Five Response Models

The first problem facing applicants is how to start writing and how to format their response. Chapter three gives models to follow when responding to:

Demonstrated skills in …
Knowledge of ….
Demonstrated knowledge (understanding) of …..
Experience in …….
Demonstrated experience in …..

There are 20 pages devoted to explaining these models. Here are some brief excerpts from this chapter.

The skills model has six parts:

1. Start with a positive claim that you have the required skill.
2. State briefly two or three different situations where you have used that skill.
3. Give an example of a time when you used this skill successfully. To do this: Set the scene where it happened. Keep this short. You get no marks for this part.
4. Describe in detail how you applied the skills. This is where you get your marks.
5. Say what the result was. It must have been successful.
6. Link your response to the new job. Make a promise to be able to do something for them. Look at the duty statement and you will see the duties that relate to this criterion.

Demonstrated knowledge

Some criteria can be written as, “Demonstrated knowledge of…”. An example is “Demonstrated knowledge of current trends and issues in the delivery of community services”. The indication here is that they are looking for an example of how you applied your knowledge in some situation. In this case, start with your claim to have that knowledge, expand by saying how you gained it and then go straight into the STAR model for an example of when you applied it. Once again, try to make your example as close as possible to something on the duty statement.

Asking for a “Demonstrated knowledge” is another way of asking for a specific example of ………..

Demonstrated experience

Some criteria are written as “Demonstrated experience in…”. This changes the way the response should be written in that you must be very specific in describing your experience. As with other experience criteria, you must give factual information but also provide a number of examples of when and how you used that skill. It becomes more like a skills response in that the STAR model is used, but you need not give as much detail in the Action part of your example. Better to give four short examples than one detailed example that would indicate that you have limited experience. In most cases, the criterion asks for………

Writing an expression of interest

HR often ask for an expression of interest when the position is not permanent and needs to be filled for only a short period. An officer may be on extended leave, or due to an impending restructure, a permanent appointment is undesirable. It is a way of finding out who, among the staff, is interested in filling the position on a temporary basis, without having to go through the whole selection process. After examining the applications, a decision is made and there can be no appeals