Selection criteria for nursing: examples and how to answer them

How public health services ask for them

Every public health service assesses nurses against criteria, but each asks for your evidence in a different place, and the format decides how long each answer can be.

• NSW Health. You apply online through NSW Health Jobs and are asked to address some or all of the selection criteria in writing. NSW Health’s applicant guide calls your claims against the criteria the most important part of your application. Its Stepping Up guide says each response is capped by the system’s character limit, usually 3,000 to 4,000 characters or 500 to 600 words. Local health district ads, such as a Western NSW registered nurse role, point you to the criteria in the position description.
• NSW Ministry of Health roles. These are more likely to use open-ended “targeted” questions, assessed against the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework, with a cover letter of no more than one page and a resume of no more than five.
• Queensland Health. There is usually no separate statement. A current Nurse Grade 5 registered nurse ad asks for a CV with referees and a cover letter of one to two pages showing how your experience, skills and values align with the key responsibilities in the role description. Write the letter against that document, criterion by criterion.
• Victoria. Each health service sets its own format. Bayside Health (Alfred) asks for a one-page cover letter that briefly covers your experience for one or two of the key selection criteria, while position descriptions such as GV Health’s list essential and desirable key selection criteria that some services ask you to address in full.

The interview uses the same criteria

NSW Health’s guide says every interviewee is asked a common set of initial questions that relate directly to the selection criteria, with follow-up questions on your claims. Bayside Health (Alfred) says its panels focus on the key selection criteria and generally use behavioural questions. So the examples you write now become your interview answers: choose ones you can talk about in more depth.

New graduate programs: GradStart and Queensland

NSW Health recruits graduate nurses and midwives statewide through GradStart. For the 2027 intake there were six selection criteria, each answered in 150 words or less, and no cover letter: you upload a CV, an academic transcript and your Working with Children Check number. NSW Health suggests writing your responses in a Word document first, then pasting them into the online form. Applications for 2027 were open for two weeks in June 2026, interviews ran through August, and applicants chose six to eight employment preferences.

Queensland Health’s Registered Nurse and Midwife Graduate Program has three steps: check you’re eligible, express interest and nominate referees, then complete the application form emailed to you once both referee reports are in. Instead of a resume, you enter your education, each clinical placement (where, which clinical area and how many weeks), your GPA or WAM and your work history. The cover letter covers your motivation, your passion for the profession, what you’ll bring to the team and why you suit the Hospital and Health Service you chose first. Ideally it is one A4 page, though it can be two. The program is open to people who graduated in the past two years and have worked less than 960 hours as a registered nurse (1,976 hours in some non-government settings).

The six GradStart criteria for 2027 were:

• Demonstrated understanding of NSW Health’s CORE Values, Collaboration, Openness, Respect and Empowerment.
• Demonstrated high level interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated clinical knowledge and clinical problem solving abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to work within a team.
• Demonstrated understanding of the professional, ethical and legal requirements of a registered nurse or midwife, including the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) standards for practice.
• Demonstrated understanding of the role in applying continuous improvement to quality and safety.

Map your examples to the NMBA standards

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s Registered nurse standards for practice set out what every RN is expected to do, in any area of practice. The Board describes the seven standards as interconnected: standards 1 to 3 relate to each other and to every dimension of practice in standards 4 to 7. So one good clinical example often covers several at once: an assessment (4), a plan (5), the care itself (6) and how you checked it worked (7). The Board also says practice isn’t limited to direct clinical care, so examples from education or management roles count.

• 1. Thinks critically and analyses nursing practice: evidence, reflection, accurate documentation, quality improvement.
• 2. Engages in therapeutic and professional relationships: communication, advocacy, delegation, collaborative practice.
• 3. Maintains the capability for practice: professional development, accountability, responding to feedback.
• 4. Comprehensively conducts assessments: holistic, culturally appropriate assessment.
• 5. Develops a plan for nursing practice: plans agreed in partnership and documented.
• 6. Provides safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice: working within scope, safe delegation, reporting risk.
• 7. Evaluates outcomes to inform nursing practice: monitoring progress and revising the plan.

Registration is an essential criterion

Almost every registered nurse role lists current registration as essential. GV Health’s registered nurse position description, for example, opens its essential criteria with current registration with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency as a Registered Nurse. Queensland Health says health professionals must be registered with the Ahpra board for their profession, and asks for proof of registration as a supporting document. NSW Health verifies registration status before any offer.

You don’t need STAR for this one. State your registration type and number in a line. Ahpra’s public Register of practitioners lists everyone registered to practise and any conditions on their registration, so make sure what you write matches it. New graduates should say when they expect to be registered: GradStart applicants must be registered with the NMBA, through Ahpra, before starting work, and Queensland’s graduate program takes applicants who are registered or able to register.

Clinical nurse specialist criteria

Criteria for a clinical nurse or clinical nurse specialist (CNS) role look for more than strong clinical skills. In NSW the public health system nurses’ award sets the minimum for CNS Grade 1: relevant post-registration qualifications and at least 12 months’ experience in that clinical area, or four years’ post-registration experience including three in the specialty. What sets a CNS Grade 1 apart from an experienced RN is that they actively contribute to developing clinical practice in the unit, act as a resource and mentor to others, and contribute to their own professional development.

A CNS Grade 2 adds extended autonomy and one of several roles, such as leading the development of specialty practice and service delivery in the unit, or primary case management. For these jobs, choose examples where you changed practice for other nurses, taught or mentored, and led a quality or safety improvement, as in example 4.