Applying for government job programs can be a tricky business, with plenty of traps for those unfamiliar with how they work. To help with avoiding these traps, here are five tips to guide you to your best application by 5 September 2022

Tip 1: Read all the information

It is easy to miss vital information because not all information is in the one place. The main sources of information are:

• The ATO web page gives details of the program and what it is about. Check you are eligible to apply, note what defines their Ideal Candidate and what the three roles are. Also note that the How to apply section does not give all details of the application process.
• Click the Apply Now link. This page gives links to three programs: the School Leaver Program, the School Leaver Program (Indigenous affirmative measure), and the Australian Government HR School Leaver Program. If you weren’t aware of the HR program it might be worth checking this out as well, as many departments and agencies are involved.
• Click on Apply Now 2023 ATO School Leaver Program then the Preview application form. This is a vital piece of information to look at, as it shows all the information you will need to provide in your application. What is not mentioned in previous pages is the mandatory question you must answer:

“In 200 words or less, tell us about a situation where you overcame a challenge to get a good outcome. Tell us a bit about the challenge, how you overcame it and what the positive outcome was. This could be something that you did at school, work, extra-curricular activities, home etc.”

Tip 2: Check the instructions for the two-page resume

The instructions are to provide a two-page resume as a Word or PDF document, with no scanned images, so no photographs, certificates or graphics. Keep the format simple.

The instructions suggest you include the following:

• List any additional employment or work experience. (Employment means you were paid to do the work. Work experience means you weren’t paid, and took part in experiences that helped you understand work and build work-related skills. For example, you may do voluntary work, have visited workplaces, took part in a work experience program.)
• List any extra-curricular activities you are currently doing or have previously done such as volunteer work, sport, music, debating etc. This could include leadership roles (e.g. school captain, sports team captain).
• List any additional achievements and/or awards (e.g. Year 11 maths scholarship).
• List any qualifications you may have. (This could include forms of recognition, such as certificates, for completing courses of study or skill building, such as online short courses, or programs such as public speaking.)
• List any additional skills relevant to the role. (Think about how the Ideal Candidate is described, e.g. ‘good computer skills’, and what the roles involve, e.g. prepare documents and letters, to identify relevant skills.)

Tip 3: Select a simple, professional resume format

There are many online resume resources. Stick to Australian resources, such as those at MyFuture or  Jobjumpstart. The tools on Jobjumpstart may help you understand how to prepare your resume.

Tip 4: Craft a tailored two-page resume

Use the ATO information to tailor your resume to what the department is looking for. Here are five suggestions on how to do this.

Contact details: use an email address that is professional, rather than a humorous personal one.

Career goals: You may have several career goals, some of which link to the list about What attracted you to the role, some to the roles on offer, perhaps to working in government, and possibly to the sort of life you wish to lead and what you’re particularly good at. For example:

“I wish to work where I can make a difference, in an organisation that offers career progression and work-life balance, and where I can apply my skills to challenging work. I have skills in using technology and am a good team player. I wish to continue to learn new skills to build a rewarding career.”

Work experience: list the various roles you have had that gave you relevant skills and knowledge. Your work experience is broader than paid employment. It includes caring roles, volunteer roles, and any experiences that helped you to understand work.

As well as listing what you did in each role, think about the skills and knowledge you used, and what difference you made. While the experience is important, what is also important is what results you provided. If you can mention these it will show you understand that work is more than doing the job. It’s also about delivering a business result.

For example, if you worked in a customer service role, serving customers is the doing part. The results you deliver include: making customers feel welcomed, helpfully answering their questions, helping them to make a decision, responding to their queries and complaints, making an effort to understand a person, explaining details so that a person understands.

Skills: Apart from skills relevant to the roles, you may have skills that could be of interest to the public service in the future. For example, you may have gained skills from playing video games, flying drones, or helping a sports club or community organisation with their online presence.

Achievements: Apart from awards and recognition, there may be personal goals you achieved that only you are aware of. For example, mastering difficult subjects by doing extra work, seeking help from other people, watching relevant online material; completing a project under difficult circumstances; achieving a ‘personal best’ at a sport or fitness level; learning another language; overcoming fear of public speaking and making a presentation to class.

Tip 5: Write the 200 word challenge example

First, break the task into its parts: Tell us a bit about the challenge, how you overcame it and what the positive outcome was. This could be something that you did at school, work, extra-curricular activities, home etc.

The parts are:

• Identify the challenge (one that had a positive outcome), explain why it was a challenge.
• Explain the steps you took to overcome this challenge, using words to describe the skills you used.
• Describe the positive outcome and how it flowed from what you did.

What would be an appropriate challenge to use? One that uses skills listed for an Ideal Candidate. So look for something that uses written and verbal communication skills, computer skills, working to a schedule, shows you’re resilient, flexible and independent, a team player and uses initiative.

The challenge might also involve some of the tasks from the roles such as: manage and maintain records and information, work with our stakeholders (these are people who are not customers, rather are affected by something or have a direct interest in the issue), prepare documents and letters, help with data management and reporting, resolve a broad range of customer inquiries, provide support to information technology projects and programs.

Keep in mind that any challenge will involve using several skills.

The structure to use for your example is the STAR structure.

• Situation: explain what the challenge was.
• Task: explain what your task/s was/were.
• Action: explain what actions you took, referring to skills used, to deal with the challenge.
• Result: close by mentioning the positive outcome and possibly what you learnt from this experience.

For example, let’s take a tricky customer experience while working in a café. The customer is not happy with the food they’ve been served, claiming it is cold, not cooked properly, and they haven’t got time to wait for a new meal. You don’t have the authority to resolve this situation, and you haven’t been given any training in dealing with angry customers. But you have seen upset family members receive good service and you know that it’s important that the café keeps customers happy.

A challenge I faced when working at Great Café was how to handle an angry customer who claimed their food was cold, not cooked properly and demanded a refund. This was challenging as I’d had no relevant training and I knew only the café owner authorised refunds. I remembered I’d seen my brother receive good service when he returned damaged goods to a shop, and tried the same approach.

I asked the customer to give me full details, and listened carefully, even though it wasn’t pleasant. I noticed they had eaten some of the food, and asked if this had been okay. The customer said it was okay, but the meat was not cooked to their liking. I suggested that I could ask the chef to recook the meat, but the customer said no, they couldn’t wait. I suggested I’d take a minute to explain the situation to the owner.

The owner apologised to the customer and offered a 50 percent discount and a voucher for a future discounted meal. The customer accepted this and left, a little calmer. The owner complimented me on my approach and asked me to share what I’d learnt at the next team meeting.

As 200 words is not a lot, every word has to make a contribution to the story.

By following these five tips you will increase your chances of being considered for this program.