Australian Public Service (APS)

Arrangements for entry to the APS

Some APS agencies already manage their own recruitment while others have used the centralised recruitment service managed by Recruitment Services Australia (RSA). The RSA service ceased to operate on 1 July 2000. While RSA will continue to meet agency recruitment needs and may undertake some test campaigns in certain areas, interested people should keep a look out for vacancies arising with individual agencies from now on rather than relying on the major test campaigns which RSA has held in major centres throughout Australia until now.

There is no longer a central one-only test for graduates wishing to work for the public service.

How to find out about vacancies in the APS

A number of jobs are advertised in the general press. The one sure way of seeing all APS vacancies is to look in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette which is published each Thursday. Most jobs in the Gazette are open to applicants who are not already in the APS. The closing date for applications is normally two weeks from the date of publication.

The positions advertised in the Gazette can be downloaded from the APS jobs site.

Graduate positions

There is now a website carrying a summary of most APS Graduate Opportunities.

Advertisements for graduate positions are usually placed in the public press and The Gazette during March to August. Information about APS Graduate Recruitment that has been forwarded to the University will be entered on the Graduate Recruitment Bulletin. The Internet sites of these agencies may have information on how they recruit their graduates. A good starting point to find both Commonwealth and State Government agencies is the Australian Government home page.