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Create ResumeA strong Australian government resume is not a private-sector resume with the word “stakeholder” sprinkled through it like parsley. It needs to show that you understand the role, meet the selection criteria, can operate within public sector expectations, and have evidence behind your claims. Government recruiters and panels are not usually looking for the loudest candidate. They are looking for the clearest match. Your resume should make that match easy to see by connecting your experience to the job advertisement, capability requirements, agency priorities and level of responsibility. If your resume only lists duties, it will feel thin. If it shows outcomes, judgement, accountability and relevant examples, it becomes much easier to shortlist.
Government hiring in Australia is more structured than many private-sector recruitment processes. That does not mean it is always perfect, fast or wonderfully logical. Please, I have seen enough hiring processes to know better. But it does mean your application is usually assessed against defined requirements rather than vague personal preference alone.
For most Australian government jobs, your resume is only one part of the application. You may also need to provide a pitch, statement of claims, selection criteria response, cover letter or answers to application questions. The resume still matters because it gives the panel the evidence base. It shows where you have worked, what level you operated at, what responsibilities you held and whether your experience lines up with the role.
The mistake many candidates make is treating the resume like a career history document. Government panels do not need your full professional autobiography. They need proof that you can do this job, at this level, in this environment.
That means your resume must answer practical screening questions:
Have you done similar work before?
Have you worked with comparable stakeholders, systems, legislation, policies, projects, clients or communities?
Can you communicate clearly?
Do your achievements show judgement, accountability and impact?
When I review government-style applications, I am not reading with the same mindset as a private-sector recruiter filling a fast-moving commercial role. I am looking for alignment, evidence and level.
The strongest resumes make three things obvious.
First, they show role relevance. The candidate has shaped their resume around the job advertisement rather than sending a generic version. The language reflects the role requirements without copying the advertisement awkwardly.
Second, they show evidence. The candidate does not just say they have communication skills, policy experience, stakeholder engagement or leadership capability. They show where, how and with what result.
Third, they show level. This is where many candidates misjudge government applications. A resume for an APS4, APS5, APS6, EL1 or state government equivalent should not read the same. The higher the level, the more the panel expects to see judgement, complexity, influence, risk management, strategic thinking and independence.
A common hidden issue is that candidates describe work they participated in, but not the contribution they personally made. Government panels need to understand your role in the outcome. “Supported the delivery of a major program” is vague. Supported how? Through reporting, stakeholder coordination, data analysis, policy advice, procurement, case management, governance, briefings, implementation, complaints handling or something else entirely?
Government hiring is often cautious. Panels are not only asking, “Could this person do the job?” They are also asking, “Can we defend why this person was shortlisted?” Your resume needs to make that defence easy.
Are you operating at the right classification level?
Does your experience support the claims you make in your pitch or selection criteria?
A government resume should feel evidence-based, structured and easy to assess. It should not feel like marketing fluff. Panels are allergic to fluff because they have to justify decisions. “Dynamic professional with a passion for excellence” does not help anyone justify a shortlist decision. It mostly says you found a sentence on the internet and hoped for the best.
The job advertisement is not just a description. It is the assessment map. Before you write or edit your resume, pull apart the advertisement properly.
Look for:
The classification level
The key duties
The capabilities or selection criteria
Required qualifications, clearances or licences
Repeated words or concepts
The agency’s priorities
The type of work environment
The stakeholders mentioned
The evidence the panel is likely to expect
Most candidates read the advertisement once and then start adjusting their old resume. That is backwards. You need to identify what the panel is assessing first, then decide which parts of your experience deserve space.
For example, if the role focuses on policy development, ministerial briefings, stakeholder consultation and regulatory analysis, your resume should not bury those things under general administration duties. If the role is about service delivery, complaints resolution, case management and vulnerable clients, the panel needs to see judgement, empathy, process accuracy and high-volume decision-making.
This is where tailoring matters. Tailoring does not mean rewriting your entire career from scratch every time. It means changing the emphasis so the most relevant evidence is visible.
Weak Example
Managed administrative tasks, responded to enquiries and supported team operations.
Good Example
Managed high-volume public enquiries, triaged complex requests against policy guidelines and prepared accurate written responses within service standards.
The second version is stronger because it shows context, judgement, process and standards. It gives the panel something to assess.
Government resumes should be easy to navigate. Panels may be reviewing many applications, and no one is giving extra points because your formatting was “creative”. Clear beats clever.
A strong structure usually includes:
Name and contact details
Professional profile
Key capabilities
Employment history
Selected achievements
Education and qualifications
Relevant training
Technical skills, systems or certifications
Referee details if requested
You do not need a photo. You do not need graphics. You do not need a personal logo. You do not need a colourful skill bar claiming you are 90 percent excellent at stakeholder engagement. I have never seen a panel say, “We were unsure, but the blue bar convinced us.”
Keep the format clean, ATS-friendly and readable. Use standard headings. Use consistent dates. Avoid tables if they create formatting issues. Make sure your document works as a plain professional resume, not a brochure.
For most Australian government roles, two to four pages is common, depending on the level, complexity and application instructions. Always follow the specific instructions in the job advertisement. If they ask for a maximum length, respect it. Ignoring instructions is not a strong opening argument for your attention to detail.
Your professional profile should tell the panel what kind of candidate you are and why your background fits the role. It should be specific enough that it could not belong to every second applicant.
Avoid generic statements like:
Weak Example
I am a motivated and hardworking professional with excellent communication skills and a passion for helping people.
This says almost nothing. It also makes the panel do all the work.
A stronger profile connects your background to the government role:
Good Example
Policy and program officer with experience supporting stakeholder consultation, briefing preparation, grant administration and implementation reporting across complex service delivery environments. Skilled at interpreting guidelines, preparing clear written advice and coordinating competing priorities while maintaining accuracy, discretion and strong public-sector accountability.
This works because it gives the panel useful signals: policy, programs, stakeholder consultation, briefings, grants, reporting, guidelines, written advice and accountability.
Your profile should not exaggerate. Government panels will cross-check your claims against your employment history, pitch and interview responses. If your profile says “strategic leader” but your experience only shows task-level administration, the mismatch will hurt you.
A good government resume profile should answer:
What type of work do you do?
What environments have you worked in?
What capabilities are strongest?
What makes you relevant to this role?
What level of responsibility have you handled?
Keep it tight. A profile is not a cover letter. It is a positioning statement.
Your key capabilities section should not be a random list of skills. It should reflect the role requirements.
For government jobs, useful capability areas often include:
Written communication and briefing preparation
Policy analysis and advice
Stakeholder engagement
Program or project coordination
Case management or service delivery
Governance, compliance and risk
Data analysis and reporting
Team leadership or supervision
Financial, grant or contract administration
Systems, records and information management
The trick is to avoid turning this section into a keyword dump. Yes, keywords matter because systems and human reviewers both scan for relevance. But keywords without evidence are weak.
Weak Example
Skills: communication, teamwork, leadership, Microsoft Office, problem-solving, stakeholder management.
This is technically a list. It is not persuasive.
Good Example
Stakeholder engagement: Experienced in coordinating input from internal teams, external providers and community stakeholders to support timely decisions, accurate reporting and clear communication.
Policy and written advice: Confident interpreting guidelines, preparing briefing notes, drafting correspondence and translating complex information into practical recommendations.
This gives the panel a quick capability summary with context. It also makes your resume easier to match against the job requirements.
Employment history is where government resumes often become painfully dull. Candidates list duties because they think the panel simply wants to know what they were responsible for. Responsibilities matter, but they are not enough.
A duty tells the panel what sat in your job description. Evidence tells the panel what you actually handled.
Instead of writing:
Write:
Instead of:
Write:
Instead of:
Write:
The good versions are not longer for the sake of it. They show action, context and outcome.
For each role, include:
Job title
Organisation
Location
Dates
Scope of role
Relevant responsibilities
Achievements or outcomes
Government panels like clarity. If your employer is not well known, briefly explain the context. If your title is unusual, clarify the function. If you worked in a private-sector role but are applying for government, translate your experience into public-sector language without pretending it was government work.
For example, “client management” may become “stakeholder engagement”. “Customer complaints” may become “case resolution and written correspondence”. “Sales reporting” may become “data analysis and performance reporting”. The substance must remain honest. You are not inventing experience. You are making the relevance easier to understand.
This is one of the biggest gaps I see in government applications. Candidates often write a resume that shows they can do the tasks, but not that they can operate at the level.
For an entry-level or administrative government role, the panel may focus on accuracy, communication, reliability, customer service, records management and ability to follow procedures.
For mid-level roles, the panel expects stronger evidence of prioritisation, independent judgement, stakeholder coordination, written advice, problem-solving and managing complexity.
For senior roles, the panel will look for leadership, strategic thinking, risk management, governance, influence, decision-making, people leadership and the ability to operate with ambiguity.
This matters because a resume can accidentally undersell or oversell you.
If you are applying for an APS6 or equivalent role and your resume reads like a list of task completion, the panel may question whether you can manage complexity. If you are applying for an APS4 role and your resume sounds like an executive leadership manifesto, the panel may wonder whether you understand the job.
Government applications reward accurate positioning. Not dramatic positioning. Accurate.
Ask yourself:
Does my resume show the complexity of work I handled?
Does it show who I influenced or supported?
Does it show decisions, judgement or accountability?
Does it show outcomes, not just activity?
Does it match the classification level?
Does it support the pitch or selection criteria response?
A panel should be able to read your resume and think, “Yes, this person has operated in similar conditions.”
Your resume should not compete with your pitch or selection criteria. It should support them.
A common mistake is repeating the same information across every document. The resume becomes a long version of the pitch, the pitch becomes a mini resume, and the selection criteria become a slightly rearranged version of both. That creates application fatigue. The panel reads the same claim three times and still does not get better evidence.
Think of each document as having a different job.
Your resume shows the evidence base.
Your pitch explains why you fit the role.
Your selection criteria response provides detailed examples against specific requirements.
They should connect, but not duplicate.
For example, if your pitch says you have experience delivering stakeholder engagement in complex environments, your resume should show roles where that happened. Your selection criteria response can then give one strong example using a situation, action and result structure.
This is also where consistency matters. If your pitch talks heavily about policy experience but your resume barely mentions policy work, the panel may question the strength of the claim. If your resume lists leadership achievements but your pitch only talks about teamwork, you may miss the chance to position yourself properly.
Government applications are assessed as a full package. Make the documents work together.
Good achievement statements are specific, credible and relevant. They do not need to be dramatic. Government work is not always full of flashy commercial outcomes. Sometimes the strongest achievement is improving accuracy, reducing delays, strengthening compliance, resolving a complex stakeholder issue or making a messy process more workable.
Useful government resume achievements may include:
Improved reporting accuracy by redesigning a tracking process used by the team
Reduced response delays by triaging enquiries and escalating complex matters earlier
Supported implementation of a new program, system or policy change
Prepared briefing material that helped senior leaders make timely decisions
Coordinated stakeholder feedback across multiple groups and identified recurring risks
Managed sensitive information in line with privacy, records and confidentiality requirements
Trained new staff on procedures, systems or service standards
Resolved complex client or public enquiries while maintaining professionalism and compliance
Where possible, include measurable results. But do not force numbers where they do not exist. A made-up metric smells strange immediately. Recruiters notice when every bullet point has a suspiciously polished percentage attached to it.
A good formula is:
Action plus context plus outcome.
Example
Reviewed and updated internal procedure documents to reflect new policy requirements, improving consistency for staff handling public enquiries.
This is simple but useful. It shows initiative, policy awareness, documentation and practical impact.
Many strong candidates come from private-sector, not-for-profit, health, education, banking, retail, consulting or community services backgrounds. The issue is not the background. The issue is translation.
Government panels may not immediately understand how your previous role maps to their environment. You need to make the connection obvious.
Private-sector language often focuses on revenue, clients, KPIs, sales, accounts and commercial delivery. Government language often focuses on stakeholders, public value, service delivery, policy, compliance, governance, accountability and community outcomes.
That does not mean you should strip your resume of all commercial context. It means you should frame relevant experience in terms the panel can assess.
For example:
“Account management” can show stakeholder engagement, relationship management and issue resolution
“Customer service” can show public contact, complaint handling, communication and service standards
“Operations coordination” can show process improvement, reporting, prioritisation and compliance
“Project support” can show governance, documentation, risk tracking and stakeholder updates
“Team leader” can show supervision, coaching, workload allocation and performance monitoring
The key is to keep it truthful. Do not pretend your private-sector role was a government role. Instead, show why the skills transfer.
A strong translated bullet might look like this:
Good Example
Managed complex customer escalations in a regulated environment, applying policy guidelines, documenting decisions accurately and balancing service outcomes with compliance requirements.
That bullet can speak to government because it shows regulation, policy, documentation, judgement and service.
Some resume mistakes are obvious: spelling errors, messy formatting, missing dates. Others are more subtle and more damaging.
One major mistake is writing too broadly. Candidates try to look suitable for everything and end up looking clearly matched to nothing. Government panels are not impressed by vague versatility. They need role alignment.
Another mistake is using claims without proof. “Excellent stakeholder engagement skills” means very little unless the resume shows who the stakeholders were, what issues you managed and what outcome you supported.
A third mistake is burying the strongest evidence. I often see candidates place highly relevant work on page three while page one is filled with generic skills and old responsibilities. The panel may still find it, but do not make them dig. Hiring is not a treasure hunt.
Other common problems include:
Copying the job advertisement too closely
Using private-sector jargon that does not translate
Listing every job task with no achievements
Making the resume too long without adding value
Ignoring the classification level
Leaving gaps unexplained
Using unclear job titles without context
Failing to mention required systems, clearances, qualifications or licences
Sending the same resume for every government role
The most dangerous mistake is assuming that being qualified is enough. In government recruitment, being qualified does not automatically mean being shortlisted. You need to show the panel how your evidence meets the role requirements better than other applicants.
If you already have government experience, use it properly. Do not assume the panel will understand the value of your background just because you worked in a department, council, agency or statutory authority.
Mention relevant details such as:
Agency, department or government context
Classification level or equivalent seniority
Policy, program, regulatory, service delivery or corporate function
Stakeholder groups
Systems, frameworks or legislation where appropriate
Briefings, correspondence, reporting or governance work
Public accountability, confidentiality or compliance requirements
If you have acted at a higher level, include it clearly. Acting opportunities can be powerful evidence, especially if they show trust, leadership or capability beyond your substantive role.
Example
Acted as Senior Project Officer for eight weeks, coordinating weekly status reporting, preparing executive updates and managing issue escalation across three workstreams.
That tells the panel far more than “acted in higher duties”.
If you have worked across multiple short contracts, make the structure easy to follow. Government careers often include temporary contracts, non-ongoing roles and project-based work. That is not automatically a problem, but unexplained movement can confuse the reader. Use clear dates and context.
You can still write a strong government resume without government experience. The key is not to apologise for your background. The key is to show transferable evidence.
Focus on experience involving:
Policy, procedures or compliance
High-volume service delivery
Written communication
Stakeholder management
Sensitive or confidential information
Reporting and data accuracy
Complaints or escalations
Regulated environments
Community, client or customer outcomes
Project coordination
Team leadership
Risk and issue management
Government panels are often open to external candidates when the evidence is clear. What hurts external candidates is assuming the panel will connect the dots for them.
For example, a banking candidate may have strong experience with compliance, privacy, documentation and complex customer matters. A healthcare administrator may have evidence of sensitive information handling, service coordination, systems use and stakeholder communication. A retail manager may bring team leadership, rostering, complaint resolution, performance monitoring and operational delivery.
The resume must make the transfer obvious.
Weak Example
Worked in a busy customer-facing role and helped customers with enquiries.
Good Example
Managed high-volume customer enquiries, assessed issues against internal policy, documented outcomes accurately and escalated complex matters requiring specialist review.
That is a much stronger bridge into government-style work.
Applicant tracking systems are part of modern hiring, but candidates often misunderstand them. An ATS is not a magical gatekeeper sitting there making sophisticated career decisions. It is usually helping collect, organise, search and filter applications. Human assessment still matters, especially in structured government recruitment.
That said, your resume should be easy for systems and humans to read.
Use:
Standard headings
Clear job titles
Relevant keywords from the job advertisement
Simple formatting
Plain text where possible
Consistent dates
Recognisable skill terms
Avoid:
Text boxes that may not parse cleanly
Graphics and icons
Skill bars
Overdesigned templates
Hidden text or keyword stuffing
Unusual headings that confuse parsing
The best ATS strategy is also the best human strategy: use the language of the role naturally and support it with evidence.
For example, if the advertisement mentions “briefing notes”, “stakeholder engagement”, “records management” and “policy advice”, those terms should appear where genuinely relevant. But do not dump them into a keyword section if you cannot back them up.
A resume full of keywords but empty of evidence is like a shop window with nothing inside. It may get attention for a second, then disappoint everyone.
Before submitting your Australian government resume, check it against the role like a panel member would.
Your resume should clearly show:
The role you are applying for and the capabilities it requires
Relevant work history in reverse chronological order
Evidence matched to the selection criteria or capability framework
Achievements that show outcomes, judgement or impact
Appropriate language for the classification level
Transferable skills if coming from outside government
Clear dates, titles, employers and locations
Required qualifications, licences, systems or clearances
Consistency with your pitch, cover letter or selection criteria response
Professional formatting with no distracting design elements
Then ask the harder question: if the panel only skimmed the first page, would they immediately understand why you are relevant?
If the answer is no, fix the first page. That is prime real estate. Do not waste it on generic statements, oversized contact details or vague skill lists.
The best Australian government resumes are not flashy. They are clear, relevant and evidence-led. They show the panel exactly how the candidate meets the role requirements and operates at the right level.
Your job is not to impress the panel with big claims. Your job is to reduce doubt.
Reduce doubt by showing:
Relevant experience
Clear examples
Appropriate level
Measurable or practical outcomes
Strong written communication
Understanding of government-style accountability
Consistency across your whole application
Most candidates lose impact because they write from their own memory rather than from the panel’s assessment lens. They include what they personally remember doing, not what the panel needs to assess.
So before you submit, stop reading your resume like the person who wrote it. Read it like someone who has 80 applications, a role description, a marking guide and limited patience for vague claims. That is closer to reality.
A strong government resume does not make the reader work hard. It guides them. It says, “Here is the evidence. Here is the relevance. Here is the level. Here is why this application deserves proper consideration.”
That is what gets shortlisted.
Written by Simar Malhi, a recruiter and headhunter with international recruitment experience. I write about CVs, job applications, hiring decisions, and the reality behind recruitment processes. My goal is to help candidates understand more honestly how employers, recruiters, and hiring managers actually select candidates.
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