Job applications: Selection Criteria – representational skills

Ask Kate Column: John would like to know what ‘Representational Skills’ refers to in a selection criteria application. I called on expert Dawn Richards, author of The Selection Criteria Toolkit and Get that Government Job. “Representational Skills refers to a candidate’s ability to represent their organisation,” says Dawn. “For example, it might be by attending conferences and then training staff in new skills gained from the conference. It might be by attending seminars and representing the company or government department and writing a comprehensive report on the latest research or practices to be employed. “Obviously, the person who ‘represents’ the company has an important role and this should be ‘sold’ in their selection criteria statement. For example: ‘I was selected to attend training in new computer systems at our Head Office in Melbourne, based on my ability to train staff in software installation and troubleshooting. The new training program I developed resulted in a 33 per cent increase in sales and customer satisfaction within five months.’ “Here’s a tip: When answering selection criteria with multiple parts, list each sub heading in bold and write a few sentences using actual workplace examples to demonstrate how you meet the requirements for each sub heading. Don’t be shy. This is your chance to let the reader know what you have achieved in your role. “You need to write your application this way in order to ‘sell’ yourself to the employer/recruiter and make it easy for them to tick the appropriate boxes to fast track you to an interview.” Thanks Dawn! Visit Dawn at www.smartstartmarketing.com.au And just for the record, I think the selection criteria process is way too hard and time consuming. Can anyone tell me why?

Reader Comment

I refer to Kate’s article concerned with the selection criterion ‘Representational Skills’. Her article seemed to be more concerned with ‘Observer/Development Skills’ that benefited their organisation in some way. To my mind, ‘Representational Skills’ refer to one’s ability to represent the interests of the organisation to the benefit of that organisation – to speak for and on behalf of their organisation confident in the authority they have to do so, and others recognise and accept that level of authority even when issues are not clear cut or there are conflicting interests. The example used in Kate’s article does not satisfy the criterion as I see it. Would you agree? – Peter Gilbert Dawson, Canberra.