Merit Selection
A fundamental tenet of human resource management, upon which service in the Northern Territory Public Sector is based, is the merit principle.
In its broadest sense, merit based selection is central to apolitical Public Sector accountability in that it ensures that employees providing services to the Territory Community have the appropriate knowledge, skills and levels of responsibility to do their jobs.
At any level within the workplace, the key to success is to have the person with the most appropriate knowledge and skills to do each job. If the selection is right it will have a positive impact across the whole unit, get it wrong and the overall performance of the unit, and agency, is at risk.
The Merit Selection Guide 
The Merit Selection Guide is a set of principle-based guidelines designed to help managers and supervisors to get the selection right. It allows for flexible, practical approaches to merit based selection.
What is merit
Merit is defined in the Public Sector Employment and Management Act as "the capacity of the person to perform particular duties, having regard to the person's knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience and the potential for future development of the person in employment in the Public Sector. "
Merit assessment
Merit is determined through a fair and transparent assessment process based on the stated principles of merit, natural justice, human resource management and conduct.
These guiding principles are found in the Public Sector Employment and Management Act, its Regulations and Employment Instructions.
The assessment process is chosen to suit the circumstances of the vacancy and the business environment in which it operates and, in most cases, is carried out by a panel. The panel is responsible for conducting an assessment process which ensures the most meritorious outcome and which will withstand scrutiny.
The merit assessment process generally includes the following steps:
- applicants, taking into account the responsibilities of the job, provide written evidence of their qualifications, skills, knowledge and experience which demonstrates their claims against the selection criteria contained in the job description;
- the panel considers applications and obtains as much other information about applicants as they require to make an informed assessment;
- when the panel has gathered sufficient information, they evaluate the evidence to determine who, in their judgement, has established the greatest capacity to do the job.