real difference. Key selection criteria is a common Australian name for the same list of skills, knowledge and qualities. Some ads split them into essential and desirable criteria. Address every essential criterion in full, and address the desirable ones too wherever you have genuine evidence, since they can strengthen your case for an interview.

How to Address Selection Criteria (With STAR Examples)

To address selection criteria, write a separate response to each criterion, in the order the job ad lists them, and prove each one with a real example from your work, study or community roles. Most Australian employers expect the STAR method: the Situation, your Task, the Actions you took and the Result. Open with a sentence that claims the criterion in its own words, stay within any word limit, and make sure every claim matches your resume.

What are selection criteria?

Selection criteria are the qualities, skills, abilities, knowledge and any qualifications a person needs to do the job well. That is how the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) describes them in its Cracking the code guide to applying for APS jobs, which gives examples such as communicating effectively, organisational skills, teamwork, customer service and managing projects.

Key selection criteria (KSC) mean the same thing. Some ads split them into essential criteria, which you must meet, and desirable criteria, which strengthen your case. Address the essential ones first and in full, then the desirable ones wherever you have real evidence.

NSW Government roles often point you to focus capabilities from the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework and may ask targeted questions about them, as well as or instead of selection criteria. The I Work for NSW guide recommends STAR for those answers too. Whatever the label, the panel wants evidence, not adjectives.

Where you answer them

The University of Sydney’s careers guide describes three common formats, and NSW adds a fourth.

Format	What it looks like	How to handle it
Statement of claims	A separate document	Each criterion as a bold heading, in the order listed, with your response underneath
Online text boxes	One box per criterion, often with a limit	Draft offline, count, then paste in plain paragraphs
Pitch or cover letter	One statement covering everything	Weave in one or two short STAR examples and keep to the page limit
Targeted questions (NSW)	Questions tied to focus capabilities	Answer the exact question with one specific, recent example

How to address selection criteria in seven steps

Get the information pack. Confirm whether the employer wants separate criteria, a pitch or targeted questions. If it is unclear, call the contact officer named in the ad.
Decode each criterion. “Demonstrated ability” asks for proof you have done it. “Knowledge of” asks what you know and how you have applied it. “Experience in” asks where, and at what level.
Split multi-part criteria. “Excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work under pressure” is three things. Cover each one.
Choose one or two strong examples. That is the APSC’s advice per criterion. Recent and relevant beats impressive but old, and work, study, volunteering and community roles all count.
Plan with STAR, then write it up. Jot dot points under each letter, then turn them into full sentences.
Echo the employer’s language. Open with a claim sentence that uses the criterion’s key words, and use the organisation’s terms wherever they are true of you.
Edit to the limit and check against your resume. Fix spelling and grammar, and make sure dates, titles and results match your resume.

The STAR method for selection criteria

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. The APSC presents it as one way of setting out evidence against selection criteria. Some careers services, such as the University of Melbourne’s, teach a three-part version called CAR (Context, Action, Result), which works the same way.

Part	What to write	How much space
Situation	Where you were, your role and the circumstance	A sentence or two
Task	What you were responsible for, or the problem to solve	A sentence or two
Action	What you did and how, using “I”, not “we”, and active verbs	Most of the response
Result	What changed because of you, and how it relates to this job	Short, but specific

The University of Sydney’s guide suggests that about 80% of each answer should focus on the Action. The Result is where responses often go vague. If you don’t have a figure, use other evidence: who used your work, what it replaced, feedback or recognition. Our guide to showing achievements without numbers has more honest ways to show impact.

A STAR template you can copy

[Claim sentence that restates the criterion in your own words, for example: I explain complex information clearly to people with different needs, as I did when…]
Situation: As [job title] at [organisation], [the circumstance, in one or two sentences].
Task: I was responsible for [what you had to achieve or solve].
Action: To do this, I [first action], [second action] and [third action]. [How you handled the hardest part.]
Result: As a result, [what changed], [evidence: feedback, a figure, recognition or what is still in use]. [One sentence linking this to the new role.]

Drop the Situation, Task, Action and Result labels from your final text unless the employer asks for them.

Selection criteria examples (fictional)

The three responses below are invented to show the structure, including any figures. Replace every detail with your own.

Example 1: Communication

Criterion: Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly with a range of stakeholders, both verbally and in writing.

Fictional example. I adapt how I communicate to suit my audience. As a customer service officer at a regional council, I had to help residents prepare for a change to bin collection days that affected every household, and make sure the call centre could answer questions consistently.
I rewrote the draft letter in plain English, with the new day and a simple calendar at the top, and tested it on two colleagues new to the project. I wrote a one-page script and FAQ for the call centre and briefed the team before the letters went out. For older residents and people who speak languages other than English, I ran two drop-in sessions at the library with an interpreter.
Calls about the change halved between the first and second weeks, and my manager adopted the letter and FAQ as the template for later service changes.

Example 2: Teamwork

Criterion: Proven ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.

Fictional example. I help teams work well by making sure everyone knows who is doing what. In my final year of university, I volunteered at a food relief charity when it moved warehouses over one weekend, and I was asked to coordinate the volunteers so Monday deliveries to partner agencies went out.
I agreed the order of the move with the warehouse manager, then split twelve volunteers into three teams, each with an area and a lead. I set up a shared checklist in our group chat so teams could tick off shelves, and checked in with each lead every hour. When the chilled goods team fell behind, I moved two experienced volunteers across so that section didn’t hold everyone up.
Monday’s deliveries went out on time, and the coordinator asked me to write up the checklist for future stocktakes.

Example 3: Organisation and competing priorities

Criterion: Well-developed organisational skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines.

Fictional example. I manage competing deadlines by making priorities visible and agreeing them early. As a project officer in a state government department, I supported three managers during budget season, when briefing requests overlapped with an internal audit of our grants program.
I listed every request with its deadline and owner in one shared tracker and met each manager to confirm what mattered most. Where two deadlines clashed, I raised it with both managers together so they could agree the order, rather than guessing. I set aside time each morning for the audit files and built templates for the recurring sections of the briefs.
All fourteen briefs and the audit pack were delivered on time, and the managers kept using the tracker after budget season.

APS selection criteria and the ‘pitch’

The APSC’s guide notes that long, complicated selection criteria are becoming less common in the Australian Public Service. Many agencies now want your resume plus a one or two page statement of how your skills, abilities and experience fit the job, while some still ask you to address each criterion separately. The information pack tells you which.

A pitch is your case for why you are the right person: why this agency, why this role, what you offer and how your experience applies. The APSC advises against repeating what is already in your resume (its guide says CV, the usual word in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand). Highlight specific examples and achievements instead, and keep to the word or page limit. If the pack asks for separate responses, the University of Melbourne suggests heading your statement of claims with your name, the job title and the position number.

A pitch structure you can copy

Opening, two or three sentences: why this role and agency, and the strongest reason you can do the job.
Body, two or three short paragraphs: one compact STAR example for each main requirement in the job description, each opening with the capability it proves.
Close, one or two sentences: what you would bring to the team and how your experience fits its work.

Common selection criteria mistakes

Mistake	Why it hurts	Fix
“I have excellent communication skills”	A claim, not evidence	Make the claim in one sentence, then prove it
Listing duties	Shows what the job was, not what you did	Describe your actions and their result
Writing “we” throughout	The panel can’t see your part	Say what you did; credit the team briefly
Answering part of a multi-part criterion	Leaves a visible gap	Split the criterion and cover every part
Going over the limit	Ignores an instruction the panel set	Cut Situation and Task first, not Action
Reusing one response for every job	Misses this role’s wording and priorities	Keep an example bank and adapt it
Generic AI-written text	APS principles list pasting in generic AI responses as unacceptable	Draft from your own examples, then edit

Can you use AI to write selection criteria? What APS guidance says

Yes, within limits. In April 2026 the APSC published Principles for candidate use of AI in recruitment (listed on its AI in recruitment page), and agencies must link to it in the candidate pack or job ad. You can use AI tools in an APS recruitment process unless the agency asks you not to, but your resume and written application must be factually correct, and you should review and personalise anything AI helped with so it reflects your own voice.

Acceptable, per the APSC	Not acceptable, per the APSC
Refining the drafting of your application or resume	Inflating, fabricating or misrepresenting your skills and experience
Refining and clarifying your ideas	Generating generic responses and copying them into your application
Researching public information about the agency	Entering sensitive or confidential information about current or former workplaces
Checking spelling, grammar and formatting; mock interviews	Generating answers to actual interview questions, or your written assessment

Agencies may ask whether and how you used AI. If they do, answer truthfully and be ready to explain which tools you used, at which stages and what your own contribution was. The principles warn that misrepresentation can lead to removal from the process or failed background checks and, for APS employees, formal sanctions up to termination of employment.

Agencies publish their own versions too. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts says it does not use AI to assess, screen, compare or rank applications, and that a human selection panel makes shortlisting and selection decisions.

The principles say to use AI to enhance what you have already drafted, and to be able to explain every claim yourself. So write your first draft from your own examples, use AI to tighten wording or check grammar, and note how you used it in case you are asked. Our guide to whether it’s OK to use AI on a resume covers how employers outside the APS see it.

Keep a bank of STAR examples

Most criteria draw on the same themes: communication, teamwork, organisation, problem solving and leadership. Write each strong example up once, in STAR form, and adapt it for every application instead of starting from a blank page.

Title: [short name, for example: Bin day change letter]
When and where: [role, organisation, month and year]
Situation and task: [one or two sentences]
Actions: [three to five dot points, in order]
Result and evidence: [what changed, feedback, figures, what is still in use]
Criteria it proves: [for example: communication, stakeholder engagement]
Used for: [job title, employer, date]

If you would rather not keep the bank in a document, Leepo’s Career Vault lets you save projects, achievements and notes, with import from GitHub and LinkedIn, so each STAR example lives in one place. When you tailor your resume for an application, Leepo’s AI resume tailoring draws on that real experience and you accept only the suggestions you want, which helps keep your resume consistent with the examples in your responses.