Providing a statement for a promotion review

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR BEST CASE TO THE PROMOTION REVIEW COMMITTEE THEN YOU NEED TO READ THIS INFORMATION SHEETAND ATTACHMENT WHEN PREPARING YOUR STATEMENT

You have been asked to provide a statement in support of your claims to be promoted. This information sheet and the attachment explain what information you should include in your statement.

This information refers to ‘parties to the review’. The parties to review are:

  • the individual(s) who has applied for a promotion review and
  • the individual(s) who has been promoted and whose promotion has received a review application.

Role of the promotion review committee (PRC)

The PRC is required to assess the relative merits of the parties to the review. They decide whether the original promotion decision is upheld, or whether the applicant(s) for review is promoted instead.

The PRC makes a new decision so please note the PRC:

  • cannot change the original agency decision that you are unsuitable or recommend to the agency that you be rated suitable or that you be placed on the order of merit
  • does not consider whether the original agency decision was ‘right’ or review howan agency selection exercise was conducted.

Purpose of the statement

The statement is an important opportunity for you to demonstrate to the PRC your claims to the job on the basis of merit.Many promotion reviews are finalised without further contact with the parties so do not expect to the PRC to ask you to provide additional information. If it is important include it in your statement.

In deciding merit, the PRC will consider:

  • your work related qualities[1], relative to those of the other parties to the review
  • how your work related qualities relate to the requirements of the job.

The PRC is making a new decision. This means the PRC considers all information before it including the original agency selection documentation and the statements provided by parties. Your statement is an important piece of evidence because it has up-to-date information about you.

To have a promotion decision overturned you must demonstrate that you are more suitable for the job than other parties—this is a high bench mark.If an applicant and a promotee are rated equally the PRC can uphold the promotion—the PRC does not need to seek further information from either party.

How to present your claims

It is your responsibility to bring to the PRC’s attention, through your statement, any matter, which in your opinion, demonstrates your claim to promotion on the grounds of merit. The attachment provides practical advice for preparing your statement.

Comments about other parties to the review are not relevant to your claim to promotion on the grounds of your merit. Please note if you make comments in your statement about other parties to the review, you should ensure that your comments are:

  • consistent with the APS Values, the APS Employment Principles and Code of Conduct, for example they are respectful, professional and non-discriminatory.

The PRC may provide any comments you make about another party, to that party for comment, consistent with the requirement to afford procedural fairness.We reserve the right to redact information from statements that have privacy implications before that statement is made available to another party to the review.

Submitting your statement

Please forward your statement by email by the due date (see below). Attach the following two documents to your email in ‘Microsoft Word’ format. These are:

  • the personal particulars form (see applications)
  • your statement—do not forget to include your name and reference numberin your statement. (The reference number is included at the top of the letter you received about the promotion review and it will also be included in the subject line of any email).

Personal details form

Please fill in the personal details form provided. It seeks contact details and information about your ability to participate in the promotion review process—for example, any absences on leave or any issues which may affect your capacity to be contacted or to attend an interview.

Disability

If you have a disability or require special arrangements, please indicate this on your personal details form. The Review Team will contact you to discuss these arrangements.

Due date for statements

The due date will be specified in the letter or email that acknowledged your application for review, or advised you that your promotion has received a review application. The timeframe for providing statements is specified in the Public Service Regulations 1999. You will usually have between 10 to 14 calendar days to prepare and submit your statement from the time it is requested.

Further information

Contact the Review Team on Phone: (02) 8239 5330 or Email: .

Attachment: Matters to consider when preparing a statement

What does a statement look like?

There is no template for preparing a statement. The three most common ways are:

  • updating your original job application either by amending the existing text or by adding a covering document to the application
  • a combination of a covering document and an updated application
  • providing a new statement of claims.

Whatever format you chose, your statement should:

  • address the selection criteria and/or skills, knowledge, capabilities and experience that the agency thinks is important for the job
  • draw upon and highlight skills etc. you have obtained since the original selection process
  • use examples which show how and why you did things and the outcomes, and where appropriate, lessons learnt from the experience
  • be structured so it is easy for the PRC to follow and understand your claims to the job
  • be succinct and only include relevant information
  • present your relevant work history in a way the PRC can understand it.

You can attach supporting material to demonstrate your claims to the promotion but you must explain how the material is relevant.

Don’t assume prior knowledge

If you already work in the agency, only one member of the PRC is from that agency and is usually not from your work area. You have to be able to clearly explain your claims to the job to three people who have little or no knowledge of your work so:

  • avoid agency-specific terminology or acronyms
  • explain your work historyin a sequential way using the APS classification structure (e.g. ‘I was promoted to a Service Claims Officer (APS5) in May 2015’not ‘I was promoted to a Service Claims Officer in May 2015’)
  • include your acting experience and the timeframes e.g. ‘I have acted as an APS4 since May 2016 and also acted as an APS5 for three consecutive weeks in July and August 2016’.

Demonstrate and update your claims

You may think you wrote a good application and performed well in the interview or other parts of the assessment process but it is not enough to just state this. You must demonstrate this to the PRC.

  • Your examples in the interview may have been excellent but the PRC members were not in the room.
  • You shouldn’t assume the agency’s staff selection report will explain why you are suitable for promotion.
  • PRC members are given copies of the original selection documentation by the agency. While the documentation includes a report to the agency delegate, many selection reports only provide a numerical rating and a brief summation of the performance of each applicant.
  • You need to give the PRC the information it needs to decide you are the most suitable person for the job.
  • PRC members usually only have copies of referee reports for successful applicants. Consider whether your claims would be strengthened by providing referee report(s) or other supporting evidence.

You need to take into account that a PRC is making its decision at a different point in time than the agency delegate.

  • The period of time between your original application and your statement to the PRC can be weeks or months.
  • You and the other parties mayhave attained new, or developed better, capabilities, skills and knowledge as well as greater experience.
  • If you have acted in the job or worked in another job since your initial application consider updating your examples to reflect your revised work experience.
  • You need to include up to date information in your statement to remain competitive against other parties.

Consider your evidence

Look at the job requirements (which may include selection criteria) carefully and choose good examples that highlight your claims. You may also wish to look at the work level standards for the job and the capability framework for the classification.

  • If you look at the capability framework, you will see that generally agencies place an increasing emphasis on leadership, strategic thinking and planning and organising as the APS classification rises. Your statement should reflect your understanding of the capability required at the classification of the job you are applying for and how you have demonstrated that in your work to date.
  • Draw upon the job requirements and the capability information to help you show how and why you did something, and what value your contribution made, rather than just describing what you did or what the process is.
  • If it is appropriate, show how the work fits into the goals of your work area or agency.
  • A lot of APS work is done in teams or with other people. Assess and explain your role and contribution to a project or task when appropriate.
  • If your examples are from outside the APS or from another agency, it is important to relate them to the duties of the job.
  • If the agency asks for demonstrated ability consider asking a person to give you some supporting evidence to submit with your statement. This can be as simple as attaching an email from your supervisor to your statement.

Consider how you have presented your information in your statement

Almost all positions require communication skills and ability to manage relationships. Remember your statement is demonstrating these skills to the PRC.

  • A poorly written,poorly structured statement suggests poor communication skills and a lack of understanding of the needs of your audience.
  • PRC members may need to read many statements in a large exercise so clear, concise and well-argued statements addressing the relevant facts will enhance your claims.
  • Remember it is not the responsibility of the PRC to make your case for you—you need to do that clearly and concisely in your statement.

Providing further information—papers/interview

Once statements are received the PRC will meet to consider all the available information. If the PRC needs more information you will be contacted by the PRC convenor or the Review Team.

You may be contacted by email and asked to provide additional information to the PRC or clarify some matter for the PRC.

A PRC may choose to interview you and other parties by phone. There is no set format—some interviews will be similar to ones conducted by agencies while in other parties may be asked to respond to two or three issues or questions. While any interview will be conducted as informally as possible, the information gathered will be an important part of the PRC decision-making process.

[1]Work related qualities include: skills and abilities;qualifications, training and competencies;standard of work performance;capacity to produce outcomes by effective performance at the level required; relevant personal qualities, such as honesty and integrity; potential for further development; ability to contribute to team performance. For more information on recruitment and selection please refer to the Public Service Commissioner’s Directions 2016 Part 3 available on the website (