NSW Health Selection Criteria Examples: How to Write Your Answers

A useful selection criteria answer gives the reader evidence: a relevant situation, the action you took and the result. Start with the exact criterion in your NSW Health application, then choose an example that answers every part of it.

Use your job ad to identify the documents, evidence and role requirements to prepare.

On this page

Check the questions before choosing your examples
Choose evidence for the kind of NSW Health role you want
Use a simple structure for each answer
Communication example: resolving a confusing booking
Competing priorities example: making a clear handover
Teamwork example: improving information shared between colleagues
Clinical placement example: teamwork with supervision made clear
Show CORE values through what you did
For GradStart, write to the six short responses
Can I reuse an example or refer to my cover letter?
Review the evidence, then check the limits

Check the questions before choosing your examples

It is easy to spend an evening polishing an example and then realise it answers only half the question. Copy each criterion into your working document first. Underline what it asks you to demonstrate, including any second or third part of the requirement.

The NSW Health applicant guide says you may be asked to address some or all selection criteria in writing online, using examples. Follow the questions and limits shown in your own application. There is no safe word limit to assume for every NSW Health role.

This guide focuses on choosing and developing evidence, particularly for administration and other non-clinical work. Clinical applicants should select examples appropriate to their profession and scope of practice. The examples below are fictional teaching examples, not answers to copy or claims about a real applicant.

Choose evidence for the kind of NSW Health role you want

Nursing and allied health

Clinical criteria need evidence appropriate to your profession, setting and scope of practice. Explain the situation you encountered, the judgement you exercised, who you involved and the outcome. If the criterion concerns clinical knowledge, a general customer-service example may only answer the communication part of the requirement.

For experienced positions, show the level of practice required by the job. For a student or graduate example, make supervision explicit and describe what you actually did. Registration and qualifications should be stated accurately where requested; they do not need a STAR story.

Entry-level administration and support work

Select an incident that shows a dependable process: checking a record, clarifying an enquiry, following an instruction or arranging a useful handover. State who made the final decision where it was outside your authority. An example from retail or volunteering can demonstrate service and teamwork when the role accepts that experience; it cannot establish experience with a hospital system you have not used.

Corporate, digital and management roles

Use examples that show the result of your analysis, coordination or advice. A procurement answer might explain how you investigated a discrepancy and documented it for the responsible officer. A digital answer might explain how you clarified a user requirement, tested a change and communicated the result. A manager should show decisions and accountability at the scale of the advertised role.

Start with the exact question. If it asks how you changed priorities, include what changed and how you decided what to move. If it asks how you influenced stakeholders, explain the disagreement and the actions that helped reach a decision.

Applying for a nursing role? Our nursing selection criteria examples include complete responses from an experienced registered nurse and a student on placement, with notes on supervision and personal responsibility.

Use a simple structure for each answer

Begin with a direct sentence that answers the criterion. Add just enough context to explain the situation and your responsibility. Spend most of the answer on the actions you took, then finish with the outcome and its relevance. This is the practical use of Situation, Task, Action and Result, often called STAR.

Show decisions as well as tasks. Explain how you checked accuracy, decided what needed attention first, involved another person or changed your approach. If the result cannot be measured honestly, describe an observable outcome: a corrected record, an agreed handover or a query resolved within the required timeframe.

For a qualification or registration requirement, state the relevant fact accurately and provide evidence where requested. You do not need to turn a straightforward eligibility question into a workplace story.

Communication example: resolving a confusing booking

In a reception role, I assisted a visitor who was upset because their appointment instructions appeared to conflict with a confirmation message. I listened to the concern, checked the booking record and confirmed the correct details with the relevant team. I explained the next step in plain language and asked the visitor to confirm their understanding. I also recorded the clarification so a colleague would have the same information if the visitor contacted us again. The visitor understood where to attend, and the team had an accurate record of the advice provided.

This example gives communication a purpose. It shows listening, verification, a clear explanation and a written record. To adapt the structure, identify the difficult part of your own conversation and explain how you handled it. A statement such as “I have excellent communication skills” needs this kind of supporting detail.

Competing priorities example: making a clear handover

During a period of staff leave, I was responsible for shared inbox enquiries, meeting arrangements and a reporting deadline. I reviewed the outstanding tasks, confirmed deadlines with the people responsible and flagged a clash with my supervisor early. We agreed which enquiries I would complete that day and which could be reassigned. I kept a shared tracker with the owner and next action for each outstanding item, then checked the handover with the colleague taking over. The report was submitted on time and the remaining enquiries had a clear owner.

The actions show how the applicant handled the workload: confirming priorities, raising a conflict and arranging a usable handover. For a health role, explain your actual escalation process where relevant. Keep clinical urgency decisions within the appropriate professional responsibilities.

Teamwork example: improving information shared between colleagues

When our team changed its process for handling incoming requests, colleagues were recording updates in different places. I raised the issue at our team meeting and asked the staff using the process where the gaps were occurring. With my supervisor’s agreement, I drafted a short handover checklist and tested it with two colleagues. I adjusted the prompts after their feedback and explained the final version at the next team meeting. The team adopted the checklist, giving the next person handling a request a consistent record of its status and outstanding action.

This answer explains the applicant’s contribution and acknowledges the involvement of others. If a criterion asks about values, make the relevant behaviour visible in your real example. Avoid adding a list of values to an answer without explaining how your actions demonstrate them.

Clinical placement example: teamwork with supervision made clear

This fictional example shows how a student could describe a supervised contribution. It is a writing demonstration, not clinical guidance, and should only be adapted using work you have actually performed.

During a supervised nursing placement, I noticed that a patient and their carer understood the next stage of the discharge process differently. I listened to their concerns and raised the discrepancy with my supervising registered nurse. With guidance, I helped identify the questions that needed clarification and passed them to the appropriate team members. I then checked with my supervisor that the agreed information had been communicated and documented through the usual process. The patient and carer received a consistent explanation, and the team had a shared understanding of the outstanding actions. The experience reinforced the value of speaking up early and working within my student responsibilities.

The example identifies the student’s contribution without implying independent clinical authority. An experienced clinician answering a similar teamwork criterion should choose evidence that reflects their actual responsibility and the level being recruited. A senior applicant may need to demonstrate resolving a multidisciplinary problem or improving the team’s process, rather than only participating in a handover.

Show CORE values through what you did

NSW Health identifies its CORE values as Collaboration, Openness, Respect and Empowerment. When a question asks about them, connect your understanding to actions in a real example. A list of the four names gives the reader very little evidence.

In the placement example above, collaboration is visible in involving the appropriate team members. Openness is visible in raising a discrepancy. Respect appears in listening to the patient and carer. The applicant could demonstrate empowerment by explaining how they helped the person ask questions and understand the next step, if that genuinely occurred. Do not add actions afterwards merely to complete all four labels.

For an administrative example, the same values could appear through consulting colleagues before changing a process, reporting an error promptly, handling a sensitive enquiry considerately and helping a colleague use a new checklist. Explain the relevant behaviours and their effect. If the question explicitly asks about all four values, check that your response covers each one within the required limit.

For GradStart, write to the six short responses

The current GradStart guidance asks for six answers of no more than 150 words each. Its areas cover CORE values, communication, clinical knowledge and problem solving, teamwork, professional responsibilities, and improvement to quality and safety. Use the exact questions from the intake you are applying for.

As a drafting option, give the context about 20 to 25 words, use most of the space for your own actions and keep a short conclusion for the outcome or learning. Those allocations are writing advice, not official sub-limits. Count the entire answer, including any opening statement. One well-chosen example can be enough where it answers the full criterion.

A criterion asking about understanding may need a direct explanation supported by a brief example. Do not force every answer into an identical story. Keep the emphasis on the knowledge or behaviour the question actually tests.

Can I reuse an example or refer to my cover letter?

You can draw on the same work experience when it is relevant to more than one criterion, but make each response answer its own question. Check whether you have a better example that shows a different part of your experience. Repeating the same paragraph makes it harder to show the range of evidence you have.

Write a complete response in each required answer field. A direction to “see my CV” leaves the reader to find and interpret the evidence themselves. If your role also requests a letter, use our NSW Health cover-letter guide to give that document a clear purpose.

Review the evidence, then check the limits

Read the criterion again with your answer beside it. Can you point to evidence for every part? Have you explained your own actions? Is the outcome accurate? Remove identifying patient, client or colleague information and anything you could not comfortably explain in an interview.

If you are applying through GradStart, use the GradStart guidance for that intake. Its current instructions specify six responses of 150 words or less each and say a cover letter is not required. Those limits belong to GradStart, not every NSW Health vacancy.

Start with the free job-ad guide below if you need to sort out the requirements. For the wider approach to written applications, see our NSW Government selection criteria guide.

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