Selection criteria are the skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience a role needs, written down so every applicant is measured against the same yardstick. Below you will find worked examples by role, a method for writing your own, a simple scoring matrix for shortlisting resumes, and a short guide for applicants who have to respond to criteria in writing. The focus is Australian small and midsize employers, who need criteria that are fair, clear and quick to use.
TL;DR
- Write three to five criteria that a new hire must meet on day one, and treat everything else as desirable.
- Split each criterion into essential (must have) and desirable (an advantage), and phrase it so it can be checked from evidence.
- Fix your criteria and a scoring matrix before you open a single resume, then score every applicant the same way.
- Tie each criterion to the inherent requirements of the job, not to age, background or personal preference.
- Applicants answering formal criteria should use the STAR structure; most private employers only expect your resume to show the match.
Table of Contents
- What selection criteria are, and who uses them
- Selection criteria examples by role
- Essential and desirable criteria
- How to write selection criteria in five steps
- A scoring matrix you can build in ten minutes
- How to shortlist resumes against your criteria
- Keep your criteria lawful
- For applicants: answering selection criteria
- Our perspective: what we see when criteria go wrong
- When to hand the shortlisting to a recruiter
- FAQ
- Sources
What selection criteria are, and who uses them
Selection criteria are the standards used to judge whether a person is suited to a role. JobAccess explains that job advertisements may call them ‘selection criteria’, ‘prerequisites’ or ‘general requirements’, and that they relate to the qualifications, knowledge and skills a job needs. The purpose, as Simplicable puts it, is to plan in advance how candidates will be chosen so the process is fair and transparent.
Two audiences search for this topic, and they need different things.
- Employers need criteria to write a position description, screen applications and defend a hiring decision.
- Applicants need to know what a panel expects when a job ad says ‘address the selection criteria’.
Formal written responses are most common in government and universities. The South Australian public sector guide for applicants describes understanding and responding to criteria as the key to securing an interview there. Many private employers, and some universities, ask for something lighter. The University of Canberra, for example, does not ask for selection criteria or a cover letter, and asks applicants to align their resume with the position description instead. Always check the advertisement for a ‘statement of claims’ before assuming either approach.
Selection criteria examples by role
Good criteria are specific enough to test and short enough to read. Compare the weak and strong versions in the table below.
| Role | Weak criterion | Stronger criterion (essential) | Desirable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales representative | Great communicator | Demonstrated record of meeting or exceeding a quarterly sales target in a B2B setting | Experience with a CRM such as HubSpot or Salesforce |
| Office administrator | Good with computers | Proficiency in Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel, including mail merge and basic formulas | Experience with Xero or MYOB data entry |
| Bookkeeper or accounts officer | Finance background | Experience processing accounts payable and receivable and completing monthly bank reconciliations | Certificate IV in Bookkeeping or BAS agent registration |
| Mechanical or civil engineer | Strong technical skills | Degree in engineering and experience producing design documentation to Australian Standards | Chartered or CPEng status |
| Registered nurse or care worker | Caring nature | Current AHPRA registration (nurses) or relevant qualification, plus experience in aged care or community settings | Experience with electronic care records |
| Tradesperson | Hardworking tradie | Relevant trade licence for your state, a current white card and experience on commercial or residential sites | Own tools and vehicle, or supervisory experience |
| Developer | Tech-savvy | Two or more years building and maintaining production applications in the languages your stack uses | Cloud certification or experience in your industry |
| Team leader or manager | Natural leader | Experience directing a team of five or more, including rostering, performance reviews and resolving conflict | Change management experience |
Notice what changed. The weak versions describe a personality. The stronger ones describe something an applicant can prove with a licence, a number, a system or a past result. That is also why a stronger criterion is easier to defend later.
Examples of common capability criteria
Public sector and larger employers often use capability headings. Typical ones include communication, teamwork, problem-solving, planning and organisation, initiative, and the ability to work independently. The Resume Writers publish a set of worked responses for criteria such as leadership, project management, collaboration and communication, which show how an applicant might evidence each one.
If you use these headings for a small business role, anchor each to a task. ‘Planning and organisation’ becomes ‘Manages competing deadlines across three to four concurrent client jobs’. The heading alone tells a candidate nothing.
Essential and desirable criteria
Essential criteria are non-negotiable: an applicant who lacks one does not proceed. Desirable criteria are an advantage that separates two otherwise suitable people. Simplicable describes the same split, and most Australian position descriptions follow it.
A practical test for each line you write:
- Could a person do the job on day one without this? If yes, it is desirable at most.
- Can you check it from a resume, a licence, a reference or a work sample? If not, rewrite it.
- Is it a genuine requirement of the job rather than a habit from the last person in the seat?
The third question matters most when it comes to years of experience. A rigid ‘5 years experience’ rule can screen out capable people, and Sprintlaw warns that blanket requirements that are not inherently necessary risk indirect discrimination. Where a mix of shorter, intensive experience and skills would do, say so.
How to write selection criteria in five steps
- Start with the work, not the person. List the five or six outcomes the role must deliver in its first year: invoices out within 48 hours, a pipeline of 30 qualified leads, a site signed off without rework.
- Turn each outcome into a capability. What must someone already know or be able to do to achieve it?
- Cut to the critical few. Guidance from the University of Wisconsin HR team suggests long lists can discourage strong and diverse applicants, and recommends focusing on the handful of capabilities needed from day one. Three to five essential criteria is a sound target.
- Make each one checkable. Name the licence, system, volume or result you expect to see.
- Record the order of importance. Decide now which criteria carry more weight, so you are not tempted to adjust after meeting a charming candidate.
The Minnesota Management and Budget guide makes a similar point: plain language, no more than seven core requirements and a focus on measurable outcomes rather than buzzwords. It is a US government document, so use it for method rather than for legal requirements.
A scoring matrix you can build in ten minutes
A scoring matrix turns your criteria into a consistent record. Sprintlaw’s advice for small businesses is to build one aligned with the inherent requirements of the role, which also gives you a defensible record if a decision is ever questioned.
Here is a worked example for an office administrator role.
| Criterion | Type | Weight | Score 0 | Score 3 | Score 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Office proficiency | Essential | x3 | No evidence | Uses Word and Outlook daily | Advanced Excel, mail merge, templates |
| Accounts payable or receivable experience | Essential | x3 | None | Some data entry | Full cycle, with reconciliations |
| Customer-facing phone and email work | Essential | x2 | None | Under one year | Two or more years |
| Xero or MYOB | Desirable | x1 | None | Basic use | Daily use |
Multiply each score by its weight, add them up and rank applicants. Any essential criterion scored 0 means the applicant is out, whatever the total. Then interview the top three to five.
Keep the matrix honest
- Score from the evidence on the page, not from your impression of the person.
- If two people review applications, score separately first and compare afterwards.
- Keep the completed sheets. They are the record of why people were or were not shortlisted.
How to shortlist resumes against your criteria
The Australian shortlisting guidance on selection-criteria.com.au describes shortlisting as the first step in assessment, used to exclude applicants on the basis of their written application and avoid unnecessary interviews. For a small business the sequence is simple.
- Check the gates. Work rights, required licences and registrations, and any non-negotiable qualification. These are pass or fail.
- Scan for evidence against each essential criterion. Look for specifics: numbers, systems, employers, outcomes. Note a gap, not a feeling.
- Score with the matrix. Apply the same scale to everyone.
- Rank and shortlist. Choose a set number to interview, usually three to five, rather than a vague ‘the good ones’.
- Verify before you invest. A short phone conversation clarifies gaps and confirms availability and expectations. Our candidate screening questions script is built for a 15 to 20 minute call.
If a role carries a compulsory licence or certificate, put it in the gate check. If your own team needs a current first aid certificate to meet a role’s duties, onsite training for your staff is one way to cover it without sending people off site.
Keep your criteria lawful
Selection criteria must relate to what the job genuinely requires. The guidance from NFP Law advises preparing a position description first and making sure any specific requirements relate to the skills, experience and qualifications needed, avoiding references to personal characteristics. Sprintlaw notes you may ask questions that relate directly to the inherent requirements of the job, including skills, qualifications, licences, availability and the ability to work certain hours.
In practice:
- Write ‘able to lift 20 kg repeatedly’ only if the job truly requires it, and expect to consider reasonable adjustments.
- Avoid phrases such as ‘young and energetic’ or ‘digital native’.
- Do not screen on photos, names, or gaps you have not asked about.
- Apply the same criteria to every applicant, internal or external.
This is general information, not legal advice. For a specific hiring dispute or an unusual requirement, speak to an employment lawyer or the Australian Human Rights Commission.
For applicants: answering selection criteria
If you are the one responding, the aim is to prove each criterion with a real example. The widely taught approach is STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The Resume Writers advise spending the most words on the Action, where you show what you personally did.
A compact example for ‘Ability to manage competing priorities’:
- Situation: Our three-person office lost a team member during end-of-financial-year reporting.
- Task: I had to keep client invoicing and BAS preparation on schedule.
- Action: I listed every deadline, ranked them by penalty and client impact, handed routine data entry to a casual, and ran a fifteen-minute check-in each morning.
- Result: All lodgements were on time and invoicing stayed within our usual 48 hours.
Three habits help. Answer every criterion under its own heading. Use a different example where you can. Quote numbers, because ‘reduced processing time by a third’ is stronger than ‘improved efficiency’. QUT notes that its selection panel shortlists on merit using the information in your application, which is true of most employers: if it is not on the page, it does not count.
Our perspective: what we see when criteria go wrong
At The Recruitment Alternative we work with small and midsize employers across Australia and New Zealand, filling permanent roles for a fixed fee rather than a percentage of salary. That fixed-fee model rewards clarity: when a brief is precise, the search is faster and the shortlist is sharper.
The pattern we would flag is the wish list. Employers list ten or twelve requirements, treat all as essential, and then find nobody matches. Our advice is to commit to three to five essentials, and to be honest about which skills can be taught in a month and which cannot. Experience in your exact software is often trainable. Reliability, judgement and the right licence usually are not.
We also encourage employers to separate skills from values. A matrix covers what a person can do. How they work with your team is a different question, and our guide to values-based recruiting shows how to assess it without letting bias in. Clear criteria also protect against costly mistakes, which we cover in how recruitment protects against bad hires.
— Josh Townsend
When to hand the shortlisting to a recruiter
Writing criteria, reading dozens of resumes and screening by phone can take a small business owner days they do not have. If that is your situation, our fixed-fee service covers the search and shortlist for permanent roles.
Our published flat-fee structure has two options:
- Recruit: a $895 engagement fee, then a placement fee of $3,900 to $5,000.
- Recruit+: a $2,495 engagement fee, then a placement fee of $5,000 to $6,000.
Optional extras include a criminal check at $129 and a psychometric evaluation at $199 per candidate. If a hire does not work out, a Replacement Campaign costs $1,000. See the pricing page for how each option works and which fits your salary band. If you are unsure whether to use an agency at all, this guide on when to use a recruiter sets out the considerations.
FAQ
What are selection criteria?
Selection criteria are the skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience a role requires, used to compare applicants on the same basis. They are usually split into essential and desirable. In Australia they are most often formally addressed in government and university applications.
How many selection criteria should a job have?
Aim for three to five essential criteria that a person must meet on day one, with a few desirable extras. Guidance from the University of Wisconsin supports focusing on the most critical capabilities rather than an exhaustive list. Longer lists tend to deter good applicants without improving the quality of the shortlist.
How do I shortlist resumes fairly?
Set your criteria and scoring matrix before you read any applications, then score every resume the same way using evidence on the page. Treat licences and work rights as pass or fail gates. Keep your scoring sheets as a record of your decisions.
Do I need to write responses to selection criteria for every job?
No. Formal written responses are common in the public sector and some universities, but many private employers prefer that your resume and cover letter show the match. Check the advertisement and position description for any request for a statement of claims.
Can I ask for a minimum number of years of experience?
Only if the job genuinely needs it. A rigid number can screen out capable people and may create indirect discrimination risk, so consider wording that accepts equivalent skills and experience. If you are unsure about a specific requirement, check with an employment lawyer.
Sources
- JobAccess: Responding to selection criteria
- Simplicable: 103 Examples of Selection Criteria
- South Australian public sector: Guide for Applicants
- University of Canberra: Job application guide
- The Resume Writers: Australia’s Best Selection Criteria Examples
- Sprintlaw: Avoiding Discrimination in Recruitment
- University of Wisconsin HR: Develop job criteria
- Minnesota Management and Budget: Assessing and Setting Qualifications
- selection-criteria.com.au: How to Shortlist Applicants
- NFP Law: Legal obligations when recruiting an employee
- QUT: Applying with us
