Recruitment process

The application form must accompany all applications. Please ensure you include details of your experience, qualifications and strengths which you consider relevant to the position(s) and its requirements. If you have any difficulty with understanding any part of the job description, please contact the person indicated in the advertisement.

Equal Employment Opportunities

The Ministry of Education has a policy of equal employment opportunities. All candidates selected to attend for interview may bring along a whānau or support person. Please let us know when you are invited for interview if you intend to do so.

Preparation for the interview

The interview is our opportunity to meet you, collect information from you about your suitability for the role, and to assess the match between you and the requirements of the position you have applied for. Preparation is key to a successful interview, so before the interview we recommend you:

• Read the position description carefully.  Think about what is required for the role and develop a list of examples to demonstrate you have the necessary skills and abilities.
• Think about the key messages and impressions that you want to give about yourself eg, your strengths.
• Prepare any questions you may want to ask.
• Practice answering interview questions (see the sample question below) and prepare any examples that will help you to answer the likely questions and show your suitability for the role.
• Find about the ministry by looking through our website, or by reading our Statement of Intent or Annual Report publications.

What to expect at a ministry interview

The ministry conducts panel behavioural interviews.

Behavioural interviews are a style of interview that require you to provide examples of when you have done something specific in your working or personal life. These examples will be directly related to the competencies of the role you have applied for. For example, a typical question may be - "Tell me about a time when you had a complex problem to solve - what was the problem and how did you go about solving it?". We are looking for you to describe a specific event that you were involved in. Other probing questions may follow the initial question.

At the end of the interview you will be given the opportunity to ask any questions you have prepared.

Psychometric assessment and referees

Our selection process may include psychometric assessment and will include reference checking.

We use psychometric assessments to see how well a person will perform in a particular job or environment. We will only test for aspects or factors relevant to job you have applied for eg, critical reasoning and numeracy. Alternatively we may use work samples or presentations as part of the assessment process.

We will also check references of preferred appointees. Your referees will not be contacted without first seeking your permission in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy Act.

The appointment

The guiding principles of the ministry's recruitment policies and processes are:

• Selection on merit
• Open, honest, lawful and transparent processes
• Valuing diversity
• Protecting privacy.

We will inform shortlisted applicants if their application has been successful or not as soon as possible after the interview.  As Ministry of Education employees have five working days to request a review of an appointment under Section 65 of the State Sector Act, most appointments are provisional.

We keep all personal information about you (your cover letter, CV and application forms) until the end of the review period after which all personal information (excluding statistical information) belonging to unsuccessful candidates is destroyed.

Pre-employment checks

It is very important that the people who work for us are honest and trustworthy. As part of our pre-employment checking process we will conduct criminal convictions screening. We will contact you prior to performing these checks. The Ministry of Education requires you to disclose all or any convictions unless they are covered by the Criminal Records (Clean Slate Act) 2004.

Verification of qualifications

Our pre-employment screening also includes verification of academic qualifications, current practicing certificates and membership of professional bodies (if required for the role). If appointed you will be required to provide original copies of your qualifications for verification.

Any assistance of questions?

If you have any questions or need assistance with your application or the interview process, you should contact the person named in the job advertisement.