Updated: September 2026

Estimated read time: 10 minutes

How to Fit 10+ Selection Criteria Into a 1-Page Pitch (Without Losing Merit)

Why 10+ Criteria and 1 Page Feels Impossible

You open the position description. The role lists ten, twelve, sometimes fifteen individual capabilities, duties, and selection criteria. Then you scroll to the application instructions and find a single line that stops most candidates cold: “Please provide a one-page pitch addressing your suitability for this role.”

One page. Fifteen criteria. It doesn’t add up, and that’s exactly the point where most applicants either panic-write a criterion-by-criterion list that blows past the word limit, or skim past half the requirements and hope the panel doesn’t notice.

Neither approach works, and neither is necessary. A one-page pitch was never designed to be a checklist. It was designed to test whether you can identify what actually matters in a role and demonstrate it with precision, which is itself a capability panels are assessing.

The Myth That’s Costing Candidates Interviews

Here’s the assumption trapping most applicants: that every listed duty, criterion, and capability must be addressed as its own discrete item, in the order the position description lists it.

Selection panels don’t read a one-page pitch and tick off fifteen boxes one by one. They read it looking for evidence against a much smaller number of underlying capability clusters, usually drawn from the Integrated Leadership System (ILS) or the equivalent state-based capability framework. PageUp and other centralised ATS platforms are configured the same way: they score submitted text against capability keywords and themes, not against a line-for-line match to the duty statement.

This means a duty statement listing “manages procurement contracts, liaises with vendors, monitors budget compliance, and escalates risk” isn’t asking for four separate paragraphs. It’s one theme, Achieves Results with a governance and risk lens, wearing four different outfits.

Once you see the position description this way, the one-page limit stops being a constraint and starts being a filter that rewards candidates who can think at the right altitude.

The Core Capability Themes Selection Criteria Bundle Into

Almost every APS and state government selection criterion, regardless of how it’s worded in the position description, maps back to one of a handful of core capability themes. Under the Commonwealth ILS, these are:

• Supports Strategic Direction – understanding context, policy alignment, and how the role connects to broader organisational or government priorities
• Achieves Results – planning, prioritisation, budget and contract management, risk mitigation, and accountability for outcomes
• Supports Productive Working Relationships – stakeholder engagement, collaboration, negotiation, and cross-team coordination
• Displays Personal Drive and Integrity – ethical decision-making, resilience, adaptability, and accountability under pressure
• Communicates with Influence – written and verbal communication, briefing senior stakeholders, and persuasive advocacy

State frameworks use different labels (the NSW Public Sector Capability Framework and VPS Capability Framework are structured slightly differently), but the underlying clusters are consistent: strategic thinking, delivery and results, relationships and communication, and personal integrity or professionalism. If you’re not sure how the ILS pillars map onto interview performance as well as written applications, our guide to the ILS core capabilities breaks each pillar down in more depth.

The task in front of you isn’t addressing fifteen criteria. It’s identifying which three to five themes those fifteen criteria collapse into, then proving each theme with evidence strong enough to imply everything underneath it.

How to Bundle Criteria Into Themes, Step by Step

Before you write a single sentence of your pitch, work through the position description with this process:

1. List every criterion and duty separately. Copy them out exactly as written, including the ones buried in the “key duties” section rather than the formal criteria list. ATS parsing and panel assessment both draw on the full document, not just the headline criteria.
2. Highlight the verb and the object in each one. “Manage stakeholder relationships across divisions” and “liaise with external agencies on shared programs” both carry the same underlying verb pattern, engagement and relationship management, even though the wording differs.
3. Group by theme, not by wording. Sort every item into your three to five capability clusters. You’ll typically find that a fifteen-item duty statement collapses into three or four themes once you stop matching by keyword and start matching by capability.
4. Identify your one strongest example per theme. For each cluster, choose the single career example that carries the most weight and the widest evidentiary spread. A well-chosen example naturally touches two or three criteria within the same theme at once.
5. Check for gaps, not for missing line items. The question isn’t “did I mention procurement?” It’s “does my strategic thinking theme actually hold up under scrutiny?”

This is the same diagnostic step we run with clients before drafting a single word of pitch content, because a pitch built on the wrong themes fails no matter how well it’s written.

Worked Example: 12 Criteria Into 3 Themes

Take a hypothetical EL1 Program Delivery role listing these criteria: leads a small team, manages competing project deadlines, monitors budget and reports variance, negotiates with external vendors, resolves stakeholder conflict, contributes to policy advice, exercises judgement under ambiguity, communicates project status to senior executives, ensures compliance with procurement rules, mentors junior staff, identifies and escalates risk, and contributes to continuous improvement.

Bundled by theme, that becomes:

• Achieves Results (deadlines, budget monitoring, procurement compliance, risk escalation, continuous improvement): one STAR-L example where you delivered a project against a hard constraint, caught a budget or compliance risk early, and can point to a measurable result.
• Supports Productive Working Relationships (vendor negotiation, stakeholder conflict, team leadership, mentoring): one example where you resolved a disagreement between stakeholders or led a team through a difficult delivery period.
• Supports Strategic Direction and Communicates with Influence (policy advice, judgement under ambiguity, briefing senior executives): one example where you made a judgement call with incomplete information and had to defend or communicate that decision upward.

Twelve criteria. Three examples. One page. Every item on the original list is still represented, just not as twelve separate sentences competing for space.

Word Limits and How Many Themes Actually Fit

A genuine one-page pitch, formatted for a PageUp or equivalent ATS text field, sits somewhere between 450 and 650 words once you account for standard formatting. That’s enough room for an opening claim, two to three STAR-L examples, and a short closing statement, but it is not enough room for four or five fully developed examples.

This is why the bundling step matters more than the writing step. If you go into drafting with twelve unbundled criteria, you’ll either produce a page of shallow one-line mentions that give the panel nothing to score, or you’ll blow the word limit and risk truncation in the ATS field itself. If you go in with three well-chosen themes, you have enough space to develop real evidence, with a measurable result and a sense of what it protected or improved, for each one. For a full breakdown of how to structure the opening, examples, and closing within that word count, see our guide on writing an APS pitch statement for PageUp ATS.

When You Still Need to Address a Criterion on Its Own

Bundling by theme is the default, not a universal rule. There are specific situations where a criterion needs to stand alone rather than being folded into a broader cluster:

• Mandatory or legislative requirements, such as a security clearance, a specific licence, or a qualification named explicitly in the position description. These are usually pass/fail screening items, not merit criteria, and should be confirmed directly rather than woven into a narrative example.
• Highly technical or specialist criteria that sit outside your core themes, such as a specific IT system, a regulatory framework, or a technical certification the panel is screening for by name.
• Criteria the position description explicitly separates from the general capability list, often signalled by formatting such as “essential” versus “desirable,” or by the agency’s own application instructions asking for criteria to be addressed individually rather than via pitch.

If you’re unsure whether a given agency wants a themed pitch or a traditional criterion-by-criterion response, the application instructions and any linked guidance notes on the job listing will usually say so directly. When in doubt, a themed pitch that clearly signals which criteria each example is evidencing (even briefly, in brackets or a lead-in sentence) gives you the best of both approaches.

Common Mistakes When Bundling Criteria

• Bundling by convenience instead of by capability. Grouping criteria because they happened to come from the same job, rather than because they genuinely share a capability theme, produces examples that feel forced and unfocused.
• Choosing breadth over depth. A pitch that name-drops eight capabilities in passing scores worse than one with three fully evidenced themes, because panels are trained to discount unsubstantiated claims.
• Reusing the same example across themes. If your Achieves Results and Communicates with Influence examples describe the same project from the same angle, the panel sees repetition, not range.
• Ignoring duties buried outside the formal criteria list. Position descriptions often smuggle capability requirements into the “key duties” or “about the role” sections. Skipping these because they weren’t formally labelled as criteria is a common way genuine gaps get missed.
• Writing the pitch before doing the bundling. Drafting first and cutting second almost always produces a page organised around what you wanted to say, not around what the panel is scoring.

Frequently Asked Questions About One-Page Pitches and Selection Criteria

Do I need to address every selection criterion individually in a one-page pitch?

No. Most agencies and PageUp ATS scoring assess written pitches against underlying capability themes rather than a line-by-line match to each criterion. Group related criteria into three to five core themes, typically drawn from the Integrated Leadership System or the equivalent state capability framework, and evidence each theme with one strong example rather than addressing every duty statement item separately.

What’s the actual word limit for a one-page APS pitch?

Most one-page pitches sit between 450 and 650 words once formatted for a PageUp or equivalent ATS text field. Exceeding this risks truncation in the application system itself, so the practical limit is often tighter than the stated “one page” suggests.

What are the main capability themes selection criteria bundle into?

Under the Commonwealth Integrated Leadership System, most criteria map to five clusters: Supports Strategic Direction, Achieves Results, Supports Productive Working Relationships, Displays Personal Drive and Integrity, and Communicates with Influence. State frameworks use different labels but follow a similar structure around strategic thinking, delivery, relationships, and integrity.

Can I combine two selection criteria into one example?

Yes, and in most cases you should. A well-chosen STAR-L example naturally demonstrates multiple related criteria at once, for instance a single project delivery story can evidence budget management, stakeholder negotiation, and risk escalation in the same narrative. This is more effective than writing three shorter, thinner examples.

Do mandatory or legislative criteria still need to be addressed separately?

Yes. Mandatory requirements such as a security clearance, licence, or named qualification are typically pass/fail screening items rather than merit criteria, and should be confirmed directly rather than folded into a themed narrative example.

How many examples should a one-page pitch include?

Most effective one-page pitches include two to three developed examples, each mapped to a different capability theme, alongside a short opening claim and closing statement. Attempting four or more examples within a one-page word limit usually results in underdeveloped evidence that panels discount.

What’s the difference between a one-page pitch and a two-page pitch?

A two-page pitch allows roughly double the word count, typically enough for three to four fully developed examples instead of two to three, and is more common for EL1 and EL2 level applications. The same theme-bundling principle applies at both lengths, but a two-page pitch allows more depth per theme rather than more themes overall.

What’s the biggest mistake candidates make when addressing multiple selection criteria?

The biggest mistake is trying to mention every criterion individually rather than identifying the underlying capability themes. This produces a pitch that reads as a checklist of shallow claims instead of a small number of well-evidenced examples, which is what selection panels are actually trained to assess.