APS Government Jobs: Merit Pools, Assessments & FAQs

A merit pool is a group of suitable candidates established following a competitive selection process. At the end of this recruitment process, all candidates who were successful will be placed into a merit pool for 18 months. A delegate determines the benchmark for success. Being placed in a merit pool does not guarantee that you will be offered a role. 

A merit pool is valid for up to 18 months from the date the job was advertised. 

Merit pools are valid for 18 months only.  If you would like to be considered for positions after your merit pool expires, you will need to apply for this process. 

Being placed in a merit pool does not automatically mean you will be offered a position. Several factors will be considered when making decisions around positions to be filled. These include the type of role, length of vacancy, current and future operational demands, funding and the Average Staffing Level (ASL) cap. 

In February 2022, the Australian Public Service Commissioner’s directions were updated to allow greater flexibility in utilising merit pools. Merit pools can now be used for 18 months from the date the position was advertised.  

When a business area has approval to fill a vacancy, they can make an offer to a candidate who is in the merit pool. The merit pool may be used to fill ongoing, non-ongoing and casual vacancies.  The merit pool may also be used to fill other similar vacancies across Services Australia. Other APS agencies with similar vacancies may also access the merit pool in some circumstances to make employment offers to successful candidates. 

As we’re expecting a large number of applications, we have engaged Chandler Macleod to help with the selection processes.  

No. Recruitment processes within the APS rely on merit. We have mechanisms in place to ensure candidates are doing the right thing. You must not share or discuss any information relating to the assessments at any time, particularly while the recruitment process is active. 

Sharing information such as assessment questions, sharing responses or having someone complete an assessment on your behalf goes against merit. Candidates found to have jeopardised the integrity of a process will be investigated and risk having their application withdrawn, or for APS employees, the matter may also be referred for investigation as a suspected breach of the Code of Conduct.

Agency staff (including labour hire staff) can do the assessments in work time, check with your supervisor when the best time might be to complete this. It’s strongly recommended that you arrange a private space to complete your online assessments. This is to ensure there are no distractions during your assessment, and to protect your privacy during this process. 

Yes. All assessment companies we use have had their privacy and data usage/storage policies reviewed and approved by multiple federal government departments, including Services Australia. They all share their data with our approved provider on the Services Australia recruitment panel.  

Your data is not shared with any third parties that are not involved in the process. Any reference to sharing data within Australia is only relevant to candidates or referees who complete the form and are currently overseas.  

We will send regular communications to keep you informed, so it’s important to keep an eye on your emails and your ‘junk’ box. We’ll notify you by email if you progress to the next stage or if you’ve been found unsuccessful following the online assessments. It’s important you apply using an email address you can access at any time. For example, if you’re traveling or on holiday – we recommend a personal email address.

You can update your email address and any other personal details at any time, by logging in to your profile and selecting My Profile > My Details. From there, edit your details and then select ‘Save’.

We’ll provide feedback after the online assessment stage is completed, to help you understand how you went. 

You’ll receive generalised feedback after the online assessment stage has closed if you complete both the SOVA and the Vervoe online assessments. 

You will also receive generalised feedback should you be unsuccessful following the one-way video recording assessment. The feedback you receive is the only feedback we can provide, given the high volume of candidates and the assessment tools that are used.

We cannot give you the answers to the assessments.  

Due to privacy reasons, only candidates will be able to see their own outcome and feedback.

We will only be asking you to provide referee details if you meet the benchmark for the online assessments and progress to the referee check stage.

By asking for referee details at this stage (as opposed to when you’re submitting your application), we can ensure we have current referee details. It’s important that you tell your referee that you’ve nominated them to provide a report, as soon as possible. If your referee fails to provide their referee report, you will not progress to the next stage. 

If you progress to the referee check stage, you will need to provide details for one referee. This must be someone who can make informed comments about your skills for the roles being advertised, such as your current manager. 

If you’ve only worked with your current manager for a short period of time and you feel they aren’t the best person to provide a referee report, other appropriate referees include: 

• current manager’s supervisor 
• previous manager 
• mentor  
• teacher 
• sports coach 
• community elder 
• volunteer leader (for example, leader of a religious organisation).

It’s not appropriate to include a family member or friend as a referee. If you aren’t sure who to list as a referee, please let us know as soon as possible.   

 It’s important to let your referee know that you’re nominating them, and that when contacted for a report, we’ll provide a deadline. If your referee fails to provide their referee report, you will not progress to the next stage. 

If you feel your current manager isn’t able to make informed comments about your skills for these types of roles, you must nominate someone that can. Other appropriate referees include: 

• current manager’s supervisor 
• previous manager 
• mentor  
• teacher 
• sports coach 
• community elder 
• volunteer leader (for example, leader of a religious organisation).

If your current manager is unable to complete a referee report due to a potential conflict of interest or another reason, you can nominate an alternate appropriate referee. You must ensure this is someone who can make informed comments about your skills for the roles, such as: 

• current manager’s supervisor 
• previous manager 
• mentor  
• teacher 
• sports coach 
• community elder 
• volunteer leader (for example, leader of a religious organisation).

It’s not appropriate to include a family member, friend, colleague or co-worker as a referee. If you aren’t sure who to list as a referee, please let us know as soon as possible.  

It’s important to let your referee know that you’re nominating them, and that when contacted for a report, we’ll provide a deadline.

If your referee fails to provide their referee report, you will not progress to the next stage.  

Extensions will not be granted.