With extensive experience in the public service, including over eight years working with the Department he was seeking a higher role within, this client presented as an extremely strong applicant but with existing documents that did not adequately his core skills, experience and strengths. During our consultation, I was able to identify a number of key projects that the client had contributed to, that aligned with the role requirements. Hence, I was eager to highlight these both within the resume and in addressing the key selection criteria within the required two-page statement.
The application called for a tailored four-page resume and two-page statement outlining the client’s background, capabilities and experiences and how they aligned with the advertised role. To successfully achieve this, I worked on extracting and highlighting the capabilities and behaviours required to be successful for the role, including
- The ability to research and develop evidence-based concepts based on an analysis of issues and the interpretation of data and information from multiple sources.
- Well-developed writing skills, including the ability to translate concepts into documents for use by a range of stakeholders
- The ability to effectively manage a number of tasks simultaneously
- Effective stakeholder engagement skills including the ability to form positive professional relationships both within the Department and with external stakeholders
- The ability to communicate with influence including clearly articulating your message one-on-one and in group situations
With these focus areas in mind, I worked on gaining a thorough insight of the client’s skills and experience, as well as helped him to provide me with specific examples from his career, each with a clear Situation, Task, Action and Result. This allowed me to explicitly highlight each of the requirements of the role, thus presenting him as an extremely strong candidate for this higher level role.