APS 6 selection criteria examples for complex, senior work
APS 6 is the top of the APS levels, just below the Executive Levels. Here is what the APSC’s work level standards expect at APS 6, what panels test for, how the same skill reads at APS 5 and APS 6, and three full responses written for the level.
Updated October 2026. Sources are listed at the end.
What APS 6 means in practice
The APSC’s work level standards describe APS 6 work as complex, done under limited direction with reasonable autonomy and accountability. APS 6 employees give detailed technical, professional or policy advice on complex problems, may help with strategic planning, program and project management and policy development, and may deal with the public or stakeholders on difficult or sensitive issues. Work may include setting priorities and managing workflows for a team.
Two phrases in the standard are worth keeping in mind as you choose examples: work “requiring little or no revision before finalisation”, and advice that includes “anticipating problems and contributing to issues management”.
- Decisions with a medium to high impact on the work area, made with direction from senior staff on tasks of considerable complexity and sensitivity.
- Managing stakeholder relationships to achieve work area and agency goals, and representing the agency at community and cross-agency levels.
- Supervising a team doing related roles, with significant responsibility for developing them through coaching, performance feedback and encouraging career development.
- Preparing draft reports, briefing papers, ministerial correspondence and discussion papers for review by Executive Level staff.
What panels look for at APS 6
Because APS 6 sits just below the Executive Levels, panels look for evidence that you can carry a body of work with an EL1 overseeing it rather than directing each step. The APSC says panel members are generally at the level of the vacancy or a level above, and recommends the chair is at a substantive level above it, so for an APS 6 job you are usually writing for EL1s or higher.
- Complexity: a problem with several connected parts, not a single task done well.
- Foresight: you saw an issue coming and acted before it reached your manager.
- Finished work: products that went up the line with few changes.
- Leading others: setting priorities for a team, building their skills, and dealing with performance issues promptly.
APS 5 versus APS 6: the same skill, one level apart
The ILS guide for APS 1–6 marks the behaviours that first appear at APS 6: initiating and developing team goals and work plans, recognising the links between interconnected issues, challenging issues constructively, presenting persuasive counter-arguments, anticipating stakeholders’ expectations, and dealing with under-performance promptly. Side by side:
- Planning. APS 5: “I contributed to the team’s plan.” APS 6: “I drafted the team’s work plan for the year and agreed it with my director.”
- Performance. APS 5: “I noticed recurring errors and noted them for the officer’s review.” APS 6: “I raised the errors with the officer that week and agreed an improvement target.”
- Stakeholders. APS 5: “I responded to the industry body’s concerns.” APS 6: “I anticipated the industry body’s concerns and met them before the consultation paper went out.”
- Analysis. APS 5: “I analysed the data and drew an accurate conclusion.” APS 6: “I linked the rise in complaints to a rule change in another agency and briefed both teams.”
Format notes for APS 6 applications
Check the information pack for the format and the word or page limit, and ring the contact officer if it’s unclear. The APSC notes that agencies may ask for a pitch, responses to separate criteria, or answers to questions. If one pitch has to cover leadership, stakeholders and written advice, decide which example proves which capability before you start, so you don’t lean on the same project throughout.
At APS 6 the application is also a writing sample. If the role involves briefing, a tidy, plain and well-structured pitch is part of the evidence. The APSC notes that as well as, or instead of, an interview, you may be asked to do a work sample test such as a writing exercise, a presentation, or psychometric testing.
Criteria you’ll see
- Provides detailed, well-reasoned advice on complex and sensitive issues. Advice that weighed options and risks, prepared for senior readers.
- Prepares high-quality briefs, ministerial correspondence and submissions requiring minimal revision. Products that went to the executive or the minister’s office with few changes.
- Manages projects from planning through to implementation, including risk and stakeholder engagement. A project you ran, not one you contributed to.
- Anticipates emerging issues and contributes to issues management. Seeing a problem coming and acting before it escalated.
- Leads a small team, setting priorities and building capability through coaching and feedback. People leadership at the top of the APS levels.
- Represents the agency in cross-agency and community forums. Speaking for the agency, not just your team.
- Challenges issues constructively and presents persuasive arguments. Disagreeing well, with evidence, from the ILS APS 6 column.
3 selection criteria examples
Made-up applicants, employers and numbers, to show the shape of a strong response. Yours should use your own experience.
Manages projects from planning through to implementation, including risk and stakeholder engagement
I have taken projects from an idea to full rollout as project officer in the Rural Inspections Branch of the Department of Farm and Food Exports, working with limited direction from my EL1.
In 2025 I was asked to replace the paper inspection forms used by 64 inspectors in 11 regional offices with a tablet app, within nine months and a $180,000 budget. I wrote the project plan and a risk register, and rated poor mobile coverage at rural sites as the biggest risk. Rather than wait to find out, I ran a four-week pilot in the two offices with the worst coverage. The pilot showed that forms were lost if the signal dropped mid-upload, so I worked with the vendor to add offline saving before the wider rollout and adjusted the schedule to absorb the two-week delay. I recruited one inspector in each office as a champion, trained them myself, and had them train their colleagues. I reported progress, spending and risks to the branch steering group each month, and flagged early that older tablets in three offices would not run the app, with a costed option to replace them from savings.
All 11 offices were using the app by month eight, $12,000 under budget. The time from inspection to a recorded result fell from an average of six days to the same day, and no inspection records were lost after go-live.
- The applicant owns the plan, the risks and the reporting: project management at APS 6, not helping with a project.
- Piloting at the riskiest sites first is the “anticipating problems” the APS 6 standard describes.
- Flagging the tablet problem early, with a costed fix, shows how to bring a problem to senior staff.
Prepares high-quality briefs and advice on sensitive issues for senior executive and ministerial audiences
I write advice for the executive and the minister’s office as a senior policy officer in the Youth Employment Programs section of the Department of Work Pathways, and most of it is cleared with few or no changes.
In August 2025 a provider delivering our program to about 300 young people in two regions went into administration with two days’ notice. My director asked me for a brief to the minister by the next afternoon. I started by listing what the minister would be asked: what happens to the participants, whether public money was at risk, and whether we had missed warning signs. I got the contract history from our contract manager, the payment position from finance, and advice from our legal team on what we could say about the administration. I could see that the participants’ welfare and the media risk were linked, so I worked with the regional team on a plan to move every participant to another provider within 10 days and put it at the front of the brief. I wrote a two-page brief with three options and a recommendation, plus a separate page of likely questions and answers, and checked every figure against its source before it went up.
The brief was cleared by our first assistant secretary with two minor wording changes and reached the minister’s office on time. All 296 participants were placed with new providers within nine days, and the questions and answers were used at Senate Estimates the following month.
- Starting from the questions the minister would face is the issues management the APS 6 standard describes.
- Linking participant welfare to the media risk shows the ILS APS 6 behaviour of recognising links between interconnected issues.
- “Cleared with two minor wording changes” is direct evidence of work needing little or no revision.
Leads a small team, setting priorities and dealing promptly with performance issues
I lead a team of four APS 4 and 5 review officers in the Incentives Compliance team at the Office of Business Incentives, where I set our priorities and am accountable for the quality of our reviews.
In mid-2025 our EL1 asked us to complete 120 reviews by the end of the financial year, 40 more than the year before, with no extra staff. I drafted a quarterly work plan that ranked reviews by risk and gave each officer a mix of simple and complex cases, so the two newer officers could build their skills on harder work with me reviewing it. In the first month, one experienced officer’s reviews were failing quality assurance about one time in five, well above the team’s usual rate. I raised it with him that week rather than waiting for his mid-cycle review. Together we found the errors were mostly in one calculation he hadn’t done since a rule change. I booked him into the next refresher on the new rule, reviewed his next five cases of that type myself before they went to quality assurance, agreed a target of one error in 20 by the end of the quarter, and met him for 15 minutes each Friday to go through his results.
His error rate fell to one in 22 within three months, and the team completed 124 reviews by 30 June. The two newer officers were then trusted to take complex reviews on their own.
- Setting the work plan and ranking reviews by risk shows the APS 6 responsibility for priorities and workflow.
- Raising the problem the same week, with a clear target, matches the ILS APS 6 behaviour of dealing with under-performance promptly.
- The result covers both output and capability, which is what panels look for in an APS 6 team leader.
Mistakes to avoid
- Examples that would fit an APS 5: a task done well, with no complexity, foresight or responsibility for others.
- Describing projects with “we” throughout, so the panel can’t tell whether you ran the project or worked on it.
- An untidy pitch for a role that writes briefs. At APS 6 the application itself is evidence of your writing.
- Leaving out the result for senior readers: whether the brief was cleared, the decision made or the risk avoided.
- Treating supervision as only allocating work. The APS 6 standard also expects coaching, feedback and career development.
Check or draft your own response
Paste your response to see which parts of the criterion it proves, or paste rough notes for a draft built only from your own facts. Free, no account.
Questions
What’s the difference between APS 5 and APS 6?
Both work under limited direction, but the standards describe APS 6 work as complex rather than moderately complex to complex, with reasonable autonomy, detailed advice on complex problems and a bigger role in planning, projects and policy. The APS 6 standard also expects work needing little or no revision, and gives more responsibility for supervising and developing staff.
Do I need to supervise staff to get an APS 6 job?
Not always. The work level standards say the work of an APS 6 is characterised by one or more of the listed elements, and many APS 6 roles are specialist or project roles. If the job description mentions leading a team, the panel will expect a supervision example; acting as a team leader or leading a project team can provide one.
Who sits on an APS 6 selection panel?
Apart from the SES, there are no legislated rules on who sits on a panel. The APSC says panel members are generally at the level of the vacancy or a level above, and recommends the chair is an APS employee at a substantive level above the vacancy. For an APS 6 job that usually means APS 6, EL1 or higher.
How do I show I can work at APS 6 if I’m currently APS 5?
Choose examples where you did APS 6 work: running a project, leading others, preparing advice for senior readers or handling a sensitive issue. Higher duties, acting roles and stretch projects all count. Describe what you did, not your title.
What happens after an APS 6 application?
If you’re shortlisted, you may be invited to an interview with behavioural or hypothetical questions, and the APSC notes you may also be asked to do a work sample test, such as a writing exercise, or a presentation. For roles that involve briefing, be ready to produce clear, finished writing under time pressure.
Sources
- Australian Public Service Commission: Work level standards, APS Level and Executive Level classifications
- Australian Public Service Commission: ILS, a guide to the Integrated Leadership System for APS 1–6 employees
- Australian Public Service Commission: Cracking the code, 2. About jobs in the APS
- Australian Public Service Commission: Cracking the code, 3. Applying for an APS job
- Australian Public Service Commission: Cracking the code, 7. The interview and other assessment
- Australian Public Service Commission: Factsheet, roles and responsibilities on selection panels
General guidance. Always follow what the job ad or information pack asks for.