How Private Sector Leaders Can Successfully
How Private Sector Leaders Can Successfully Apply for EL1 & EL2 APS Roles Making the
Adriana Modersitzki
At The Elite Collective, we’ve helped countless private sector leaders successfully transition into Executive Level (EL1 & EL2) roles in the Australian Public Service (APS). One of the biggest challenges they face? Navigating the APS hiring process—which is nothing like private sector recruitment.
This blog is Part 3 of a 3-part series designed to help you make this shift with confidence.
Part 1: Understanding APS Leadership Roles – EL1 vs EL2
Breaks down APS leadership structure and the key differences between EL1 and EL2, helping you identify where you fit.
Part 2: Why EL1 is the Best Entry Point for Private Sector Professionals
Explains why EL1 is the most realistic starting point, why direct EL2 entry is rare, and how to strategically approach your APS job search.
Part 3 (You’re Here!): How to Nail Your APS Application & Get Shortlisted
Now that you understand where you fit, this blog unpacks the APS hiring process, explains selection criteria, Work Level Standards, the Integrated Leadership System (ILS), and how to structure your application for success.
Many private sector professionals don’t struggle to do the job—they struggle to demonstrate their capability in an APS-friendly way. This blog will show you how to get it right.
Let’s get into it.
One of the biggest misconceptions private sector leaders have is that strong leadership experience alone will make them competitive in APS hiring.
In the private sector, recruitment allows for flexibility—standout achievements, cultural fit, or niche expertise can often override strict selection criteria. Companies may hire based on potential or perceived value rather than strict capability frameworks.
By contrast, APS recruitment is highly structured and merit-based. Hiring decisions must be defensible, justified, and ranked against the Integrated Leadership System (ILS) and Work Level Standards. Selection panels assess candidates based on how well they demonstrate capability, not just their potential or subjective fit.
This means private sector leaders must reframe their experience to align with APS leadership success metrics. Success in private industry is often measured through profitability, efficiency, and operational growth, but APS hiring panels look at impact through governance, collaboration, and policy implementation. Leaders in the public sector must demonstrate their ability to operate in a whole-of-government environment, where outcomes aren’t about commercial wins but about delivering on government priorities, stakeholder engagement, and national policy objectives.
APS hiring panels aren’t just looking for strong leaders—they need to see clear, structured evidence of capability at the required level. While private sector applications focus on selling achievements, APS applications must map leadership experience to the specific expectations outlined in the ILS and Work Level Standards.
This is where many private sector candidates go wrong. They write applications assuming that general leadership experience will translate, but without directly linking their experience to APS expectations, they don’t progress past the first stage.
A strong APS application doesn’t just list responsibilities—it explicitly demonstrates leadership capability using structured examples. If your responses don’t clearly address the leadership expectations for EL1 or EL2, hiring panels won’t be able to rank you as competitive.
The good news? The APS clearly defines what leadership success looks like at EL1 and EL2 levels—it’s outlined in the aps work level standards and Work Level Standards, both of which are public resources. These are not just guidelines—they are the actual measures used to assess applicants.
The Integrated Leadership System (ILS) is the framework that defines leadership expectations at every APS level, from APS 1 through to SES. Whether or not you’ve heard of it, your APS application is being assessed against it.
In Part 1 of this series, we shared the ILS Self-Assessment Tool, which helps applicants evaluate whether they meet EL1 or EL2 capability expectations. If you haven’t done this yet, we highly recommend it—it’s the best way to understand how APS hiring panels define leadership capability.
We’ve worked with countless private sector leaders who have spent months applying for APS roles, only to receive vague rejections or feedback that they ‘don’t quite demonstrate the required capability.’
A common theme? They’ve never even heard of the ILS.
Many candidates write applications using private sector leadership language—focusing on commercial wins, operational efficiencies, and individual performance without addressing the strategic leadership behaviours APS hiring panels expect.
When we work with these clients, we realign their applications to:
The difference? They start getting shortlisted. And hired.
Now that we’ve established that APS hiring panels assess leadership capability through the Integrated Leadership System (ILS) and Work Level Standards, the next step is ensuring your application is structured in a way that meets these expectations.
Unlike private sector applications, where leadership achievements can stand alone, APS applications require a structured, evidence-based approach that explicitly demonstrates capability at the required level.
We’ve already covered that APS applications are assessed using a merit-based system, meaning hiring panels compare candidates against selection criteria before they compare them against each other.
Your responses must make it undeniably clear how you meet the required capabilities, or you won’t progress.
This is where STAR-based responses come in. The Situation, Task, Action, Result (STAR) method is non-negotiable—but it’s not just about filling out answers. You need to strategically structure your responses to reflect APS expectations while drawing from your closest private sector experience.
Many private sector professionals transitioning to APS roles may not have direct experience with whole-of-government leadership, policy development, or APS-specific governance structures. That’s okay—your private sector leadership experience is still highly relevant. The key is learning how to translate it effectively.
If you can’t demonstrate government-specific leadership, focus on:
✔ Internal policy implementation and compliance – Have you led projects ensuring company-wide adherence to industry standards, legal regulations, or compliance frameworks?
✔ Cross-functional leadership – Have you worked across departments, regions, or with external partners to align strategy, solve problems, or drive business outcomes?
✔ Stakeholder engagement and influence – Have you influenced executives, clients, suppliers, or industry regulators in decision-making processes?
✔ Regulatory alignment and governance – Have you worked with external regulatory bodies, enforced corporate governance, or contributed to compliance initiatives?
✔ Change management or business transformation – Have you led restructuring, process improvements, or large-scale operational changes?
Even if you haven’t shaped national policy, you’ve likely managed policy compliance, worked with external governing bodies, or led high-level strategic initiatives that align closely with APS leadership expectations.
Most APS applications require you to write a pitch showing how you would meet the capabilities and requirements of the role, and what you would bring. That doesn’t mean you need to create a STAR example for each dot point in the Position Description / Key Capabilities section! A well-structured APS application often groups related criteria together, using one nice ‘meaty’ STAR example to address multiple capabilities
Example of Clustering Selection Criteria
Imagine a job application for an EL1 role in stakeholder engagement and program delivery. You’ve identified a group of ‘related’ key capabilities specific to the role and a great STAR example that ties them all together. Upon reflection, you’ve pulled out the following points from the ILS for an EL1, to tie into this STAR example:
Now, you can extract key phrases from the behavioural indicators related to those ILS items to write your surrounding sentences and explain your task and actions in the STAR example writing.
For private sector leaders looking to step into an APS leadership role, nailing the application process is just as important as having the right experience.
At The Elite Collective, APS job applications are what we do best. We’ve helped countless private sector leaders successfully transition into EL1 and EL2 roles, and we know exactly what hiring managers are looking for.
Many of our clients come to us after months of unsuccessful applications, not realising that their experience wasn’t the issue—their application simply wasn’t structured the way APS hiring panels expect. We bridge that gap.
If you haven’t yet read Part 1 or Part 2, check them out here:
Part 1: Understanding APS leadership roles – EL1 vs EL2
If you’re new to APS job levels, start here. This article breaks down the differences between EL1 and EL2, including decision-making, leadership expectations, and policy influence, helping you assess where your experience aligns.
Part 2: Why EL1 is often the most strategic entry point for private sector professionals
This article focuses on strategy—why EL1 is often the best pathway into the APS, why EL2 roles can be more difficult to secure, and how private sector skills map to EL1 leadership expectations.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your career, you can find our FAQ here, our fee structure here, and our contact form here.
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