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“Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities” can produce a paragraph about how busy you are. Once you describe a particular deadline and the decisions it required, the reader has something more useful to assess. Selection criteria examples help you see where those details belong.
The responses in this guide are original fictional teaching examples. They are not client applications or answers endorsed by a government employer. Use the annotations to develop your own evidence and follow the instructions for your vacancy, including its word or page limits.
Find an example that fits your task
| Written requirement | Example to use |
|---|---|
| Communication and working relationships | Administration: clarify a changed approval process |
| Managing competing priorities | Project support: coordinate a deadline with missing input |
| Supporting learning and working with families | Education: develop a consistent support arrangement |
| Accurate records and attention to detail | Entry-level experience: check a volunteer register |
Follow the vacancy's length limits when developing your response; the extracts below illustrate where useful detail belongs. If you need the drafting method first, use our guide to writing NSW Government selection criteria. For capability names and levels, the focus capability examples offer a different way to compare evidence.
Administration example: communication and working relationships
Illustrative criterion: Ability to communicate clearly and build effective working relationships.
A response that leaves the evidence unclear
I have excellent communication skills and work well with people at all levels. In my administration role, I communicated with colleagues and external contacts every day. I always made sure that everyone was informed and that relationships remained positive.
The reader cannot identify what needed to be communicated or what the applicant did when another person needed help. Frequency alone tells little about the quality of the work. A particular change gives the applicant an opportunity to explain those choices.
A developed fictional response
In an administration role, I helped introduce a revised approval process for staff travel requests. The initial announcement generated enquiries because staff were unsure which approvals they needed before booking. I reviewed those enquiries with the officer responsible for the process and identified the points that needed clarification.
I prepared a short guide explaining the sequence and used a fictional request to show where each approval occurred. After checking the guide with the responsible officer, I discussed it with the staff who received requests so they could use consistent wording. I asked them to flag questions the guide did not answer and updated one section after their feedback.
The team adopted the approved guide for subsequent requests. Staff receiving the forms reported that they could direct applicants to the relevant step more easily, and we used the same material when introducing new employees to the process.
This version identifies an audience need and shows how the applicant worked with the person responsible for the process. Its outcome is limited to the evidence described. Add reliable counts of errors or repeat enquiries only if your records support them.
Project support example: manage competing priorities
Illustrative criterion: Demonstrated ability to coordinate work and meet deadlines when priorities change.
Fictional response:
While supporting a project team, I coordinated contributions to a progress report due at the end of the week. On Wednesday, a contributor advised that an urgent operational issue would delay their section. I checked which report items depended on that contribution and confirmed the submission deadline with the project manager.
I proposed completing the independent sections first and setting a later internal review time for the affected section. The project manager agreed to that sequence, and I confirmed the revised responsibilities with contributors. I kept a register of outstanding items, followed up at the agreed points and checked the final document against the approved contributions.
The report was submitted by the required deadline. One routine internal update was moved to the following week with approval, and I recorded that change in the work plan. At the next team meeting, I recommended confirming backup contacts for contributions that depended on a single person.
The response explains the dependency and the change the applicant proposed. It also gives the reader a realistic account of a task that moved. For your version, describe the constraints you worked within and the authority needed to change the plan.
Education example: agree on a consistent support arrangement
Illustrative criterion: Ability to work with colleagues and families to support student learning.
Fictional response:
While supporting a classroom program, I noticed that a student needed repeated prompting when moving between activities. I recorded observations through the school's approved process and discussed them with the teacher responsible. The teacher asked me to contribute to a review of the support arrangements with the relevant staff and the student's family.
I explained what I had observed and listened to the family's experience of similar transitions. Under the teacher's direction, I helped trial a visual prompt and used consistent language when supporting the student. I recorded the response during the agreed activities and shared those observations at the review.
The teacher reported that the student was completing more transitions with fewer prompts during those activities. We continued the agreed arrangement and kept reviewing it. My contribution was to observe carefully and apply the support consistently within the teacher's direction.
This example keeps the applicant's authority clear. A support-role applicant should describe their work accurately, including where a teacher or specialist made the educational decision. Avoid identifying a student or reproducing sensitive case details.
Use the teacher aide and School Learning Support Officer examples for that role family. Classroom teaching and school leadership applicants should use the Department of Education selection criteria guide to check the relevant format before writing.
Entry-level example: accurate records
Illustrative criterion: Ability to maintain accurate records and follow an agreed procedure.
Fictional response:
As a volunteer coordinator's assistant, I helped update attendance records after weekly activities. I was responsible for entering information from the sign-in sheets into the approved register. When I noticed that some entries had similar names, I checked the relevant sheets with the coordinator before changing the records.
I marked uncertain entries for review and kept the original information available. After the coordinator confirmed the correct details, I updated the register and recorded the corrections using the agreed process. I also suggested adding an identifier to the sign-in sheet so that future entries could be matched more reliably.
The coordinator approved the revised sheet. At the next review, we could resolve the previously uncertain entries and had a clearer basis for checking attendance. I continued to raise ambiguous records for confirmation before entering them.
Volunteer work can provide relevant evidence where it meets the vacancy's requirements. This response stays within a junior role and explains how accuracy was maintained. It would need more detail if the advertised work required independent management of complex records or particular professional experience.
Examples for other role families
For executive support vacancies, our executive assistant selection criteria examples help you develop evidence relevant to that work. Applicants to NSW Health can use the NSW Health selection criteria examples alongside the requirements of their vacancy. Keep any professional eligibility conditions separate from the behavioural examples you develop.
Adapt the approach using your own facts
First identify the action in the criterion. For communication, you need material about what you explained and how you adapted it. For planning, look for a decision about priorities or dependencies that you can describe.
Write down what happened in your chosen example before trying to make it sound polished. Include your responsibility and who else was involved, then establish how you know the result. The STAR method gives you a useful structure for arranging those details.
Check every claim in the finished response. If an action belonged to a manager, identify your contribution to it. Keep figures traceable to records, and protect confidential information by using a description that preserves the relevant work without identifying people.
Keep the response aligned with the application instructions
The vacancy determines whether you need separate criteria responses, a cover letter or another document. Fit the evidence into that task and its limit. A qualification criterion needs a factual statement of your status and any proof requested; it does not automatically need a behavioural story.
For a targeted question, respond to all parts of the question. The NSW Government targeted questions guide covers that format, including how to keep an example focused within a short response.
Have the application developed for your role
If you have an open government vacancy and want the writing prepared for you, our selection criteria writing service is delivered through the $497 Complete Government Application, including GST. We develop your real examples and prepare the documents the role requires, including your CV.
You can start an application request with the job ad and closing deadline. Send notes about the work you performed, even if they are unfinished; identifying the decisions and results gives us a useful basis for the draft.