Are you what we are looking for?

If you are willing to respond to a challenge, are able to work as part of a team and have an enthusiasm for professional growth and development, the Finance Career Starters’ Program may be for you.  To be eligible you will need a strong academic record in either tertiary or accredited subjects and be completing your year 12 certificate or have completed it within the last 2 years.

Imagine….

Working as part of a team in one of the seven Business Groups within the Department on a variety of projects in diverse areas including:

• general administration (filing, data entry, processing invoices, answering phones and written requests);
• project management (coordinating meetings, tracking tasks, drafting reports); and
• policy development (researching issues and sharing ideas).

What else do we provide?

Don’t worry if you don’t really understand what it would be like to work in government – we’ll give you all the training you need.  As a Career Starter you will be provided with learning and development opportunities throughout the year, which will be a mix of formal training programs and information sessions.  Topics covered include the role of Finance, working in the Australian Public Service (APS), time management and writing job applications.  The Program helps you gain a strong set of practical, work-based skills while also providing you with a challenging work environment in which to apply those skills.

If you are successful, then you will be engaged at the APS 1 level receiving a starting salary of $38,600 per annum. All positions are based in Canberra. If you are successful but live interstate you will be responsible for your own travel, accommodation and associated costs.

Is that it?

We provide a number of excellent facilities to our staff including a gym, cafes and dry-cleaning services.  We also run many social events throughout the year such as movie nights, ski trips, happy hours, Finance ball, multicultural festival, women’s network events and barbeques.

Successful candidates will commence work in January 2010.

Qualifications/Experience

• Year 12 Certificate

source : www.Finance.gov.au

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.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glenn_Ayrton

One way to address the Criteria is by using the STAR Method (Situation-Task-Action-Results)

Situation
What was the situation? This is a brief outline of the situation faced and your role.

Task
What were the main issues involve with the situation?
What needed to be done?
What task/s needed to be achieved and what was the desired outcome?
What obstacles had to be overcome?

Action
What were the steps you took to complete the task?
This will include allocation of resources, people involved etc.

Results
What was the outcome?
How did it change things at work?
What lessons did you learn from this event?

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Using STAR for interviews

A GUIDE ON ADDRESSING SELECTION CRITERIA FOR APPLICANTS – This is a great article form the Australian Government Bureau Of Meteorology which touches base on the STAR method as well as offering some valuable tips for Selection Criteria.