Queensland Government employment

The Queensland Government is committed to supporting ex-Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel and veterans find meaningful employment within the Queensland public sector.

Transitioning from ADF service to civilian life can be challenging. We are committed to providing the tools you need to successfully move into a different type of service—as public servants making a difference to the people and communities of Queensland.

Find out what you need to know when applying for a role with the Queensland public sector.

• Skill to Sector Role Guide
• Online Skill to Sector Job Search
• Rewards and benefits
• Resume and cover letter
• Job interview tips

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Skills to Sector Role Guide

The Skill to Sector Role Guide has been developed to identify equivalent ranks from the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force with roles and leadership capabilities within the Queensland public sector.

It is important to note that this is a guide only and all applications will be assessed on their own merit. Factors such as your tenure or advancement within a rank, the depth of your experience, your qualifications, technical specialisation, and your eligibility for additional ADF allowances may have a bearing on the precision of your rank matching and remuneration alignment.

Employment within the Queensland Government is diverse and varied. The Skill to Sector Role Guide covers the following streams:

• Administrative (AO)—duties include various administrative, customer, financial, information and advisory services.
• Professional (PO)—duties reflect a combination of practitioner and/or specialist responsibilities or an identified specialisation/management function in a profession (e.g. engineering, science or information technology).
• Operational (OO)—duties cover various operational areas requiring a range of functional skills.
• Technical (TO)—duties include a combination of practitioner and/or specialist roles that are attached to mandatory levels of experience/qualification.

Visit the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission website to view awards across all Queensland Government departments.

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Skill to Sector Job Search

The interactive Skills to Sector tool allows you to search vacant positions based on your previous role within the ADF. It identifies matching pay scales and outlines role capabilities within the Queensland Government.

Due to the broad pay scales within the ADF, some search results can be wide-ranging. Applicants should take into account their career history, skills and qualifications when applying for a new role.

Leadership competencies for Queensland describe what highly effective, everyday leadership looks like in the Queensland public sector. It supports our employees, at all levels, to lead and work in new ways.

Leadership streams reflect the balance between leadership and technical skills required of an individual across five leadership streams:

• individual contributor
• team leader
• program manager
• executive
• chief executive.

You can also view the Queensland Public Service Officers and Other Employees Award – State 2015 (updated 2020).

Step 1: Choose your service

• Navy
• Army
• Air Force

Step 2: Choose your rank

Select Commander Captain Commodore Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant Sub Lieutenant Acting Sub Lieutenant Senior Warrant Officer Chief Petty Officer Petty Officer Leading Seaman Able Seaman Seaman

Select Lieutenant Colonel Colonel Brigadier Major Captain Lieutenant Second lieutenant Warrant Officer 1 Warrant Officer 2 Sergeant Staff Sergeant Corporal Lance Corporal Private Proficient Private

Select Wing Commander Group Captain Air Commodore Squadron Leader Flight Lieutenant Pilot Officer Flying Officer Warrant Officer Flight Sergeant Sergeant Corporal Leading Aircraftsman / Aircraftswoman Aircraftsman / Aircraftwoman

are the equivalent stream or work level.

Step 3: Add keywords to search for comparative job classifications.

Search Jobs

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Rewards and benefits

In addition to general employee benefits, we also recognise additional leave and service for veterans. These include:

• Defence Reserve Forces Leave—paid and unpaid leave for those still serving in a part time capacity
• Special War Service Credit of Sick Leave—provides 13 weeks additional sick leave for DVA recognised service injuries (Warlike and Non-Warlike service injuries)
• Recognition of Prior Service—sick leave recognition (up to 5 days credit per year of defence service) and recognition of Long Service Leave.

Rewards and benefits Queensland Government employees can access include:

• flexible work arrangements
• health and wellbeing programs
• competitive salary
• superannuation
• study assistance
• employment security.

Individual agencies may also have additional organisation-specific benefits. Find out more about the total rewards package.

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Resume and cover letter

Your resume and cover letter are your first chance to convince an employer you are the right person for the job. Non-ADF employers may not be familiar with the meaning or responsibilities of your former rank in the ADF, so you will need to translate these in your resume and cover letter to align with civilian life.

There are resume and cover letter development resources available. Some additional tips to consider include:

• highlighting your training and development
• don’t use acronyms or terminology that only make sense in a ADF environment
• don’t forget ‘soft skills’ such as communication, negotiation, leadership and customer focus
• articulating your achievements using metrics, facts and figures—using numbers to highlight your accomplishments will help translate your experiences
• having someone read your resume and cover letter to check their understanding of the content within—feedback is crucial.

Read more about what to include in your resume and look at examples of cover letters.

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Job interview tips

If your application is short-listed, you may be invited to an interview by a selection panel.

Find out how to prepare for a job interview, including tips before, during and after your interview.

Additional tips include:

• Before the interview:
  • revisit the advertisement and the selection criteria. You should get an idea of what type of questions you might be asked in the interview and what the selection panel could be looking for
• During the interview:
  • use the S.T.A.R method to answer your interview questions. This method will ensure you provide the right level of detail and evidence to support your answers. S.T.A.R stands for:
    • Situation: Set the scene. Where were you? What was the situation? What was the environment? What needed resolving? This scene setting should be related to the specific event, and not a generalised description.
    • Task: What task were you personally responsible for. What was your goal?
    • Action: What did you do to achieve this goal? This is where you get to really highlight your efforts, process, decisions or any other relevant action. Really sell yourself, especially if you encountered challenges along the way.
    • Result: What was the outcome of your actions? This is an opportunity to ensure the interviewer understands the connection between your behaviour and any positive results that followed. You may also be asked to include any learnings.
  • apply more civilian language or context to your interview questions
• After the interview:
  • be prepared for additional assessment tools after the interview. This may include work samples, psychometric assessments or a second interview.