How To Respond To Selection Criteria

• Selection Criteria - 'The Basics'
• Build Your Response Using The Star Plan
• Important Things To Remember
• Key Words
• Related Websites

Selection Criteria - 'The Basics'

• Selection Criteria are generally a list of competencies required for a job role or position.

• Usually accompanied by a Job Description or Duties Statement outlining roles and responsibilities.

• Used in both the Public and Private Sectors.

• Can include 'Essential' & 'Desirable' criteria.

• To Master the Selection Criteria process, you need to know how the process works, what you have to offer, & possess great self-promotion skills.

• Handy hint: cross reference the Selection Criteria with the job's Position Description (if available) - the closer you can give credible examples to this, the better.

Build Your Response Using The Star Plan

Situation Brief outline of the situation or setting Who was involved What was YOUR role?		Task What did YOU do? What happened next?
Result What was the outcome? What feedback did YOU receive		Action How did YOU do it?

A Basic Star Method Example:

Criterion - Teamwork Experience

Situation and Task: 

"At university I regularly work within teams to complete assignments.  An example of this occurred recently while undertaking a survey for an occupational safety unit.”

Actions set down step-by-step: 

 “This involved team discussions to decide who was responsible for particular aspects of the survey, milestones and time frames in order to ensure that the unit objectives were met. My team also discussed and agreed to processes that we would follow should a member of the team not complete their assigned task.”

Result - what happened as a result of the behaviour: 

 “This resulted in a very positive team environment where our members shared and discussed information openly, and led to us all receiving good grades for the unit”

(Source: www.workplace.gov.au, Miles Lee.  Understanding and Confidently Addressing Selection Criteria)

Important Things To Remember...

• Respond to key words

• Address all parts of the Criteria in your response

• Stick to the wording of the Criteria

• Interpret the fit between the Criteria and the job's duties

• Avoid statements of belief or claims without evidence - provide real examples

• Write an evidence based response by providing specific examples

• Be results oriented

• Pitch to the level of the job

• Make your response strong and concise

• Restrict use of universals (e.g. "I always provide excellent customer serivce" - an alternative: "My quality customer service is demonstrated by....")

(source: Villiers, Dr. A. How to Write & Talk to Selection Criteria)

Key Words!!!

Below is a list of Action Verbs that may help when writing your Selection Criteria:

Related Websites

The following are websites that may help you when addressing Selection Criteria:

• Job Access
• Career Information Service
• Graduate Careers Australia
• Workplace
• Myfuture