If you’re applying for a NSW Government job, it’s essential to understand the concept of NSW Government Focus Capabilities. These capabilities, defined by the NSW Public Service Commission, outline the core skills and behaviours required for success in public sector roles.
In this post, I will walk you through what these capabilities are, why they matter during the recruitment process, and how to use tools like the STAR method to prove you’ve got what it takes.
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What Are NSW Government Focus Capabilities?
The NSW Public Service Commission sets out the capabilities required for all public servants. These are described in detail in the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework.
Each role you find on I Work for NSW will have a different combination of focus capabilities. Focus capabilities describe the key skills and behaviours needed to do the job effectively.
Why Do NSW Public Sector Capabilities Matter?
When hiring for any government job, the hiring manager must assess all candidates against the focus capabilities listed for the role.
These capabilities are the focus of your recruitment assessments — from your cover letter and responses to target questions, through to interview questions and capability-based assessments.
How Are Government Focus Capabilities Assessed?
Throughout the recruitment process, you’ll have several opportunities to show how you meet the focus capabilities.
Based on your application, cover letter, target question responses, capability interview, and up to three other assessments, you’ll be rated for each focus capability as Did Not Meet, Met, or Exceeds.
If you receive a Did Not Meet rating for any one of the focus capabilities, you’re unlikely to be offered the role. If you meet all the focus capabilities, you’ll be comparatively assessed against other candidates who also met all the requirements. The role will be offered to the candidate(s) who performed strongest overall. If there are more suitable candidates than available roles, you may be placed in a talent pool.
How do I demonstrate that I meet the NSW public sector capabilities?
One of the first things to do when applying for a role is to carefully read through the focus capabilities listed in the job ad.
You can begin demonstrating your strengths against these capabilities in your cover letter. For instance, if Influence and Negotiate at the Adept level is a focus capability, aim to include an example that clearly addresses some of the following behavioural indicators:
- Negotiate from an informed and credible position
- Lead and facilitate productive discussions with staff and stakeholders
- Encourage others to talk, share, and debate ideas to achieve a consensus
- Recognise diverse perspectives and the need for compromise in negotiating mutually agreed outcomes
- Influence others with a fair and considered approach and sound arguments
- Show sensitivity and understanding in resolving conflicts and differences
- Manage challenging relationships with internal and external stakeholders
- Anticipate and minimise conflict
The best way to showcase these behaviours is by using the STAR method—outlining the Situation, Task, Action, and Result—to bring your example to life.
How to use the STAR structure for NSW focus capabilities
The best way to demonstrate your suitability in a NSW job application is to use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) technique. It ensures your answers are structured, logically sound, and directly linked to the role’s focus capabilities.
Situation: Briefly describe the context or challenge.
Task: Outline your specific responsibility.
Action: Detail the steps you took to address the challenge.
Result: Highlight the outcome, emphasising what you achieved or learned.
Example of using the star structure in your cover letter
Using the Influence and Negotiate focus capability at the Adept level as an example, below is a STAR-structured response that shows how you can demonstrate this capability in your application.
Situation: Our company was launching a new product, but the marketing, finance, and engineering teams each had different priorities and concerns.
Task: As the project manager, I needed to lead productive discussions with all stakeholders, encourage everyone to share ideas, and ensure we reached a compromise that addressed each team’s needs.
Action: I scheduled a cross-functional meeting, laid out clear goals, and created a safe environment for everyone to speak freely. By highlighting shared objectives and acknowledging conflicting viewpoints, I guided the group to find middle ground—adjusting timelines and budgets to accommodate key demands from each department.
Result: We agreed on a unified product launch strategy that balanced everyone’s priorities. All teams felt ownership over the final plan, which launched on time, stayed within budget, and received positive feedback from senior leadership.
You can use this example in your cover letter or during a government job interview when responding to a question related to this capability. You can find a lot of examples in the example government cover letters I create each week for real government job vacancies.
Finding The Focus Capabilities For Your NSW Government Job
When you find a state government job you want to apply for on IWorkforNSW, read the job ad. Inside the job ad there will be a link to the role description. E.g. “For more information read the full Role Description: Senior Media and Communications Advisor“.
That will open up a PDF document (or sometimes a word doc) which has a range of information it in. This usually includes:
- Agency or Department Overview
- Role Description
- Key Accountabilities
- Key Challenges
- Key Relationships
- Essential Role Requirements
- Capabilities for the Role
It is easy to get distracted with the role description and the accountabilities section. Normally, these sections will give you the most insight into what you might be doing day to day in your new government job.
However, you need to focus on the capabilities for the role during the recruitment process.
In the Capabilities for the Role section, you’ll find all the focus capabilities listed—along with the specific level (e.g. Foundational, Intermediate, Adept) you need to prepare for. This is one of the most important sections to review before writing your application or preparing for your interview.
How to Identify the Right Focus Capability Level for Your Job
Each of the 16 NSW Public Sector capabilities is defined across five levels: Foundational, Intermediate, Adept, Advanced, and Highly Advanced. It’s important to check your job description to see which level you’re being assessed against for each focus capability.
The expectations can vary significantly between levels—even for the same capability—so make sure you understand what’s required at the specified level to tailor your responses effectively.
The capabilities are usually presented in a table format. In most current role descriptions, you’ll find two tables:
The first table outlines the focus capabilities for the role. It lists each required capability, the level you’re being assessed at, and the relevant behavioural indicators for that level—these are essential for tailoring your application and interview responses.
The second table, typically found on the last page of the role description, lists the complementary capabilities. These are the remaining capabilities that apply to the role but are not the focus for assessment.
In the example here, the focus capabilities are in their own table, with all relevant behavioural indicators listed, and the level of the capability, in this example, Adept and Advanced.
You may come across role descriptions where all 16 capabilities are listed, with only the focus capabilities shown in bold.
While this is an outdated formatting style, it still appears in role descriptions that haven’t been recently updated.
The image shown is an example from a current NSW Rural Fire Service role, where all capabilities are listed and the focus capabilities are simply bolded (I’ve highlighted them to help). Hopefully, they update their templates soon.
In these cases, you’ll notice that behavioural indicators are not included in the table. To understand what each focus capability actually involves, you’ll need to refer to the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework. Be sure to review the correct capability at the appropriate level when preparing your application or getting ready for your interview.
How To Use Government Focus Capabilities To Prepare For A Government Interview
Once you’ve identified the behavioural indicators for the role you’re applying for, you can begin preparing for your interview. These indicators can act as prompts for likely interview questions.
For example, if one of the indicators is “Accommodate changing priorities and respond flexibly to uncertainty and ambiguity,” you might be asked:
“Tell us about a time when you faced changing priorities. How did you respond?”
By using each indicator as a starting point, you can build targeted examples and feel more confident going into your public sector job interview.
To help you prepare, you can download a free Foundational Level Interview Questions and Answers Workbook. It includes sample questions for all 16 public sector capabilities. Workbooks are also available for Intermediate, Adept, and Advanced levels. Just remember to check which capability level applies to the role you’re going for, and tailor your preparation accordingly.
Conclusion
Mastering NSW Government Focus Capabilities is a critical step toward landing your next public sector role. By carefully reviewing the capabilities and their behavioural indicators, tailoring your examples to the right capability level, and applying the STAR method, you’ll demonstrate that you’re the right person for the job.
Remember to check each role description for its focus capabilities, hone your responses, and practice your interview technique. With the right preparation, you’ll stand out as a well-qualified candidate ready to contribute effectively in the NSW public sector.
