The Australian Public Service has a classification for everything. And while the work level standards will tell you what each level is supposed to do, we're here to tell you what each level is actually like.
You know who you are.
APS1-2: Full of hope
You are new. You are enthusiastic. You still read every email in full. You arrive on time, you leave on time, and you genuinely believe that the process exists for a reason. We will not be the ones to tell you otherwise. Enjoy this time.
APS3-4: Starting to understand
You've been here long enough to know where the good coffee is, which printer actually works, and that "urgent" means something very different in the APS than it does anywhere else. You are efficient. You are reliable. You are the reason anything gets done around here.
APS5: The quiet achiever
Nobody talks about the APS5 enough. You are doing the actual work. The briefings, the correspondence, the minutes, the things that somehow aren't anyone else's job but definitely end up being yours. You deserve a mug. You deserve several mugs.
APS6: The sweet spot
Experienced enough to know exactly what's wrong with the process. Junior enough that fixing it isn't technically your problem. You have opinions. Strong ones. You share them in the right forums, at the right times, with the right amount of plausible deniability. The APS6 is the backbone of the public service and everyone who has ever been one knows it.
EL1: Stuck in the middle
Too senior to do the work. Too junior to avoid it. You spend your days managing up, managing down, and managing expectations — usually all in the same afternoon. You have learned to phrase everything as a question. You have also learned what "taken on notice" really means, and you use it with confidence.
EL2: So close
You can see the SES from here. You have survived at least two machinery of government changes. You have written more ministerial briefs than you can count and you have strong feelings about the Oxford comma that you keep mostly to yourself. You are, in every meaningful sense, running the place. The title just hasn't caught up yet.
SES: The vision
You speak in dot points. Your calendar is managed by someone else — specifically, the World's Best EA, without whom nothing would function. You say "whole of government" at least three times a day. You have taken many things on notice. You have answered very few of them.
The EA: Unclassified, irreplaceable
No classification captures what an EA actually does. Scheduler, gatekeeper, fixer, oracle. The EA knows where everything is, who to call, and exactly how much of the SES's job they are quietly doing. If you know an EA, buy them something nice. They have earned it.
Whatever your classification, there's merch for you at takenonnotice.com.au. Find your level. Own it.