Selection Criteria – How to Write Effective Selection Criteria Responses

Selection Criteria – The Australian Government Recruitment Process

Selection criteria are the list of requirements that are seen when reading through a job advertisement. Whether it is for a high-level government position or an entry level role in a private organisation, more than likely a number of criteria will be included in the advertisement.

The Importance of Effective Marketing

Candidates are required to describe their skills and experience and make claims about their skills, qualifications, experience and personal attributes that are required for the role. This is often called a selection criteria statement and is unquestionably the most important aspect of the recruitment process. It gets you noticed and assists in getting your foot in the door. A good or poorly written response can certainly be the difference between realising your dream job and losing out to a less qualified candidate.

Job specific criteria are used by both the employer and the candidate. An employer will use the criteria to guide their decision-making process when it comes to choosing or short-listing candidates. It provides an objective tool for employers to gauge a candidate’s suitability and their competitiveness against other applicants. It is essentially a tool for measuring how suitable one is for the position.

In addition to this, written responses are the perfect opportunity for a candidate to showcase their abilities and talents. It is one of the crucial times in the job application process where they can market themselves. Every successful product needs an effective marketing campaign. You are the product and the individual written responses are your marketing tools. A significant part of your marketing is providing sufficient evidence of your skills and abilities when addressing the specific requirements of the role.

TIP: Ensure you use clear active language when writing examples of your skills and experience.

The Categories of Selection Criteria

Sometimes these lists are quite lengthy and sometimes they are short. There are also different types of position related criteria, including:

• Previous Experience. This selection criterion often relates to past experience in a similar role or one aspect of the position. In this situation, the candidate can refer to prior roles in a dissimilar job. As long as the applicant performed similar duties and responsibilities, a reference to it is acceptable.

• Education and Qualifications. This type of selection criterion relates to the candidate’s level and type of education. Any professional recognition is relevant in this criteria type as well.

• Skills and Expertise. This denotes the actual level and type of abilities an applicant possesses. Candidates should include their proficiencies in both current roles and those that they have performed in the past.

• Personal Qualities. This criterion relates to the applicant’s own characteristics.

TIP: When describing your previous experience, ensure you use words from the position description you are applying for

The Importance of an Effective Selection Criteria Statement

In terms of applying for and landing that dream job, you can’t go past recognising the importance of a well written selection criteria statement. The good news is that there are resources available to help you write that job-winning statement such as templates, guides and actual examples.

About The Author
Glenn Ayrton is an Australian nationally accredited workplace trainer and assessor with over 20 years experience in local and state government. He has performed a range of roles including project management, government recruitment and training including interview technique and job application writing. He is also the designer and creator of Australia’s first software package that assists in writing government job applications called ‘Selection Criteria Writer’. For more information please visit http://www.selectioncriteriawriter.com