Key selection criteria examples that work

2026-10-07

If you've applied for a job with the Australian Public Service, a state department, a council, a university or a hospital, you've met key selection criteria: a list of capabilities, each of which you're expected to prove in writing. They're where many good candidates lose out — not because they lack the experience, but because their responses describe duties instead of evidence.

This guide shows what a strong response looks like, how to build one with the STAR method, and the habits that make the difference on a panel's scoring sheet.

What the panel is actually doing

Selection panels usually score each criterion separately, often from 1 to 5, against what the role needs. They are reading dozens of applications and looking for one thing per criterion: a specific example that proves you can do it.

That changes how you should write. "I have excellent communication skills developed over many years" scores poorly because there is nothing to score. "I ran three short demos tailored to each team and wrote a one-page FAQ, and all three teams moved to the new system in six weeks" gives the panel something to tick.

Before you write a word, check the format. Many APS agencies now ask for a one-page "pitch" or a 500-word statement of claims rather than separate responses to each criterion. State governments and universities still often want one response per criterion, with a word or page limit. The position description or the application instructions will say; follow them exactly.

The STAR method in one paragraph

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result. You set the scene briefly, say what you were responsible for, explain in detail what you did, and finish with the outcome — ideally something measurable. The Action part should be the longest, because it's the evidence. Situation and Task are context; keep them to a sentence or two each.

A useful shape for a 250-word response:

A worked example

Criterion: Communicates clearly and influences others.

Here's a typical first draft:

I have strong communication skills and have worked with many stakeholders across my career. In my current role I liaise with various teams and am known for being approachable and a good listener. I am confident that I can communicate effectively in this role.

Nothing in it can be checked or scored. Here's the same experience rewritten with STAR:

I adapt how I communicate to what each audience needs, and I use that to bring people with me on change.

Situation: At Bellmont City Council in 2025, three teams — libraries, community centres and sport facilities — each used a different room booking system, which caused double bookings and duplicated work.

Task: As project support officer, I was asked to move all three teams onto one shared system within a quarter.

Action: I met each team leader to understand what they were worried about losing, and found that the sports team's main concern was recurring weekly bookings. I ran three short demos, each starting with that team's most common task. I wrote a one-page FAQ answering the twelve questions raised in the demos and held a fortnightly drop-in session for the first month. When the community centres team hesitated, I asked their most experienced booker to test the system first and share her view with her colleagues.

Result: All three teams moved to the shared system in six weeks, and double bookings stopped. I'd bring the same approach to engaging stakeholders on the department's programs.

Notice what changed: one claim at the top, a single concrete example, "I" instead of "we", and a result a panel member could ask a referee about.

Two more examples for common criteria

These are shorter, closer to the 150–200 words many state and university applications allow. The people and organisations are made up; the structure is what to copy.

Criterion: Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines.

I plan my work around fixed deadlines and renegotiate early when priorities collide.

Situation: In May 2025, as the only administration officer in a regional TAFE campus, I had end-of-semester results processing due in the same fortnight as an external audit.

Task: Both had hard deadlines and neither could slip.

Action: I listed every task for both with its due date and effort, then agreed with my manager which audit documents a colleague from another campus could prepare. I blocked two mornings a week for results, when the student system was quietest, and sent teachers a reminder schedule so their marks arrived in batches rather than all on the last day.

Result: Results were released on time for all 640 students, the audit closed with no findings against our campus, and the reminder schedule is now used every semester.

Criterion: High level of attention to detail and accuracy.

I build checks into my work so errors are caught before anyone else sees them.

Situation: At a community health service in 2024, I prepared the monthly client activity report sent to the state funding body.

Task: The figures determined part of our funding, and the previous two reports had needed corrections.

Action: I traced the errors to manual copying between two spreadsheets, so I replaced the copying with a single linked workbook and added a reconciliation tab that compared totals against the client system. Before each submission I checked a random sample of ten records against the original case notes.

Result: The next eleven reports were accepted without a single correction, and the report now takes half a day instead of two.

Each one follows the same pattern: a one-line claim, one situation, what you did in detail, and a result someone could verify.

Six habits that lift your score

1. Use the criterion's language. If it says "stakeholder engagement", say "stakeholder engagement". Panels scan for it, and some agencies use the APS Integrated Leadership System (ILS) or a state capability framework, whose wording you can borrow.

2. One strong example beats three thin ones. Within 250 words, a single detailed story is more convincing than a list of situations you've been in.

3. Write in the first person. "We delivered the project" hides your part. "I built the schedule and ran the Monday check-ins" shows it.

4. Quantify where you honestly can. Numbers of people, items, dollars, days saved, complaints reduced. If you don't have a number, describe the change concretely ("double bookings stopped").

5. Use recent examples. The last three to five years is the sweet spot. Older examples are fine if they're your best evidence, but say why.

6. Make sure a referee can confirm it. Panels sometimes ask referees about specific claims. Pick examples your referees saw.

Common mistakes

• Restating your duties. "Responsible for liaising with stakeholders" describes a job, not a result.
• Ignoring the word limit. Going over can mean the extra words aren't read — or the response isn't scored at all.
• Reusing one example for every criterion. It's fine to use a big project twice, but highlight a different part of it each time.
• Copying the same generic text into every application. Panels notice, and generic responses score low on purpose.
• Inventing or inflating. Beyond the ethics, it falls apart in the interview, which is usually built from your written responses.

Using AI help without losing your voice

An AI assistant is genuinely useful for the slow part — turning rough notes into a structured draft that hits the word limit. What it can't do is supply the example. The quality of the result depends entirely on what you give it: the real situation, what you did and what changed.

A good workflow:

1. Jot raw notes for each criterion. Two lines is enough: "convinced three teams to share a booking system, demos, FAQ, moved in six weeks".
2. Generate a STAR draft for each. Our selection criteria case takes your criteria, notes and word limit and returns one response per criterion, with a word count. It's told never to invent outcomes and to ask you questions where your notes are thin.
3. Check every sentence against what happened. Delete anything you couldn't defend in an interview.
4. Prepare for the interview with the same stories. Panels often ask you to expand on your written examples. The STAR interview answers case turns the job ad into likely questions and drafts spoken answers from your experience.

If the role also wants a resume, make sure it tells the same story in the same words — the resume tailoring case rewrites yours against the position description without adding experience you don't have.

Questions people ask

How long should a key selection criteria response be? Follow the application instructions; they always win. Without a limit, 200–300 words or about half a page per criterion is typical, and a one-page "pitch" usually means 500–700 words in total.

Can I use the same example for two criteria? Yes, if it's genuinely your best evidence for both, but highlight a different part of it each time: the planning for one criterion, the stakeholder work for another.

What is a statement of claims? It's a single document, often one or two pages, where you address the criteria together rather than one by one. The STAR structure still works: pick two or three examples and make it clear which capability each one shows.

Do I need STAR, or can I use another structure? Panels don't mark the acronym. Some people use CAR (Context, Action, Result) to save words. What matters is a specific situation, your actions and a result.

A checklist before you submit

• Responses follow the agency's format (separate criteria, pitch or statement of claims).
• Each response is within the word or page limit.
• Each opens with a clear claim in the criterion's language.
• Each has one specific, recent example written in the first person.
• Results are concrete, with numbers where you honestly have them.
• A referee could confirm every example.
• Spelling and grammar checked — read it aloud once.

Selection criteria reward people who do the work of finding their evidence. Once you have it, the writing is the easy part.