I am going to write about a structured technique to address the “selection criteria” in the job application in this blog. This is based on a career workshop organised by Western Sydney University that I attended last year. When you apply for a position, you will need a resume/CV, statement on selection criteria and cover letter in most of the cases in Australia. Among these, a statement addressing selection criteria is the heart of the job application. So, what is the selection criteria? It describes personal skill, knowledge, qualities and qualifications that the employer wants in a person to carry out the roles of the advertised position effectively, often divided into two – essential criteria and desirable criteria. Essential criteria is a must, whereas the desirable criteria are nice to have.
Now, how to write it? In terms of writing selection criteria, there is a standard structured way to do it. The method I am going to discuss is known as “STAR” (Situation, Task, Activity, Result) technique. This technique refers to the style of your writing. Situation refers to the context (who, when, where) of the skill/quality and tasks refers to what you did. Activity implies how it was done, whereas results indicate what you have achieved. You need to address each item in the selection criteria with a “STAR” response. But it has some cons. It can be commonly used; therefore, I think that we should go beyond that. Otherwise, the employer may find it artificial or repetitive. Going beyond “STAR” responses, you can make yourself stand out of the crowd. So “STAR” is an essential thing to follow but not sufficient. Once you have developed the “STAR” response, you may want to build your own story. It can be done by restating selection criteria in own word (opening sentence), then providing reasons, followed by mentioning evidence (here come the STAR technique) and restating the point of the story again to conclude. Make sure it is structured, relevant, short and only refers to you. So remember, when addressing selection criteria, we have to make sure that we must convince the employers so that they call us for an interview.
I hope that you find it useful. More will follow in the upcoming days.