I provide guidance and editing on government selection criteria but not often. The reason is recruiters really want the job applicant to author the selection criteria responses themselves.
Selection criteria are ridiculous documents. They parrot meaningless management rubbish.
Casual work in a mail room morphs into ‘logistics coordination’. Updating a spreadsheet? That’s ‘database management’.
Public servants’ job applications assume a greater importance than those in other workplaces, because government recruiters must be able to ”prove” that their employment decisions are merit-based. The paper trail can become crucial evidence in the event of an appeal.
What of applicants or public servants who pay someone to write an application for them?
Many APS job candidates are desperate for expert help, and a fairly large number of professional writing businesses – some good, many bad – vie for their money.
I can suggest one obvious way of demonstrating communication skills: write your own selection criteria.
Some people say there is nothing unethical about seeking professional help to write an application. I disagree. There is nothing unethical about taking advice or use professional editing services but if you pass a selection criteria over to a third party to write it in its entirety, you are in deep trouble.
One reason is that many of the questions want to know about your behaviour in a given situation. No one else can write that.
I don’t accept the occasionally lucrative offers to draft selection criteria because it is unethical and people need to do it themselves.
For a start, most selection criteria actually ask applicants to demonstrate their writing skills. A public sector job application needs to speak to their integrity, and who they are.
I’ve had people say they’ve paid someone buckets of money to do this and it still doesn’t work. The reason is the professional writer is not the client and doesn’t know in depth the client’s profession.
The Public Service Commission says the issue is complex. It expects, for example, that public servants will be honest in the statements that they make in pursuit of promotion. The Public Service Act makes it clear that not only existing employees but potential new recruits, too, are now obliged to be honest in their applications.
Equally, they will need to consider whether the use of professional assistance to write an application is likely to create a false impression of their own writing skills. This may be particularly at issue when applying for more senior positions, which place a premium on the ability to write well and present a convincing case.’
Disclosing the third party’s involvement would be one way of sticking to the moral path, though it would be a brave job candidate who took that route. And there you have it. If you can’t disclose the full truth in a job interview, don’t use a professional writer to write your selection criteria.