APS selection criteria and pitch examples

As an APS 5 Program Officer, I was responsible for assessing 140 grant applications in a six-week funding round. Two weeks in, a team member went on unexpected leave. I re-planned the workload, prioritised applications by risk, and set up a shared tracker so the team could see progress every day. We finalised every assessment two days ahead of the deadline, and the round was delivered without an extension for the first time in three years.

When our branch changed its reporting system, many regional staff kept using the old templates, which caused errors in our quarterly data. I ran three short online sessions, wrote a two-page quick guide and set up a monthly drop-in for questions. I kept it practical for regional teams and outcome-focused for senior managers. Within one quarter, template errors fell by 70 per cent, and my director asked me to lead the next system rollout.

In my APS 4 role in a client contact team, I noticed tension with the processing area over incorrectly referred cases. I organised a joint session where both teams walked through five recent cases, and we agreed a simple referral checklist. I checked in with the processing team leader each fortnight to see how it was working. Incorrect referrals halved within two months, and the two teams now meet quarterly to sort out issues early.