APS6 pitch guide (500 words)

Short answer: For a 500-word APS6 pitch, use 2 examples of about 205 words each, between a roughly 50-word opening and a 40-word close. The panel wants judgement where there was no obvious answer, stakeholder management and clear written advice.

What APS6 panels expect

An APS6 role involves complex work with limited supervision, often across teams or organisations. The panel wants judgement where there was no obvious answer, stakeholder management and clear written advice.

Managing projects or complex matters with limited supervision
Building and maintaining relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders
Providing considered written and verbal advice, including on risk
Supervising, mentoring or quality-assuring others' work

Structure and word budget for 500 words

500 words fits two examples. Keep the opening to two or three sentences and set each scene in one or two.

Part	Words	What goes here
Opening	50	Name the APS6 role, your current role and what your examples will show.
Example 1: Delivering a multi-agency project	205	S ~20 · T ~20 · A ~123 · R ~41
Example 2: Mentoring a team member	205	S ~20 · T ~20 · A ~123 · R ~41
Closing	40	Link your evidence to this APS6 role in one or two sentences.

Check a 500-word draft in the free checker

What to emphasise at APS6

Judgement: options you weighed and why you chose one
Stakeholders with different interests and how you brought them along
Written advice that informed a decision by someone senior
Supervising or developing others, if you have done it

What to avoid

Examples where the complexity isn't explained: say what made it hard
Lists of stakeholders without what you did with them
APS5-style examples that only show efficient delivery

Verbs that suit APS6 (only if accurate): managed, negotiated, advised, evaluated, led (a project), mentored, resolved.

Coming from outside the APS? Senior project, policy, consulting or professional roles (e.g. a senior nurse, engineer or account manager) often give APS6-level judgement examples.

Fictional example outline: Senior Project Officer (APS6)

An outline, not a script. The scenarios are invented. Use them to see what APS6-level evidence looks like, then write about your own experience.

Example 1: Delivering a multi-agency project

Situation: Three agencies needed to share data for a new service.
Task: Lead the project to launch with limited supervision.
Action: Built a plan with clear owners; set up a fortnightly working group; negotiated a data-sharing agreement; managed risks in a shared register; reported to the steering committee.
Result: Launched on time; the governance model was reused for a second project.

Example 2: Mentoring a team member

Situation: New APS4 struggling with brief writing.
Task: Lift their writing to the required standard.
Action: Agreed goals; reviewed drafts with specific feedback; shared good examples; gradually reduced my edits.
Result: Within three months their briefs cleared with minor changes; they now mentor a new starter.

Related guides

Free download: a worked APS5 pitch (PDF)

A complete 500-word fictional APS5 pitch with notes on why each paragraph works, plus a one-page STAR planner. Email is optional. You can download it straight away either way.

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