APS Pitch CheckerEL1 pitch guide (300 words)
Short answer: For a 300-word EL1 pitch, use one example of about 234 words each, between a roughly 36-word opening and a 30-word close. The panel wants results achieved through others.
What EL1 panels expect
An EL1 role means leading a team or a significant piece of work: setting direction, managing people and risk, and advising senior executives. The panel wants results achieved through others.
- Leading and managing a team, including performance and wellbeing
- Setting priorities and direction for a work area in line with strategy
- Managing risk, budgets or complex programs with significant autonomy
- Advising and briefing senior executives and negotiating with external parties
Structure and word budget for 300 words
300 words is tight: one strong example plus a two-sentence opening and a one-sentence close. Pick the example that covers the most criteria.
| Part | Words | What goes here |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | 36 | Name the EL1 role, your current role and what your examples will show. |
| Example 1: Turning around an underperforming team | 234 | S ~23 · T ~23 · A ~140 · R ~47 |
| Closing | 30 | Link your evidence to this EL1 role in one or two sentences. |
Check a 300-word draft in the free checker
What to emphasise at EL1
- How you led people: direction, delegation, coaching, performance
- Strategic thinking: connecting your area's work to agency goals
- Sensitive or high-stakes advice to senior leaders
- Building capability or changing how a team works
What to avoid
- Examples where you did all the work yourself; show the team's results under your leadership
- Hiding behind 'we': still write in the first person about your leadership actions
- Too much detail on technical work at the expense of leadership and judgement
Verbs that suit EL1 (only if accurate): directed, delegated, set priorities, briefed executives, managed performance, shaped, built capability.
Coming from outside the APS? Managers outside government should translate titles into scope: team size, budget, risk and seniority of stakeholders.
Fictional example outline: Director (EL1)
An outline, not a script. The scenarios are invented. Use them to see what EL1-level evidence looks like, then write about your own experience.
Example 1: Turning around an underperforming team
- Situation: Team was missing service targets and morale was low.
- Task: Restore performance within six months.
- Action: Met each staff member; reset priorities with the branch head; redistributed work by strength; introduced weekly huddles; managed one performance issue through to resolution.
- Result: Team met all service targets by month five; pulse survey engagement rose markedly.
Related guides
- EL1 · 500 words pitch guide
- EL1 · 750 words pitch guide
- EL1 · 1000 words pitch guide
- APS6 · 300 words pitch guide
- Writing to 500, 750 and 1000 words
- APS capabilities in plain English
Free download: a worked APS5 pitch (PDF)
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