How to Apply to Victoria Government

13 min read Last updated April 20, 2026 2 open positions
Blake Crosley
Blake Crosley Researched using publicly available information, hiring data, and ATS analysis.

Key Takeaways

  • Victoria Government is the largest employer in Victoria — approximately 330,000 across the wider public sector and ~55,000 in the core VPS, coordinated from Melbourne by the Department of Premier and Cabinet under Premier Jacinta Allan (ALP).
  • The single front door is careers.vic.gov.au, a custom VPSC-operated government portal — not Workday, Taleo or a commercial ATS. You apply directly in that system after creating an account.
  • Most ongoing VPS roles require Australian citizenship or permanent residency. Visa holders should check the job ad carefully before applying.
  • Hiring is capability-based: your resume, cover letter and interview answers are scored against the VPS Capability Framework and the Key Selection Criteria in the Position Description. Address them explicitly.
  • Interviews are panel-based (typically three members), structured, behavioural (STAR format) with one or more scenario questions — identical questions for all candidates, scored against a rubric.
  • Current context (2026): the Allan government is under fiscal pressure, has directed public servants back to the office three-plus days per week, is tightening SES numbers and contractor spend, and is investing in AI and digital under DGS — hybrid work, yes; fully remote, largely no.
  • Targeted / identified roles for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, and other specified groups are genuine and sit alongside talent pools, graduate programs and apprenticeship pathways — worth exploring if eligible.

About Victoria Government

The Victorian Government is the largest single employer in the state of Victoria, Australia, with approximately 330,000 people working across the broader public sector when teachers, nurses, police, emergency services and statutory authorities are counted alongside the core Victorian Public Service (VPS). The VPS itself — the policy, corporate and administrative backbone — sits at around 55,000 employees, with the majority based in central Melbourne, particularly the CBD, Treasury Place, and 1 Treasury Place / 2 Lonsdale Street / 50 Lonsdale Street clusters. The Premier is Jacinta Allan (Australian Labor Party), and the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) sits at the top of the administrative machinery, coordinating government activity across ministerial portfolios. The structure a candidate needs to understand is the eight core departments that do most of the hiring. Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) handles whole-of-government coordination, First Peoples–State Relations, and the Office for Women. Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) runs the budget and economic policy. Department of Health manages hospital funding, public health, mental health and the Commonwealth relationship. Department of Education is one of the largest single departments — teachers are hired separately by individual schools and regions, while central policy staff are hired as VPS. Department of Justice and Community Safety covers courts, corrections, police policy, consumer affairs and emergency management. Department of Transport and Planning merges the old DoT with planning functions — this is where you'll find infrastructure, Big Build, road and rail policy. Department of Government Services (DGS, created 2023) centralises Service Victoria, digital, procurement and shared services. Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) runs child protection, housing, multicultural affairs and disability. Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) absorbed the old DELWP functions: environment, water, agriculture, forestry and climate. Beyond the departments, a large share of VPS-style jobs sit in agencies and statutory authorities — VicRoads (now inside Transport), Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC, which runs the careers portal), WorkSafe, TAC, Court Services Victoria, IBAC, Victorian Ombudsman, Department of Health entities, Victoria Police civilian staff, CFA, SES, Parks Victoria, Melbourne Water and the public health services (Royal Melbourne, Alfred, Austin, Monash, Peninsula Health and the regional Local Health Service Networks being created under current reforms). If you are not already in Australia, this is the first reality check: the vast majority of VPS roles require Australian citizenship or permanent residency, and many policy and operational roles also require a Working With Children Check, police check, and sometimes an Australian Government security clearance (Baseline / NV1 / NV2). A current working visa alone is usually not enough for ongoing (permanent) VPS positions; fixed-term contracts sometimes accept visa holders but this is role-dependent and increasingly rare. ResumeGeni's advice to overseas applicants is blunt: verify eligibility on the job ad before investing hours in an application. The political context matters because it's shaping hiring right now (2026). The Allan government is operating under significant fiscal pressure following the Commonwealth Games cancellation, Big Build cost overruns and the state's debt trajectory. In late 2024 and through 2025 the government signalled VPS workforce constraints, including reductions in senior executive numbers and reviews of contractor and labour-hire spend. Recruitment freezes have been discussed at departmental level but have not applied uniformly — frontline (health, child protection, transport safety, schools) has continued hiring, while back-office policy and corporate roles have been slower and more competitive. The Premier has also publicly directed public servants back to the office a minimum of three days per week (with some departments pushing for four), reversing the more flexible post-pandemic defaults. Candidates should therefore expect hybrid work, not fully remote, and should not assume the generous flexibility patterns that applied in 2022–2023 still hold. In parallel, the Victorian Government AI Strategy (2024) has created a steady pipeline of roles around responsible AI, data governance, and digital transformation, primarily in DGS and DPC.

Application Process

  1. 1
    Set up an account on careers

    Set up an account on careers.vic.gov.au. This portal is operated by the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) and is the single front door for VPS vacancies, most statutory authorities and many health service roles. The portal is a custom government system (not Workday, SEEK, Taleo or PageUp), so your LinkedIn profile will not auto-fill — plan to enter your career history manually or upload a resume and then edit the parsed fields.

  2. 2
    Search by keyword, occupation group, work type (Ongoing, Fixed term, Casual, Gra

    Search by keyword, occupation group, work type (Ongoing, Fixed term, Casual, Graduate) and grade (VPS 1–7 or equivalent health/teaching/police bands). Save the search and set a job alert — many roles close within 7–10 days of being advertised, and the portal does not re-advertise widely on LinkedIn or SEEK.

  3. 3
    Read the full job advertisement plus the Position Description (PD) PDF

    Read the full job advertisement plus the Position Description (PD) PDF. The PD lists the classification (VPS 3, VPS 5 etc.), salary band, reporting line, and — crucially — the Key Selection Criteria (KSC) or the capabilities from the VPS Capability Framework that the panel will score against. Everything you write must map back to these.

  4. 4
    Prepare three documents: (1) a resume tailored to the role, (2) a cover letter o

    Prepare three documents: (1) a resume tailored to the role, (2) a cover letter of 1–2 pages addressing why you want the role and a short summary of your fit, and (3) either a separate Key Selection Criteria response document (older-style ads) or capability examples woven into the cover letter (newer-style ads). Some ads explicitly say 'no separate KSC response required' — follow the ad's instruction exactly. Ignoring the stated requirements is the single fastest way to be screened out.

  5. 5
    Submit through the portal before the closing time (almost always 11:59pm Melbour

    Submit through the portal before the closing time (almost always 11:59pm Melbourne time on the listed closing date). Late applications are not accepted under VPS recruitment rules except in narrow documented circumstances. The portal will send a confirmation email; if you don't receive one within a few hours, log back in and confirm the application status is 'Submitted'.

  6. 6
    Shortlisting typically takes 2–4 weeks

    Shortlisting typically takes 2–4 weeks. If shortlisted, you'll be invited to a panel interview (usually three members: the hiring manager, a second manager from the area, and an independent panel member from another team or department). Some roles add a written exercise, an in-tray exercise, or a presentation task.

  7. 7
    Reference checks are conducted after the preferred candidate is identified

    Reference checks are conducted after the preferred candidate is identified — usually two referees, one of whom should be a current or most recent direct manager. Pre-employment checks follow: National Police Check, Working With Children Check where relevant, qualification verification, and for some roles a security clearance process (AGSVA Baseline, NV1 or NV2) which can add 2–6 months before you can start in cleared roles.

  8. 8
    Offers are conditional on all checks clearing

    Offers are conditional on all checks clearing. For ongoing (permanent) VPS roles the probation period is typically six months. For fixed-term roles, contract length is specified in the offer. Under the current VPS Enterprise Agreement, salary within the band is usually set at the entry point unless you can evidence current comparable pay.

Resume Tips for Victoria Government

recommended

Use an Australian-style resume format: 2–4 pages is normal for VPS applications,

Use an Australian-style resume format: 2–4 pages is normal for VPS applications, not the one-page US convention. Panels expect to see enough detail to evidence the capabilities, and an over-compressed resume reads as evasive.

recommended

Put your citizenship or residency status near the top if you have the right to w

Put your citizenship or residency status near the top if you have the right to work ongoing in Australia ('Australian citizen' or 'Australian permanent resident'). If you don't, be transparent about visa status and expiry — panels find out at reference stage anyway, and surprises end offers.

recommended

Mirror the language of the VPS Capability Framework and the Position Description

Mirror the language of the VPS Capability Framework and the Position Description. If the PD asks for 'stakeholder management' and 'policy analysis', those exact phrases should appear in your resume alongside concrete examples, not paraphrased as 'relationship building' and 'research'.

recommended

Lead each role with 2–4 outcome-focused achievement bullets, not duty statements

Lead each role with 2–4 outcome-focused achievement bullets, not duty statements. The STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) is the panel's mental model — give them Action and Result. Quantify where honest: 'led consultation with 14 local councils', 'delivered $3.2M grant program to 47 community organisations', 'reduced median processing time from 28 to 11 days'.

recommended

Include any prior VPS, Commonwealth, local government or statutory authority exp

Include any prior VPS, Commonwealth, local government or statutory authority experience prominently — panels weight public sector experience heavily because the operating environment (Ministerial briefings, FOI, Cabinet-in-confidence, Machinery of Government changes, Parliamentary scrutiny) is genuinely different from the private sector.

recommended

List Victorian-specific context that signals local knowledge: Melbourne suburbs

List Victorian-specific context that signals local knowledge: Melbourne suburbs worked in, engagement with Victorian communities, knowledge of Victorian legislation (Public Administration Act 2004, FOI Act 1982, Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006, Child Safe Standards, Gender Equality Act 2020), or relationships with Victorian Aboriginal organisations if relevant and respectful to mention.

recommended

Acknowledge Country appropriately in your cover letter if natural to the role —

Acknowledge Country appropriately in your cover letter if natural to the role — not performative, but a single sentence acknowledging Traditional Owners (Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong peoples for central Melbourne) is read positively and is now standard in VPS correspondence.

recommended

For targeted / identified roles (roles where being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Isl

For targeted / identified roles (roles where being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, having a disability, or being from a specific group is a genuine requirement), address eligibility clearly and early. These roles are advertised openly and are not tokenistic — they exist under specific legal exceptions and are taken seriously.

recommended

Keep formatting ATS-friendly even though the VPSC portal is relatively forgiving

Keep formatting ATS-friendly even though the VPSC portal is relatively forgiving. Single-column layout, standard section headings (Professional Experience, Education, Key Achievements), no tables for structural content, no text boxes, PDF format with selectable text. File name: 'Surname_Firstname_Resume_RoleTitle.pdf'.

ATS System: careers.vic.gov.au (VPSC-operated custom government portal)

Victoria Government does not use a commercial ATS for its whole-of-government careers portal. careers.vic.gov.au is a custom Drupal-based system operated by the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC), with candidate-facing job pages at careers.vic.gov.au/job/{slug}-{id} and an internal application flow at /vpsc-dialog/apply_job/. Individual health services and some statutory authorities occasionally link out to their own systems (Mercury eRecruit for some hospitals, PageUp for a few agencies, and the Department of Education's separate Recruitment Online system for school-based teacher roles), but the central VPS pipeline is the Careers Vic portal.

  • Create your account using the email address you actually check daily — notifications of interview invites, reference requests and offer letters all go through the portal's email system and can land in spam folders, especially with Gmail and Outlook corporate filters.
  • Upload a PDF resume with selectable text. The portal attempts to parse the upload into structured fields (employment history, education), but the parsing is imperfect — always review and correct the parsed fields before submitting. Do not rely on the upload alone.
  • If the job ad says 'address the Key Selection Criteria in a separate document', attach that document in the additional-documents slot. If it says 'no separate KSC response', do not upload one anyway — some panels treat this as not following instructions.
  • The portal uses exact closing times (11:59pm AEST/AEDT Melbourne time). Submit at least a few hours early. The system occasionally experiences load issues just before closing on Sunday evenings.
  • Unlike Workday or Taleo, there is no global candidate profile that persists across unrelated employers. Every application is to the same pool but tailored per role — save drafts within the portal between sessions.

Interview Culture

VPS interviews are capability-based and structured.

You should expect a panel of three, occasionally four, with a fixed set of questions asked of every candidate in the same order. The panel takes extensive notes and scores each answer against the relevant capability from the VPS Capability Framework (the public framework covers capabilities like 'Works Collaboratively', 'Manages Stakeholder Relationships', 'Thinks Strategically', 'Drives Results', 'Demonstrates Integrity and Accountability', and several technical or leadership capabilities depending on grade). Scoring is usually on a 1–5 or 1–7 scale against a behavioural rubric, and the highest-scoring candidate across the panel (averaged or consensus-adjusted) is recommended to the delegate for appointment. The dominant question format is behavioural: 'Tell us about a time when...' followed by a situation that maps to one of the capabilities. Candidates are expected to respond in STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) — panels will often prompt you for the Result explicitly if you skip it, because 'Result' is scored separately from 'Action'. Do not give hypothetical answers to behavioural questions; panels will gently redirect you to a real example, and if you can't produce one, you'll score poorly on that capability. A useful preparation technique is to map the 4–6 capabilities listed in the PD to 4–6 distinct STAR stories from your career, with at least one story that shows a failure or difficult moment you learned from — the Integrity and Self-Awareness capabilities are often tested this way. Expect at least one scenario question, especially at VPS 5 and above: 'Imagine you've just been asked by the Minister's office to turn around a briefing on X by tomorrow morning, but your policy team lead is on leave and the data is inconsistent — walk us through how you'd approach this'. These questions test judgement, risk awareness, stakeholder awareness, and — crucially — whether you understand the Westminster convention of frank and fearless advice to Ministers through the Secretary, not direct political engagement. Getting that nuance right is often the difference between VPS 5 and VPS 6. Dress code is business or business casual — Melbourne's professional culture leans less formal than Sydney or Canberra, but a suit or equivalent is still the safe choice for interviews with departments like DTF, DPC and Justice. For on-the-ground agencies (Parks, some health services, regional offices), business casual is fine. Many interviews are now conducted via Microsoft Teams rather than in person, especially for candidates outside metropolitan Melbourne or for regional roles. Test your camera, microphone and internet in advance; the panel will assume technical competence. Interviews typically run 45–60 minutes, with the last 5–10 minutes reserved for your questions. Come with two or three substantive questions — about the team's current priorities, how success is measured, the team's relationship with the Minister's office or key external stakeholders. Avoid asking about salary, leave, or flexible work in the first interview; those are negotiated after offer. Finally, if the role involves working with vulnerable populations (children, people with disability, justice clients), expect one or more direct questions about safeguarding — Victoria's Child Safe Standards and the Reportable Conduct Scheme are taken extremely seriously post the 2012–2017 Royal Commission findings, and glib answers end interviews.

What Victoria Government Looks For

  • Demonstrated alignment with the Victorian public sector values — responsiveness, integrity, impartiality, accountability, respect, leadership and human rights (set out in the Public Administration Act 2004 and the Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector Employees). These are not slogans; they are the formal standard you'll be assessed against.
  • Evidence of the specific capabilities listed in the Position Description, at the grade-appropriate level. A VPS 3 candidate needs to show solid individual contribution and good judgement; a VPS 5 needs to show leadership without authority, stakeholder complexity and policy reasoning; a VPS 6 needs to show team leadership, political awareness and cross-portfolio work.
  • Genuine commitment to working in the public interest — panels notice when candidates are clearly using VPS as a fallback from the private sector and have no interest in public outcomes. Articulate why this work matters to you, not just why you are good at it.
  • Cultural safety and inclusive practice. Victoria has a strong formal commitment to Aboriginal self-determination (Treaty negotiations are active under the First Peoples' Assembly), to gender equality (Gender Equality Act 2020 requires Gender Impact Assessments for new policies and services affecting the public), and to disability inclusion. Evidence of working respectfully across difference is weighted, not assumed.
  • Stakeholder management skill, particularly the ability to work with Ministerial offices, local government, peak bodies, community organisations and the Commonwealth without losing your public service impartiality. Name specific stakeholders you've engaged with and what changed because of it.
  • Policy or program craft — the ability to move between evidence, options, trade-offs and implementation. Even operational roles at VPS 4+ are expected to contribute to how work is designed, not just execute it.
  • Delivery track record in complex environments. Victoria's recent large programs (Big Build, Royal Commission implementations, COVID response, Best Start Best Life early education reform) have created an expectation that VPS staff can deliver under scrutiny, on tight timelines, with imperfect information. Examples of finishing hard things are highly valued.
  • Comfort with hybrid work and in-person collaboration three or more days per week in the Melbourne CBD — the current government direction is explicit and candidates who signal they want fully remote arrangements are disadvantaged for most roles.
  • Eligibility: Australian citizenship or permanent residency for ongoing roles; a clean National Police Check; a Working With Children Check where the role involves children; and, for some roles, the capacity to obtain and maintain a security clearance.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be an Australian citizen to work for the Victoria Government?
For ongoing (permanent) VPS roles, the answer is almost always yes — Australian citizenship or permanent residency. Some fixed-term contracts accept valid working visa holders, and a smaller number of specialist roles (senior economists, clinicians in health, some research positions) are occasionally filled on visa arrangements. Roles requiring a Baseline, NV1 or NV2 security clearance generally require Australian citizenship. Always check the 'Eligibility' section of the job ad and the PD before applying; do not assume.
What are VPS grades and how do I know which grade I should apply for?
The Victorian Public Service uses grades VPS 1 through VPS 7, with Senior Executive Service (SES) above that (SES 1, 2, 3). VPS 1–2 are entry-level administrative and support roles. VPS 3 is solid individual-contributor territory (analyst, project officer). VPS 4 is senior individual contributor or small-team lead. VPS 5 is where policy, strategy and program leadership sit — typically 8–12 years of relevant experience. VPS 6 is team or branch leadership, usually 15+ years. VPS 7 is rare and senior. SES is executive. Salaries are banded and published in the current VPS Enterprise Agreement. Apply at the grade where the majority of the listed capabilities match your evidence, not where you aspire to be — panels are strict about grade fit.
What is the VPS Capability Framework and do I actually need to read it?
Yes, read it. The framework (published by the Victorian Public Sector Commission at vpsc.vic.gov.au) defines the behavioural and technical capabilities expected at each grade. Hiring panels use it to write the PD and to score interviews. You don't need to memorise the whole framework, but for any role you're applying for, find the capabilities listed in the PD, read their descriptors at the grade level, and prepare STAR examples that evidence them. Candidates who reference the framework explicitly tend to score better because their answers map cleanly to the scoring rubric.
Do I have to write a separate Key Selection Criteria (KSC) response?
It depends on the ad. Older-style ads and some statutory authorities still ask for a separate KSC response of roughly 300–500 words per criterion. Newer VPS ads often say 'address the capabilities in your cover letter' — no separate document. Follow the ad's instruction literally. If it says 'no separate KSC', don't upload one; if it says 'KSC required', uploading only a cover letter is often an automatic screen-out.
How long does the application-to-offer process take?
Realistically, six to twelve weeks for ongoing VPS roles, sometimes longer. Shortlisting after close: 2–4 weeks. Interviews: 1–2 weeks of scheduling. Referee checks and offer: 1–2 weeks. Pre-employment checks (police, WWCC, qualifications): 1–4 weeks. Security clearance if required: an additional 6 weeks to 6 months. Graduate and talent pool processes run on their own fixed timelines. Health services and frontline roles typically move faster; DPC, DTF and central policy roles tend to be slower.
Can I work remotely or will I have to come into Melbourne CBD?
The Premier publicly directed VPS staff back to the office a minimum of three days per week, with some departments pushing for four. Fully remote arrangements for Melbourne-based roles are now rare and generally limited to specific operational reasons, disability adjustments or recruitment-critical cases. Regional roles (Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Shepparton, Traralgon, Wodonga and smaller regional offices) are based in those regional locations, not Melbourne. If you're applying from interstate or overseas, confirm the location expectation before interview — relocation is usually at your own cost.
Are there dedicated pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates, people with disability, or other groups?
Yes. The VPS runs targeted (or 'identified') roles where being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, or having a disability, is a genuine requirement under specific legal exceptions. There are also dedicated talent pools — the Aboriginal Career Pathways, the Disability Employment Pathway, and the Youth Employment Scheme. The VPS Graduate Program also runs a specific First Nations stream. These are real pipelines, not ceremonial — if you are eligible, they are often the most effective way in, and they do not carry stigma inside the service.
Is it true that hiring is frozen because of the state's budget?
There isn't a single whole-of-government freeze in 2026, but there are real constraints. The Allan government has signalled reductions in SES numbers, reviews of contractor and labour-hire spend, and tighter approvals for back-office and corporate hiring. Frontline recruitment (health, child protection, transport operations, schools) has largely continued. Competition for policy and corporate VPS roles is currently elevated because internal movement has slowed. This isn't a reason not to apply, but it is a reason to calibrate expectations and to apply broadly.
Does Victoria Government hire people from the private sector, or only other public servants?
It genuinely hires from the private sector and non-profit sector, especially for digital, data, AI, engineering, infrastructure delivery, legal, finance and communications roles. The translation work is on you, though: your private-sector achievements need to be rewritten in capability-framework language, with explicit attention to the Westminster operating model, public-interest framing and stakeholder realities. Candidates who come in and talk about 'customers' instead of 'Victorians' or 'clients', or who can't articulate why the public sector is different, tend not to progress. Candidates who do the translation thoughtfully often progress very quickly.
What salary should I expect?
Salaries are banded and published in the current VPS Enterprise Agreement (search 'VPS EA 2024' or the successor). As a rough guide at time of writing: VPS 3 around $85K–$100K base, VPS 4 around $100K–$115K, VPS 5 around $115K–$140K, VPS 6 around $140K–$175K, SES 1 from around $200K base with total remuneration components above that. Superannuation (currently 11.5%) is additional. Salary packaging is common in health and some other entities. Starting salary within the band is usually set at the entry point unless you evidence comparable current pay. Cost of living in Melbourne is meaningful — do not assume VPS salaries match Sydney financial services or global tech.

Open Positions

Victoria Government currently has 2 open positions.

Check Your Resume Before Applying → View 2 open positions at Victoria Government

Related Resources

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Sources

  1. Careers Vic — Victorian Government job portal —
  2. Careers Vic — How to apply —
  3. Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) — Capability Framework —
  4. VPSC — Code of Conduct for Victorian Public Sector Employees —
  5. Public Administration Act 2004 (Vic) —
  6. Department of Premier and Cabinet — About —
  7. Victorian Government — Departments and agencies —
  8. Victorian Government AI Strategy —
  9. Gender Equality Act 2020 (Vic) —
  10. Commission for Children and Young People — Child Safe Standards —