Organisation: Immigration and Border Protection
Job Title: Australian Border Force Investigator
Word Limit: 1,500 characters per response
Location: Various
Leadership and accountability
In reference to the role you are applying for, please provide an example of a time where you showed your leadership and accountability to achieve an innovative outcome.
Recognising a shortage of trained Assessment and Response (A&R) staff at the airport due to recent staff movements, I established an operational activity, involving both specific targeting and saturation components, to develop less experienced staff in this area. For this activity, less experienced officers were paired with an experienced officer in order to provide them with exposure to and guided experience in questioning techniques, the servicing of alerts and situational responses. This exposure provided exposure to enforcement activity and developed the targeting skillset that I had identified as lacking.
The decision to provide this training and exposure in the form of an operational activity was a conscious one that served two purposes. Firstly, as the Operational Commander I was able to assign officers with specific tasks based on strengths and weaknesses and addressed vulnerabilities. Secondly, the exercise provided new staff with experience in and an appreciation of operational command principles, which they previously had little knowledge of. This prepared the officers for the future working model of the organisation and in doing so, put the organisation in a good position when the time came to train these officers in the full operational command course as they had already been exposed to the method and developed a level of understanding of its principles.
Management diversity and span
In reference to the role you are applying for, please provide an example of where you managed more complex queries and resolved the issue to a good outcome.
Working a shift alongside a colleague, I identified potential gaps in his knowledge and understanding of his role, which I then addressed with his supervisor as a matter of concern. I was advised that the officer in question was at risk of being placed on a performance improvement plan due to perceived failures in his level of performance, and offered the opportunity to provide training and support to the employee prior to formal action being taken. I agreed and over the next weeks was partnered with the underperforming employee for every shift.
The officer was particularly struggling with matters regarding post-detection procedures and legislation. Attempting to understand why his performance was poor, I discovered that while the officer had a reasonable theoretical understanding of the components of his role, he had difficulty in applying that theory when confronted with real life situations. I developed a strategy where at the commencement of each shift we would review the theory and guidelines relating to a particular activity and then look for an opportunity to put that training in to action during the shift. This allowed the officer, under my guidance, to directly apply his knowledge to real situations, enabling him to develop experience which he could later call upon when facing similar situations. Through working with this officer, I was able to improve his performance so that no formal action was necessary, maintaining the integrity of the team’s activities.
Stakeholder management
In reference to the role you are applying for, please provide an example of a time where you showed good stakeholder/client management using your communication skills. What could you have done to improve this situation or the outcome?
I was questioning a passenger returning from Lebanon who due to his age, gender, and Australian passport matched the profile of travellers who presented a heightened national security risk. As I began questioning the passenger, I could see that he was becoming annoyed, taking exception to the fact that I had singled him out as someone who warranted further questioning.
As my questioning continued the passenger became openly hostile at my continued questioning. When the passenger began to aggressively raise his voice, I first allowed the passenger to express his anger and then used clear communication to explain to him the reasons why I had singled him out. I explained that it was due to his age, gender and Australian passport meeting an increased risk profile, rather than due to any individual characteristic. Through relating the passenger’s situation to my own, and pointing out that we shared the same age bracket, gender and passport status and hence I fitted the same risk profile, I used interpersonal skills to develop a rapport with the passenger. As a result, the passenger became cooperative and at the end of our interaction even thanked me for the job I was doing.
If confronted with a similar situation in the future I would act early to ensure that the passenger understood the reason for their questioning as soon as I became aware that they were agitated or hostile. In this way I would be able to diffuse the situation before the passenger became angry.
Job context and environment
In reference to the role you are applying for, please provide an example of a time where you managed your own work and those of your colleagues and how it impacted on the organisation’s work objectives.
Commencing as A&R coordinator, I identified gaps on the skills and knowledge of officers in writing statements. This caused problems after a detection when the matter was passed to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for prosecution. The flaws in statements provided by my officers created unnecessary delays as the AFP sought to have these rectified, particularly as the AFP was liaising directly with the officers who were not always immediately available to provide a response due to rostered days off.
I implemented a new system whereby all statements were to be provided to me prior to being sent to the AFP. This allowed me to detect any errors or shortcomings and work with the officer not only to correct the immediate statement but to develop and improve their knowledge for next time. By requiring that the AFP also contact me in order to seek any further information or clarification regarding statements, I was able to cut down on the delays in providing responses.
This strengthened the relationship between the organisation and the AFP and prevented the reputational damage caused by providing flawed statements. It also reduced delays in matters being prosecuted appropriately. These delays had been caused largely due to the back-and-forth process between my officers and the AFP in attempting to get statements completed, a problem which my strategy eliminated.
Independence and decision-making
In reference to the role you are applying for, please provide an example where you improved existing procedures and/or processes and describe the impact of the changes.
When as a coordinator I became responsible for the prosecutions which are pursued by the organisation, I identified an issue with the notification process following seizure of detained goods. I realised that after an officer seized or held goods pending prosecution, there was no process in place to trigger follow-up action. This meant that goods were being held indefinitely without a prosecution being pursued.
I developed a process whereby once goods were seized, the Detained Goods Officer would create an electronic file addressed to me, alongside the standard record of seizure, notifying me of the occurrence. This would then trigger me to request a copy of all relevant documents, allowing me to follow up the matter with the case officer. Upon determining that the matter would proceed to prosecution, I would provide the officer with a deadline by which I required the brief of evidence to be provided to me. The next stage in the process was for me to vet the brief and rectify any shortcomings before providing it to the regional legal network to proceed with prosecution.
Implementation of this strategy eliminated the problem of seized items being held without a decision on prosecution occurring, and increased the overall rate of prosecutions. It also resulted in increased penalties being awarded by the courts, as previously sentences had been reduced due to the delay in bringing the matter to prosecution.
