Introduction
The Senior Customer Service Officer at the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport supports the Hospitality and Racing Customer Experience team in Sydney. The work combines complex customer enquiries, practical advice to colleagues and improvements to everyday service delivery. It offers an opportunity to show how your customer service experience benefits both the person seeking help and the team handling the enquiry.
Your application needs a one-page cover letter and a resume of up to five pages. This guide explains how to apply for Senior Customer Service Officer with enough specific evidence to make that short letter useful. Start by identifying a customer matter where your judgement, communication and follow-through produced a clear result, then consider how your wider experience shows coaching and service improvement.
Role snapshot
| Role | Senior Customer Service Officer |
| Organisation | Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport, Hospitality and Racing |
| Location | Sydney, NSW, with hybrid work arrangements |
| Employment | Temporary full-time to July 2027 |
| Remuneration | Clerk Grade 5/6, $102,936 to $113,579 per annum plus superannuation |
| Closing date | 1 November 2026 at 11:59 pm |
| Job ID | 605141 |
Application requirements
- Cover letter, maximum 1 page
- Up-to-date resume, maximum 5 pages
Role conditions and eligibility
Read the role description for any position-specific conditions before applying.
Candidate requirements and evidence
| Exceptional customer service and resolution of complex enquiries | Choose a case that needed investigation, empathy and a clear explanation of the available options. Describe the checks you made, the advice you gave and how you followed the enquiry through to a fair, accurate outcome. |
| Organisation and management of competing priorities | Explain how you assessed urgency, kept track of outstanding matters and met deadlines while handling new enquiries. Give the panel a sense of the workload and explain how you preserved service quality. |
| Verbal and written communication | Show how you translated a complicated issue into clear advice for a customer or colleague. Include how you checked understanding, documented the advice and kept relevant people informed. |
| Accurate records and effective use of systems | Describe the records you maintained and the checks that made them reliable. Explain how those records supported a handover, consistent advice or timely resolution of the customer’s issue. |
| Collaboration, coaching and support for colleagues | Use a time you helped a colleague handle a difficult matter or improve their knowledge. Specify the guidance you provided and the change in confidence, accuracy or consistency that followed. |
| Judgement within policies, procedures and legislative requirements | Explain how you established the applicable rule, recognised the limits of your authority and escalated an issue when needed. Link your decision to both the customer’s circumstances and the requirements you had to follow. |
| Continuous improvement | Identify a repeated enquiry or service problem you noticed, the change you helped introduce and how you assessed its effect. A clearer knowledge article, better handover or reduced rework can provide useful evidence when you explain your contribution. |
Example application structure
Build the cover letter around your suitability for complex enquiry resolution and team support. The maximum length is one page. Use the outline below to select evidence that works together within that limit.
Opening: name the role and briefly explain your relevant customer service background and interest in Hospitality and Racing. Connect your experience to a service environment where accurate advice and consistent decisions matter.
Customer resolution and judgement: give one compact example of a complex enquiry. Explain the issue, how you checked the relevant requirements, what you communicated and how the matter was resolved. Include your management of competing work or careful record keeping where it forms part of the example.
Team support and improvement: add a shorter example showing how you coached a colleague, strengthened a process or improved the information available to the team. Make your contribution and the practical benefit clear, then close with a direct statement of your suitability.
The panel needs to understand the complexity of the enquiry, your personal decisions, the care you took with policy and records, and the result for customers or colleagues. Give each claim a concrete detail and use the resume to substantiate the scale and breadth of your experience.
Before you submit
- Keep the cover letter within 1 page and the resume within 5 pages.
- Check that the examples explain your own actions and outcomes in complex customer matters.
- Include evidence of supporting colleagues or improving service delivery.
- Check the role description and online application form for any additional instructions before uploading.
- Confirm that the temporary appointment to July 2027 and Sydney hybrid arrangements suit you.
- Submit before 11:59 pm on 1 November 2026.
Return to the official job ad and check the final portal instructions before submitting.
Help with your application
Choose the examples before you start trimming the letter. A clear customer-resolution story, supported by a concise example of helping the team improve, gives the panel a useful picture of how you work. Return to the official vacancy page to check the role description and complete the application.
For support selecting examples and writing within the one-page limit, explore Team 3Thirty’s customer service application help at customer service application support. The NSW cover letter template at NSW cover letter template can help you organise a first draft.