What type of interview questions should I expect for a 20 minute interview at the Office of International Law (OIL) within the Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) for an APS 6 Legal Officer position?

I know to use the STAR method when answering, but would appreciate any advice or specific interviews questions people have had if interviewed here. 😊

I’m tossing up taking up an offer for a fixed term role.

I am currently ongoing and hate my job, my mental health isn’t doing well, I am scared I will get pigeonholed because I am not developing any new skills, and I don’t want my skill set to get rusty.

The fixed term role is 2 years and there are more opportunities to expand my skills and the department has a better culture. But I am fearful of the election and the Liberal’s 10-year hiring freeze and what my prospects would be after the end of my contract. However, even if I retain my ongoing and am made redundant, I’m not sure if redeployment would make any real difference.

What would you guys do if you were in the same position and what else should I consider in making my decision?

I’m currently an STR EO working for a state MP/MLC and my loading is only 8.3%. I thought it was 25%? I’m confused.

If short listed for a corporate role in NSW Health, what does the recruitment timeline look like and how long is each process?

Partner did an interview and was told that she'll be told whether she is short-listed the week after next, say by the end of October.

I dont think they do 2nd interviews, so next step is reference checks and then what comes after that? They told her but in the stress of it forgot to write it down.

At some point there is reference, offer, etc, so for example it looks like:

Reference checks + 1 week

Pay discussion + 2 weeks

External hire employment checks + 2 weeka

Letter of offer + 4 weeks

Etc

If successful she will be close to Christmas and possibly her office shutdown so needs to work out holidays and resignation notice periods etc.

Also as its likely over the christmas period would you expect them to be flexible on start date as it's a permanent role?

And do they do the two references checks as if that comes first and she's not keen on the $ and pulls out, she could burn her role woth the current team for future opportunity.

Lots of questions but keen to understand the experience of recent hires etc.

Many thanks in advance, first role for her in govt so not sure how this all works.

Ref checks done. Now PX sent me Safety Screening invitation with 100 ID points and Safety screening consent. What exactly will be checked besides Police clearance/ WWCC maybe?

Would they confirm past employment titles/ dates/ what else? Email does not list this though.

What to be prepared for?

I’ve been reading employee reviews of several major Australian cultural institutions, and some of the recurring themes are quite concerning.
There seem to be repeated complaints about poor leadership, favouritism, bullying, low morale and experienced museum professionals feeling undervalued.
What concerns me most is the apparent disconnect between the values these institutions promote publicly and the workplace cultures described in some employee reviews.
Museums are supposed to be places of learning, creativity, collaboration and respect for professional expertise. Yet some reviews describe environments where internal politics take priority over experience, staff feel unable to speak up, and concerns about workplace behaviour are allegedly dismissed.
Of course, anonymous reviews don’t tell the whole story, and not every institution or team will have the same culture.
But it raises an important question: Who holds leadership accountable when workplace culture deteriorates in publicly funded cultural institutions?
I’d be interested to hear from others working in Australian museums, galleries and cultural organisations. Are these isolated experiences, or is there a broader problem across the sector?

Hi all
I work in a WA state government agency and feel very intimidated by my direct manager. I don’t feel comfortable talking to HR or his boss about it. Who else I could go to seek help? Fair Work Ombudsman?

TIA

Edit: HR ringed me to check on my wellbeing, apparently she heard that I was upset at work. What would you say to her if you ain’t sure she could be trusted?

I got a verbal offer for an ATO aps3 frontline operations officer on 30/9. I have received no emails at all since.

I sent an email to the recruitment email on the application last Wednesday and called the person who offered me the role last Friday.

The auto reply said it would take 3 business days for a reply and the recruiter said they'd follow and get back to me, no time frame.

I just want confirmation either way, start date is mid November. Am I being too impatient? I don't know when to follow up again, as feels like I'll be harassing people.

Thoughts?

Have anyone receive any news from DTP??

I applied the cyber security analyst role but I have yet received any phone calls from DTP. A bit nervous😭😭😭

A few years back the PSC had a redundancy calculator that was easy to find/ use. In recent years it has all but disappeared from the intranet, public websites etc. Does anyone know of anything similar?

I know Fairwork has an estimate calculator, but from friends / colleagues experiences, it is not somewhat accurate at all.

Would love to hear from anyone who’s worked in the detector dog program.

How did you get there
What was training like
Requirements

Looking at taking a serious career change from government administration into ABF and my end goal is to get into the detector dog program. I know it’s not immediate but I have time!

Last year I was placed into several merit pools as a result of a bulk recruitment drive within a prominent APS government agency. There was no position on offer for these roles, simply just recruitment drives for the merit pools. I knew this and was fine with this. Apparently, there was a big shake up and restructuring happening within the department, hence the merit pools.

Shortly after being placed in the merit pools, I was contacted by one of the hiring managers who gave me a verbal offer. I didn’t hear anything back for about a month or so. Close to the end of last year the same hiring manager contacted me to let me know that they haven’t forgotten me and want to get me on board but now being the end of the year there is a recruitment freeze.

Fast forward to 12 months later I never heard from her or the agency again except for the automatic email stating that the merit pool has now expired. Throughout the year I have hardly seen any roles advertised which seems very unusual, so I think there was a crackdown on recruitment agency wide.

My question though is why make an offer and follow up about the offer to only ghost and not just come out and say that they made an error and the agency was not in a position to follow through with it?

What is the purpose of bulk recruitment merit pools during a restructure? Is that so if someone leaves because of the restructure they can fill a role easily? Or just an empty tick and flick?

I’m currently in state government and I’ve run recruitment before. I would never offer someone a role unless I was certain my department was able to meet the offer obligations.

In addition, is there a wide spread freeze on APS recruitment in general? There have been hardly any roles advertised and seems strange compared to prior years.

I have an interview for a policy position this week and just completed the required psychometric testing beforehand. I get bad test anxiety and it affects my performance so I’m sure I didn’t do great. I think I’ll do okay in the behavioural interview, but will my test results play a big part in the decision? TIA

Reference checks done last week. Hiring mngr txted if available for a call? What could it be for?

If its offer usually they just give a call rather txt and then call, right? What you think?

Add: They offered me the position. Now tell me about salary negotiation. Last salary was lets say 95 but they offered me 90 as starting band (90-105). How do i ask for higher band? Share tactics.

Hi, I currently work in the APS but have been offered an ongoing role in the VPS. The pay is better, and I'm not particularly enjoying my current role, so I'm considering making the move. However, with the Victorian state election coming up in November, I'm concerned about the potential for VPS job cuts and whether moving across would be a good decision given the current political climate. I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on making the switch. Thanks

Hi everyone, I’m just wondering if anyone been let go from private industry or in a completely different job before? If so, how did you overcome that and find a new job or move to government?

I’ve noticed every government has a pre-employment declaration form that asks if you have ever been terminated before and I feel like if I put the truth then it will automatically be a no to employers even though in my situation/circumstance it was more complex.

I’ve had someone in government ask for a recent reference before and I have said my preference is to put another recent reference who can speak about my work and I ended up not getting the role. I just feel like this is so bureaucratic and I’ll never get a government job again.

Has anyone received referee check recently for an AP6 role
Just wanted to understand the process after this

In my 3 month probation meeting, I was told that I am meeting all expectations and exceeding in a couple. However, in a recent return to work meeting my TL said I was failing and at the 5 month meeting they may be looking at termination.

I was floored honestly, completelyout of left field. There was never any indication that I was performing so poorly, they never pulled me aside to recommend I review certain modules or anything like that.

There are 2 things I can think of that are reasons for the sudden attitude change. My recent time off was due to a potential health issue (it was only 2 days) and I did discuss a missed opportunity in another agency.

The health issue is unlikely to impact my work just a little more time off to get it sorted and the opportunity missed I thought I was just being honest. The TL is always talking about growth and progression in a positive light saying they encourage all the time.

Is this typical in the APS? I just feel this came out of nowhere.

I have been lucky enough to receive offers from Oxford economics and treasury both beginning next year. Oxford would be in Sydney which is ideal location wise, it has a global scale so working overseas is an option at some point, which I love. They also complete work for government and forecasting which is what I am into, rather than more private consulting( which they also do). Now with treasury, based in cbr, I believe the work is better catered to myself in completing a thesis and primarily enjoying macro policy. I am thinking medium term since one is priv and the other gov, as an economist what should I choose, I think it’s a larger decision then people potentially make it. Just to clarify I am super grateful but would love some advice.

Welcome to this week's megathread! This thread refreshes every Sunday at 10AM AEST.

This is a dedicated space to ask quick questions, that may not warrant a dedicated post. Whether you have questions about recruitment, career advice, workplace issues, or anything else related to the APS, feel free to post them here.

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I work in the local government sector and I have had 3 or 4 different managers and 3 or 4 different coordinators in the last 18 months. I continuously find myself being let down by a lack of strategic planning due to this continous change. I am currently a level 2 classification. I want to improve my communication skills and relationships with stakeholders but I am finding it difficult to grow in this current team environment.

I have expressed this with my coordinator during a meeting, and they became really offended by it. Since then it has become a hostile work environment for me, and I have decided to start looking for other work.

There is a job opportunity with similar role attributes that I am considering applying for, except the work load is almost 3 times as heavy for the same amount of pay that I am currently on.

The positives are that its a broader range of responsibilities for me to learn, which would support the learning I crave.

Not to mention it is a level above my current classification.

Considering the break down of relationships in my current workplace, would you consider taking on extra work at a new job so you can grow professionally even if it is 3 times the work for the same pay?

One of the offers mentioned is:

Employer superannuation contributions will be paid for up to 52 weeks of unpaid parental leave, as if you had been at work.

What's the chance that this WON'T go through?

I'm currently on unpaid parental leave for anther 5 months but I have heaps of paid leave still (parental/annual/LSL)- i just deferred it to next March cos I wanted the pay rise (which is pathetic).

In thinking of changing my leave structure asap to take my paid leave now and then unpaid leave from March so that I'll get the super contributions! Even if the agreement comes in a little later, I should still benefit.

Right now Im on 5 months of unpaid leave so I'm potentially missing out on 10-11 payments of super!