There were 140 applications.
I want you to imagine you applied for a government role.
From those, 24 were selected for potential shortlisting.
Only 5 were shortlisted for interview.
You were asked for a CV and a cover letter of no more than two pages. In the cover letter, you needed to address two essential requirements and demonstrate the Public Sector Commission’s personal leadership behaviours.
Three panel members read every application. Every application was rated. Notes were kept in case applicants called for feedback.
You weren’t one of the lucky few who made it through to interview.
Why? Well, it’s because you might have been one of the following, you see:
- Two applications were for other jobs.
- Fourteen people submitted only a resume or only a cover letter.
- Fifteen went over the page limit.
Unfortunately, the page limit is not decorative or there for vibes. You obviously need to send the application for the right job, and you need to send in the correct documents to start with.
It is the first test: can you follow instructions and prioritise information?
If you weren’t one of those people, then you fell into this category. That’s because almost half the applications relied on general claims. Things like:
- “I have excellent communication skills.”
- “I work well with stakeholders.”
- “I manage competing priorities.”
- “I am highly organised.”
Lovely and also useless because it’s not evidence.
That is the application version of plain toast.
The panel cannot rate your confidence. They cannot rate the version of you that exists in your head, where everyone magically understands how capable you are.
They can only rate what is on the page.
And if your page says, “I’m good at communication” but gives no example, no context and no outcome, you have not demonstrated the requirement.
All you did was share an opinion about yourself.
You might also have been one of those applicants that started their examples well but stopped too soon.
Giving the situation.
Explaining what you did.
Then… nothing.
No result. No outcome. No impact. No “so what?”
That is where selection criteria responses often collapse.
If you are using STAR, SAO or any of the other million acronyms, finish the thing.
What changed because of your action? What improved? What was resolved? What did the team, customer, client or organisation gain?
Without the outcome, your example is unfinished.
It is like telling me you cooked dinner but not whether anyone survived it.
Now, other things you might have done were to muck up your spelling.
Thirty-seven applications mixed US and UK spelling.
Now normally, most people aren’t going to clutch pearls over a rogue “z”. But if you are claiming attention to detail while switching between “organised” and “organized”, the panel will notice.
You are applying in Australia.
Use British spelling.
And finally. The panel weren’t against the use of AI to assist in writing an application, but when your application is very clearly copy-and-pasted from AI. That’s a problem.
I’m not talking generic AI slop either.
No no. This was worse.
This application still had the AI-style instruction language in it, written as if someone was talking to the applicant about themselves.
So using AI to sharpen your example. Fine. Using it to check whether you have answered the question or included STAR/SAO properly. Also fine. Tidying up clunky wording. Great.
But proofread the final version like your interview depends on it.
Look, Government applications are not won by knowing the secret handshake. They are won by making the panel’s job easy.
Follow the instructions.
Address the actual requirements.
Use specific examples.
Finish with outcomes.
Stay within the page limit.
Proofread what you send.
And don’t assume the panel will know you are good because you said you are.
Show them.
That is the difference between being skimmed and being shortlisted.
~Lisa
Your Q&A
Do I need a permission slip?
Hi Lisa,
I applied for a position at a company a week ago. Now I’ve seen another position at the same organisation, but in a different location, that I want to apply for. Is it best to reference the previous application submitted in the cover letter? I think the resume itself needs no change except for the headline.
Marjorie
Hi Marjorie,
My answer is: probably not.
You don’t need to reference the first application in your cover letter unless there is a very specific reason to do so.
Applying for two suitable roles at the same organisation is not a crime. You are not sneaking through HR with a fake moustache and a second email address.
In large companies, recruitment can be messy. Some have different divisions, locations and hiring teams that barely speak to each other. Others have one big applicant database where a recruiter can see everything you have applied for.
So yes, they might see your previous application.
But applying for two relevant roles is very different from applying for 40 jobs at the same company because you have decided employment is now a raffle.
That is where it starts to look like spray-and-pray.
If this second role genuinely fits your skills, experience and direction, apply.
Change the resume headline. Adjust the cover letter so it clearly speaks to this specific role, location and team. Make it obvious why this job makes sense.
But don’t open with, “I know I just applied last week…”
That makes it sound like you need permission.
You don’t.
Thanks for writing in.
~Lisa