The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) engaged Ellis Jones to research the experiences, expectations and needs of people not currently working in the Australian Public Service. The project supports the work of the APSC’s Future of Work Taskforce and Career Pathways Group to engage audiences outside the APS more effectively and to attract qualified, highly-capable candidates into roles within the APS.

This project involved three phases:

1. Administering two questionnaires, the first focused on early career (EC) people, the second on later career (LC) professionals.
2. Conducting 25 Interviews with EC and LC participants to explore some questionnaire answers in more detail.
3. Facilitating two co-design workshops with EC and LC participants to help understand how the current job search and job application process can be improved.

Based on the insights gathered from the research, Ellis Jones helped the APSC:

• Understand how early and later career audiences perceive the APS as an employer and the awareness of APS employment opportunities.
• Understand how early and later career audiences engage with prospective employees when seeking a job.
• Understand the job search process undertaken by early and later career audiences when seeking new employment.
• Understand the barriers and frustrations experienced by early and later career audiences when seeking and applying for a new job.