The NSW Public Sector Capability Framework gives hiring teams a shared way to describe what a role needs. During recruitment, the panel uses it to judge whether your evidence shows the required behaviour at the stated level.
Version 3 of the framework arrived in January 2026 and replaced the 2020 version. It retains 20 capabilities across five groups. Each capability uses one of five levels: Foundational, Intermediate, Adept, Advanced or Highly Advanced.
For an applicant, the role description is the working document. Start with its focus capabilities, then read the level and behavioural indicators beside each one.
Strong evidence stays close to the work you performed. A useful example shows your judgement, explains the action you took, names the people affected and gives the panel a clear result to assess.
What the capability framework does in recruitment
Agencies use the framework when they design roles and assess candidates. Staff can also use it when planning their next move across the public sector.
Within a role description, every listed capability has a level. Focus capabilities carry the closest connection to the role’s main accountabilities and receive attention during recruitment.
Capability levels follow the work attached to each capability. A role can ask for Adept communication alongside Intermediate project management because those responsibilities call for different depth.
How to read focus capabilities in a role description
Begin with the focus capability table. Copy each capability name and its level into your notes so the requirements stay visible while you choose examples.
Next, read the behavioural indicators beneath that level. Their verbs show what the panel expects to see. The surrounding wording places that behaviour in the role.
For Communicate effectively at Adept, a suitable example could involve a complex message that needed careful explanation for different stakeholders. Your response would describe how you shaped the message and checked that people could act on it.
The NSW Government Capability Application Tool can generate practice questions from the capability and level shown in a role description. Use those questions to test whether your example has enough depth for the recruitment task.
How behavioural indicators guide your examples
Behavioural indicators describe effective performance at each level. Read them as prompts for evidence because they show the kind of behaviour that belongs in your response.
If an indicator mentions adapting communication, your example needs a moment where you changed your approach for the audience. An indicator about evaluating options calls for evidence of the information you considered before making a decision.
STAR can organise the response once the example is chosen. Give most of the response to your actions, with enough context for the panel to follow the example.
The five capability levels in plain English
Each level increases the complexity and skill expected in the work:
- Foundational: you carry out straightforward work reliably with suitable guidance
- Intermediate: you handle regular work independently and respond to familiar issues
- Adept: you use judgement when the work becomes complex or calls for adaptation
- Advanced: you lead difficult work and influence outcomes across a wider setting
- Highly Advanced: you shape direction and create change across an organisation or the sector
The level describes the capability within that role. Read the stated level as the panel’s requirement. A job title provides some context for the work around it.
The five capability groups
The framework places its 20 capabilities into five groups. Open the individual guides below when you need examples for a specific capability.
Personal Attributes
Relationships
Results
Business Enablers
People Management
People Management capabilities apply to roles with responsibility for managing staff:
- Manage and develop people
- Inspire direction and purpose
- Optimise business outcomes
- Manage reform and change
What changed in the 2026 framework
The revised framework gives digital and data literacy greater weight. Technology now covers cyber security alongside responsible use of digital tools, including artificial intelligence. Privacy and records duties sit within that work.
Customer service received the largest capability update. Current wording recognises both internal and external customers, with stronger attention on service outcomes.
Cultural capability now appears throughout the framework, with particular weight in Value diversity and inclusion. Its indicators address cultural awareness and safety. Updates elsewhere cover ethical conduct, psychological safety, leadership and workforce planning.
Agencies have until 29 January 2027 to update existing role descriptions and related systems. For recruitment during 2026, official guidance recommends the revised framework. The guide to the 2026 capability framework changes explains how those updates affect application examples.
A practical way to build your response
- Copy the focus capability names and levels from the role description.
- Mark the behavioural indicators that connect closely to the advertised work.
- Choose an example with similar pressure and responsibility. Map your actions to the relevant indicators.
- Read the draft as a panel member. Check whether your personal contribution and its outcome are clear.
The example should sound like your work because the framework supplies the assessment lens. Its language can guide the panel through evidence grounded in what happened.
Help with your capability-based application
The individual capability guides above can help you interpret a requirement before you choose an example. For role-specific support with a current application, request professional application help and send Team 3Thirty the job ad with your existing material.