During the 2022 Garma Festival, senior executive delegates agreed to pursue an initiative to increase First Nations SES representation across the APS. To achieve the 3% target committed under the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy 2020-2024, 100 SES would need to be recruited.
Increased representation, harnessing the skills and perspectives of First Nations senior leaders, and involvement in decision making is key to enabling better outcomes for First Nations people. The SES100 initiative will also contribute to making the APS more representative of the Australian public it serves, with the flow-on effect of increasing cultural capability and awareness.
The SES100 recruitment initiative was intentionally designed to be culturally safe and applied an ‘end user’ focused recruitment process to maximise the engagement of highly skilled candidates. By delivering the co-sponsored SES100 initiative, the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) and the APSC have profoundly transformed the way the APS conceptualises and operationalises the attraction and retention of First Nations leaders. Laying a pathway that not only seeks to addresses historical power imbalances by ensuring First Nations voices and perspectives are represented at the highest decision-making level, but also sets a powerful precedent and call to action to other non-APS workforces, which supports broader systematic change under the Closing the Gap agenda, particularly on Priority Reform 3, transforming Government Organisations.
A core enabler of this was the innovative focus on candidate care, which went above traditional APS recruitment. This included a 6-week targeted advising process, which promoted the SES100 across numerous sectors, such as community controlled and academic sectors, in addition to traditional APS recruitment avenues. A candidate information pack was developed with First Nations artwork and written in conversational, plain language and drawn from the APS’s Employee Value Proposition. It contained links to virtual information sessions, four of which were held, facilitated by the APSC and featuring SES guest speakers who shared their own experiences and assisted with a question-and-answer session. Applicant contact was actively managed and pre-interview sessions were facilitated by the recruitment provider to offer preparation guidance.
SES100 outcomes
- Over 200 applications were received in the first SES100 round, with over 60% of applicants outside the APS and 39 progressing to the merit pool.
- As at 30 August 2024, 23 candidates have accepted offers across the APS, which is an exciting result.
- At the time of the 2022 Garma discussion, the APS had 44 First Nations SES (out of approximately 3,000 SES), it is expected the number of First Nations SES to now be around 80.
- We are on track to increase this to 100 by June 2025.
For more information on SES100, contact: firstnationsunit@apsc.gov.au