So  they want me you respond to six selectioncriteria in a total of 600 words. How can you do that? It’s possible. You justhave to keep a couple of points in mind.

Let’s take a look at an example.

Here’s arecent set of criteria, with a limit of 600 words for all responses.

1.       Strongorganisational skills and judgement to support effective prioritisation anddelivery under short timeframes and with a high degree of accuracy.

2.       Demonstratedcommunication and interpersonal skills: ability to communicate with care,sensitivity and confidence, and negotiate persuasively and adapt to theaudience.

3.       Ability tobuild and maintain positive and productive working relationships with bothinternal and external stakeholders.

4.       Well-developedanalytical ability to quickly understand a subject or issue, synthesiseinformation and draw conclusions or make-evidence based decisions.

5.       Demonstratedleadership: ability to provide leadership to a team with a strong focus onmotivating, mentoring and developing staff.

6.       Demonstratedexpertise and specialist knowledge to deliver people solutions and outcomes.

Be aware:when they say 600 words, that includes the headings  – 109 words.

To writethis application, you must first examine the duty statement and understandwhich criteria relate to which duties. If your example shows you can carryout that duty, you are on the right track.

To keepwithin the 600 words, you could:

·        Reducethe wording of each criterion to the essential words

·        Avoid using the criterion as a heading, but bold the key words in your response

·        Avoid any claims to have the skills and get straight to the example

·        Give only essential background information in the example; aim at around 30 words

·        Eliminate redundant words. E.g., “ I can..” instead of “I havethe ability to..” Then, read it out loud and slash more words again

·        Instead of giving a result to your story, give the impact it made on your work

·        Font and margins size do not matter; it is the number of words that count

WRITE AWINNING JOB APPLICATION 7th ed explains how to keep your responsessuccinct, but still demonstrate your skills.

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