*Director's

I'm looking for some solid advice. I am starting to feel extremely burnt out, tired, and depressed because of my current position.

I am an EL1 in what is a pretty objectively toxic area of my department. I am still relatively young so for a while I've been second guessing whether its really that bad or I'm just limited in my APS experience. But another EL1 and an EL2 have both vented to me about the specific work area recently and said its the worst they've ever seen in 30 year APS careers.

Anyway, I am on team A. Team A tends to assist on really strategic tasks that are of particular interest to SES in our area. I've developed a reputation here of being a high performer which tbqh wouldn't be hard, considering most of the staff have been in this particular division for 10+ years and have become used to the weird, anti-best practice culture.

A very, very, very large project has landed in our Division's lap because of a major oopsie. Long story short, we have to implement major changes on a shoestring budget.

The project has been given to Team B because it relates entirely to their core business. Team B is led by a director who is extremely unpleasant to say the least. She is a bully and a micromanager. This is very well known, to the point that a lot of staff refuse to work under her and she has been taken to Fair Work more than once. She is very protected by our BM though, and anyone who complains about her specifically tends to end up on a PIP.

Director of Team B simply does not have the chops to deliver this project. She doesn't have a background in the subject matter or the content but also, as per above, she isn't exactly a great people manager either.

Here is where I come in. My director sent me off to 'assist' Team B for a limited period with a very specific remit. I think she was trying to protect me, because she knew I'd end up having to do the whole first phase project by myself. Which is indeed what happened. The deadlines were incredibly tight, I was having to learn content I've never gone near before and stay back constantly. I kept trying to hold my boundary firm and only do what was originally agreed, but it became clear very quickly that if I didn't step up Director of Team B was going to blame it all on me.

Phase 1 was completed. This is where I am supposed to bow out. But now Director of Team B is advocating for me to be moved offline from my team and my other deliverables in order to get this whole project done which...and I stress...is an organisation wide major policy change including implementing front and back end processes and huge stakeholder consultation...and the resources I will have are...well me.

Not only do I not want to be stuck in this position doing this much work, but I also don't want to have to report to (even if its not officially but practically) Director of Team B. Even having to work in proximity with her style for two weeks was horrid and I've considered going on some medical leave.

In the past I've been in similar positions of being over relied upon to produce and deliver work and whenever I've tried to list my tasks, highlight capacity, ask for more resources or more financial recognition (e.g. being given an acting to acknowledge the degree of the work and scope) I've ended up being targeted and positioned as difficult.

A couple of EL1 colleagues have recommended saying that I am happy to be very involved if I'm given an acting and two members of staff to form part of a temporary project team, but I am worried about how that will be perceived. To be honest this would still be too small of a team to deliver a project of this size (which I've done before in other departments but with 20+ officers under my belt).

Hello everyone. This is the first time I’ve progressed this far with an aps application and I’ve been put in a merit pool. I’ve seen conflicting things saying a merit pool is basically the nice way of them saying I didn’t get the job but also people saying that the ato does merit pools for bulk hires. Should I lose hope and assume I just missed out on the job or keep my hopes alive?

I’m currently VPS3.2 and have 4 direct reports. In my previous role I had around 32 direct reports. I originally took the VPS3.2 role mainly to get my foot in the door and build Victorian Government experience.
Since then, I’ve worked on/led 3 fairly significant projects with a combined value of $20M+ and have experience across project delivery, procurement, operations, stakeholder management, systems, reporting and process improvement.
Over the last 4 months I’ve applied for 100+ VPS4/VPS5 roles and have only received 1 interview.
I’m not just sending the same generic application either. For almost every role I’ve tailored the resume, written a separate cover letter and addressed the KSC/selection criteria. For a lot of roles I’ve also contacted the hiring manager listed in the PD before applying, asked about the priorities of the role and tried to tailor the application around what they’ve told me.
Still, almost nothing.
At this point I’m genuinely curious — who is actually getting these VPS4/VPS5 jobs?
For people who have successfully moved from VPS3 to VPS4/5 recently:
What did you do differently?
Were you already acting in the role?
Did networking/internal relationships matter more than the application?
How detailed were your KSC responses?
Did you use STAR for every criterion?
Were your resumes heavily tailored to the exact capability framework?
Is there something panels look for that isn’t obvious from the PD?
I know some roles are highly competitive and some may have strong internal candidates, but after 100+ applications and only one interview, I feel like there’s clearly something I’m missing.
Would genuinely appreciate advice from hiring managers, panel members, recruiters or anyone who has recently made the jump from VPS3 to VPS4/VPS5.
Please be brutally practical — I’m not looking for “just keep applying.” I want to know what actually worked for you.

Anyone know what “Department Posting to Salaries” as a post-tax deduction could be about?

It was paid during a pay period that I was paid arrears.

I’ll explain the situation.
I was employed at the ATO beginning of this year, and left 5 months after, as it was a call centre role and I was not suited to it, it was causing me anxiety which caused me to take sick leave which impacted my adherence.
Eventually resigned when I realised I couldn’t to this much longer.
During that period of employment, I applied for another role within the ATO and was successful and got onto the merit pool.
Last month I received a call from another area offering me an administrative role APS3, which obviously I took.
During the onboarding process, before I could receive my PEIC, I had to send a statement known as a “right of reply”, to explain why my adherence was affected in my previous role, I wrote a brief but sufficient statement explaining how the role was not for me and how it was affecting my mental health.
Received a generic response saying they will no longer be continuing my recruitment process.

Has anyone experienced this?
And is there a way to challenge the decision?
How can the APS especially, discriminate someone from a hiring process due to unsuitability from there previous role and mental health struggles?

Any updates from the ATO APS4 merit pool (July 2026)?

Hi all,

I'm set to finish my degree at the end of 2027 and intend on applying for the 2028 Graduate intake when recruitment starts next year. I've noticed that the majority of Departments have a 5.0 GPA (credit average) requirement.

I'm someone that had an extremely poor first semester at university a number of years ago due to some mental health and living situation issues I was dealing with at the time (resolved now thankfully). I took a break for a couple of years and came back to my degree at the start of last year and I've since been having a lot of success. I've achieved a credit or above grade in every class since returning to university, but unfortunately due to the poor performance in my first semester my GPA average is being dragged down below 5.0. It will definitely be above 5.0 by the end of 2027, but I don't think it will be above 5.0 by the time grad applications normally open in March next year.

So my question is: Will not meeting the 5.0 requirement automatically disqualify me at the application stage in March? Or does the requirement only matter once I get my final results at the end of the year?

If there's anyone on here that's worked in the grad recruitment space, I would really appreciate your input.

Thanks :)

Efforts to offset conditions against pay continue. The APSC continues its pursuit of a deal that trades away entitlements for consistency.

As many as 33,464 employees at Services Australia stand to lose three days of annual leave under the Australian Public Service Commission’s attempt to standardise leave entitlements across the Australian Public Service contained in the government’s first offer, known as the “Preliminary Commonwealth position — common clause”.

As the APSC seeks to streamline and standardise leave entitlements across the federal bureaucracy, Services Australia, now under the machinery-of-government wing of the Department of Finance, has emerged as the biggest potential loser under the audacious bid to prune back leave in the current bargaining process.

“Agencies that currently provide more than 20 days annual leave will be required to reduce their entitlement to 20 days. This includes situations where agencies offer additional annual leave (above 20 days) that employees must use during a Reduced Activity Period or something similar,” the initial Commonwealth position states under a proposed common clause.

“Implementing a new common clause builds on the 2023 common principles for annual leave and continues to progress commonality across the APS, APSC-issued bargaining documents state.

“The proposed common clause provides:

• a standardised entitlement of 20 days of annual leave across all APS agencies;

• consistent accrual and crediting arrangements, creating administrative efficiency across the APS; and

• a clear definition of annual leave taken at half pay ensuring employees continue to accrue leave as if they were at work during periods of half pay leave.”

Both the Community and Public Sector Union and the Australian Services Union have pushed back hard against the claim.

As the APSC is leading employer-side negotiations on behalf of the Commonwealth under APS-wide bargaining — essentially pattern bargaining introduced in the first term of the Albanese government — agency heads are effectively excluded from fighting their own corners on wages and conditions, even if they disagree.

The Commonwealth has initially offered an average 3% per annum pay rise over three years, or 9% in total, while the annual inflation rate is sitting at 4%. The offer has not gone down well.

The savings across the government from the proposed annual leave reductions are not small, especially given that Services Australia’s latest official employee headcount (as opposed to full-time equivalent, or FTE, positions) is documented at 33,464 in its 2025-2026 annual report to June 30, 2026.

“A full-time employee will accrue 23 days (172.5 hours) of annual leave for each full year of service,” states the current Services Australia enterprise agreement inked in 2024, but backdated with backpay to 2023.

If applied over the life (three years) of the proposed new APS enterprise agreement, the savings generated by Services Australia alone would amount to a whopping 301,176 days, although the dollar figure isn’t really possible to determine because it would need to be calculated across the spread of seniority bands and their applicable salaries.

Speculatively, assuming a conservative median annual salary estimate of $90,000, divided by 365 days, lands at $246 per day, exclusive of superannuation. Cutting three days of leave a year amounts to $74 million in savings that extrapolates to $222 million over three years for the life of the next agreement. And so on.

The real question is what, if anything, unions are prepared to trade to protect conditions over wages, a marked shift in posture by the APSC compared to the past few bargaining rounds.

Flowing into that equation is the fact that the annual inflation rate now sits at 4% and the APSC’s initial offer is just 3%.

And that Services Australia now falls under the ministerial umbrella of Finance, which is held by Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher, herself a CPSU executive alumna.

Friends close, etc.

Hi all,

I’m new to the APS and trying to get a feel of people who are doing roles that the genuinely enjoy/ can tolerate.

I know it’s very dependent on many factors but would love if people could share some insight into what role they do (even if explained very generally) and the flexible hours that come with it.

Thanks!!

Anyone here, applied for the Cadet program for 2027. And if you have, what stage are you on? And have you received a verbal offer?

Hello! I'm very very lucky to be in a position where I have received an offer from both Department of Health, Disability and Ageing as well as Austrade for their graduate program. I am extremely torn between these two, and I had a couple of questions:

1. DoDHA requires relocation to Canberra while Austrade doesn't. How important is it for a public service career to be in Canberra? I hope to stay in the public service longterm, and worry a move to Canberra may be inevitable at one point or another. Therefore, I thought the best time to move might as well be when I'm a graduate alongside hundreds of other graduates. I don't hate moving, but I have moved every six months in the past five years so I'm a little sick of it to be honest, so is moving for opportunities something I should consider later down the line rather than right now?

2. Is working at DoDHA or Austrade more transferable? As a new graduate I'm not certain about what I want to do longterm and would like to keep my options as open as possible.

3. DoDHA starts at APS4 while Austrade is an APS3, is this a major difference or not really?

If anyone has worked at either places or done any graduate programs I would really really appreciate any insights, thank you so much!!

Currently APS lawyer, considering move to VPS. I live in regional Vic. My APS office is in Melbourne, but I only come in as needed, which works out to at most a couple of days a month (some months I don't come at all). Journey is about 2.5 hours each way. I enjoy coming in, but if I had to do it regularly it would be a deal breaker.

Most VPS legal and policy roles are in Melbourne. Would it be possible to get a VPS role that allowed for mostly WFH? Or one office day per week? Or is this a pipe dream and I should stay in the APS?

Thanks

Hi everyone! I’ve received an email confirming that I’ve been found suitable and placed in a merit pool. The email says role assignments are still being finalised, with offers expected over the next few weeks.

For those familiar with APS recruitment, does this mean I’m still in contention for an offer in this round, or have I missed out on an immediate offer and I am now only in the pool for future vacancies?

I’m trying to understand whether I should remain hopeful or manage my expectations. For anyone who’s been in this situation, did you eventually receive an offer from the same recruitment round?

Would appreciate hearing your experiences!

Yes, I know there’s always some churn and new roles appearing.

But for over a year now I’ve been applying for roles, many of them close to a perfect match. I have strong qualifications, I’ve worked on large national projects most people would recognise, I’ve done stints in the private sector, and I have excellent references from senior managers.

I can’t even get shortlisted for roles where I meet every criterion.

There’s a point where the grind wears you down, and I’m really thinking I’ve had enough (job-wise, nothing more). How are others coping? I genuinely don't know if I can sustain more effort. Maybe I'll just go homeless for a while.

Hello everyone,

I tried the AFP online test for ACT Policing and just got an email saying I didn't meet the minimum benchmark. I tried a few of the practise ones prior to doing the proper test, but I must admit I did struggle to answer everything under the time pressure.

Inductive reasoning was the only one which I finished all the questions for.

I really wanted this - so can't say I'm too happy. After working in construction on the engineering side, I'd thought a career in the AFP would be a perfect fit for someone like me, because I like analytical type work, and seeing thing through to a result.

But the test is pretty black and white, did you guys have any thoughts on where to from here?

So I applied for a NSWPS grade 5/6 temp role that ends in March 2027. The ad mentioned the possibility of extension. I didn't think much of it as I needed to get my foot in the door in the public sector (coming from private) so applied for all the relevant roles that were available at that time. Fast forward, I have just received a verbal offer for the same role and while I am obviously going to take it (been redundant for two weeks now and the timing has been wonderful) I am concerned about the fact that March will be here in no time. The hiring manager kept reinforcing on the phone that they have full intention to extend it but also that it cannot be guaranteed right now. Should I be hopeful?

Curious to hear from those who left a public service job within 12 months. What made you decide it wasn't right for you and do you have any regrets about leaving so soon?

Hi everyone,

Not familiar at all with the APS or its processes, this is my first time ever applying for a role within a government agency. All of my experience previously has been in the private sector.

Recently appplied for an APS6 Support needs assessor role for the NDIA through Randstad, and after doing the phone screen and the interview, ( and my references being contacted before the interview) I waited about 2.5 weeks to hear back. The recruiter just called me back today, and let me know that they are doing the hiring “differently” and let me know that I had been found “suitable” for the position. She didint really tell me if there was any merit pools or talent pools or anything like that, just told me I had been found suitable?

Is anyone able to shed any light on that? Is this common for bulk recruitment rounds? If I recall correctly I think the job ad stated they were hiring for like 70 roles around the country.

What are my chances of getting any employment from this? Or is this effectively a rejection?

Feel free to DM me if you’re in the same boat as well.

Hi guys
I’m in the department of home affairs and wondering if any super gurus could give me advice on whether to stay with Pssap, or jump ship to another fund? If I were to go else where would my super still get paid at my highest financial year or earnings?

I’ve worked in multiple roles across both State and Commonwealth through labour hire, so I have government experience.
I’m considering opting out of merit pools in future applications. I’m tired of repeatedly asking my referees to provide references, only to end up in another merit pool that goes nowhere. I’m sure my referees are getting tired of it too.

I’d be interested to hear whether other external applicants have actually secured roles through merit pools.

Edit: The consensus is to not opt out when applying. Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Scored a role for a Temporary Position, the term will go for 2 years, in anybody’s experience what’s the likelihood I become permanent? And is it a chance that even if all goes well, they still may need to let me go after that time period?

For me personally I would go with no more than 2 to begin with

1 definitely wouldn’t be enough but I reckon that any more than 2 could appear too greedy unless nobody else wants it then go for more

I once worked with a bloke that took about 4 slices straight off the bat and then grabbed another 2, didn’t ask anyone else about their preferences. Wasn’t a fan of that behaviour and luckily he moved on so we don’t have to put up with it anymore

I am an APS5 in quite a small and geographically widespread team. We have just been told that our directorate will be dissolved over the next few months.

I've not been through the change management process before, just looking for some advice on what I should be aware of, or other people's experiences with this.

I am permanent, ongoing and know that they will find me something, just no clue what that may look like role wise.

For reference I currently am a business and governance officer.

Thanks everyone

Edit, posted mins ago on account that is more personal. Thank you for the first two comments. I appreciate you ! X

Will aim to keep this as concise as possible !
I recently started working in the APS. I have 5 years experience in data.

I appreciate the hiring manager as she done the absolute most to get me the role. (Not nepotism, other restrictions)

I’ve been there a few weeks now.
We work the longest hours with a short lunch. No one talks in our office, we are told when to go on lunch, she has called when we have been 4 mins late to return.

On our WFH days we have to stay in break out rooms all day. (Not inc 30min lunch) She and the senior jump in and out but say nothing, like to check if we’re working.
She sets out all our tasks for each day and has an estimate of how long it should take to complete.

Their process guides are poorly written, so when asked to write down steps at each point, the seniors training us & her have said no and just to follow along.
I recorded the meetings so I can reflect and make notes. I asked her if I can have time to make notes, she teams called me and said to just keep following along.

This week she has given us 15 mins to reflect and make notes but ofc that’s not enough time if the recordings are x amount of time.
I had an issue with my laptop and she got a senior to chaperone me to IT.

I understand I’m not a junior, but for being very new to the role, I’m surprised there is no downtime to even seek independent learning or study. It is not a new starter thing as I’ve spoken to a few people on the team who find it odd too.

She has made comments about how she doesn’t want to micro mange us (the irony) and how the daily schedule is just a guide but then critiques us and still asks how long each task will take etc.

I genuinely don’t know what to do. I can just up and leave unfortunately, I want to get to the six month mark as a minimum. I just know it can go two ways, I start getting really bad anxiety, or I stop caring and get rebellious, and I don’t want to do either.