RECRUITMENT
PROCESS
When you apply for a role, we want you to
be prepared so you can demonstrate your
skills and experience in the best possible
light. To help you be better prepared the
following document will advise you on
our Recruitment process and what to
expect. It is our policy to ensure that all
recruitment is based on merit, and that
our process is fair and transparent.
APPLICATION PROCESS
When applying for a role, we will ask you to answer a small
number of online questions and to attach a CV (also referred to
as Resume). You are only able to attach one document to your
application. If you wish to include a cover letter or statement
this should be contained in the same document as your CV.
This information will be reviewed to assess how closely your
experience matches the requirements of the role we are
recruiting for.
TIPS FOR YOUR COVER LETTER
Briefly detail your relevant skills and expertise to match the key requirements for the role as detailed in the advertisement and role description.
Tell us why you think you’re the best person for the role and why we should hire you.
TIPS FOR YOUR CV
Review the advertisement and role description closely. Identify the key requirements of the role and ensure your CV includes the experience that best matches the position’s key requirements.
It can help to draw on all your experience and then edit it down – ensuring you tailor your experience to the role you’re applying for.
List your qualifications and career history starting with your most recent employment.
Provide a summary of your past and present responsibilities and key achievements.
Be clear about what you are good at – ask friends and family for feedback as they can help you to describe yourself and your strengths.
Avoid using too many specialised terms or jargon (particularly if it isn’t well known or is specific to only one organisation).
Spell check. Watch errors and spelling mistakes – these are obvious to someone looking at your CV with fresh eyes, so have a friend or family member review your CV.
SHORTLISTING
All applications and CVs are reviewed following the closing
date on the advertising. Applicants who are the closest match
to the position requirements will be invited to an interview.
BEHAVIOURAL INTERVIEW
Interviews are a great way to find out how we could work
together – to make sure the role is good for both of us.
If you’re invited to an interview, you’ll be contacted by the
hiring manager to confirm the interview details. You will also
receive an email, and your Careers homepage will keep a
record of the interview details.
Interviews will generally be carried out by at least two Council
staff members. At the interview, you’ll be asked behaviouralbased interview questions. These are open-ended questions
that ask you to describe an experience or event that you were
involved with. If you have limited work experience, you could
describe an event or experience from a non-work setting. This
will help the interview panel to assess how you might deal with
similar situations that may arise during the course of the role.
Come prepared for the interview and make sure you have the
questions you want to ask about the role and about us. The
interview is just as much to help you decide whether the Council
is right for you, as it is for us to assess if you’re right for the job.
INTERVIEW TIPS
You may find the STAR technique useful to help you answer
behavioural interview questions. Using the STAR acronym to
move from Situation (S) through to Result (R), helps to ensure
you capture all the necessary points as you narrate the events
to the interview panel. It’s important that you focus on your
actions, even if they were only a part of a larger picture.
S
T
A
R
Provide an overview of the situation you
were in, why it had come about, and who
Situation was involved. Ensure the interview panel
has the necessary context for them to
understand the situation.
assessments. Assessments will vary depending on the role
and can range from work sample exercises (for example, if you
are applying for a lifeguard role we will ask you to undertake
a swimming assessment), delivering a presentation so we can
assess your knowledge on a specialist topic or your presenting
skills, to psychometric assessments.
REFERENCE CHECKS
Reference checks are another mandatory part of our
recruitment process.
When applying for a position, you will be asked to provide a
minimum of two referees. At your interview you will be asked
to confirm if you are happy for us to contact your referees. This
is a requirement of the Privacy Act 2003, however by asking
this question it does not guarantee we will contact
your referees.
If you are a preferred applicant, following the interview, we will
contact your referees to validate your suitability for the role.
OFFER
Tactics/
Task
Describe the range of options you
considered to meet your objective. Explain
how you made the decision of which tactic/
tasks to action and what you thought or felt
during that process.
Once interviews and reference checks have been completed,
a decision will be made by the interview panel as to which
applicant will be offered the position. If you are the preferred
applicant, the hiring manager will contact you and make a
verbal offer.
Action
Delve into the specifics of the tactic that
was decided on. Describe what you did and
said when actioning and/or implementing
the tactic or task.
Following the verbal offer, we will send you an offer pack
containing our terms of employment. All offer paperwork will
also be online on your Careers homepage for you to access
immediately.
Result
Explain the results and what was achieved.
What did you accomplish? Talk about what
you learnt from the experience.
PRE-EMPLOYMENT CHECKS
Use ‘STAR’ technique to answer behavioural interview questions
WHĀNAU AND SUPPORT PERSONS
AT INTERVIEWS
If you are invited to an interview, you are welcome to bring
whānau or support persons. Please let us know in advance so
that a suitable venue can be arranged.
REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS
It is important to us that no applicant is disadvantaged during
our selection process (interview or assessments). If you require
reasonable adjustments during the selection process, please let
us know in advance so we can prepare and ensure your needs
are adequately prepared for.
Some of our roles require us to undertake pre-employment
checks to ensure you are able to carry out the duties and
responsibilities of the position so as not to cause harm to
yourself, members of the public or to the Council. If preemployment checks are a requirement of the position, we’ll be
sure to let you know when we advertise the vacancy.
If you are offered a role that requires these checks, the hiring
manager (and your offer paperwork) will inform you that the
offer will be conditional until after the pre-employment checks
have been passed to a satisfactory standard.
UNSUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS
We don’t want to keep people waiting on a decision, so we
endeavour to let people know as soon as a decision has been
made. Depending on the stage of the process, you will either
receive an email or a phone call to inform you of the decision.
AFTER THE INTERVIEW
ANY QUESTIONS
We’ll tell you at the end of the interview when you can expect
to hear back from us. In some cases we’ll ask you to come
back for a second interview, or ask for you to complete some
If you have any further questions, please contact the hiring
manager who is advertising the vacancy, or email our
recruitment team at [email protected].