Adviser and case officer CV: example and tips

What employers look for in an adviser or case officer

Adviser and case officer (saksbehandler) are common titles in the state, municipalities, county authorities, NAV and directorates, and in private organisations such as insurance, banking, NGOs and consultancies. The work often involves handling cases under a set of rules, reports and analysis, memos and decision papers, guiding users and project work. Job ads ask for “strong written communication”, “analytical skills”, “good teamwork” and someone who is “independent” and “structured”.

Many public employers use recruitment systems such as Jobbnorge or Webcruiter, where you often enter your experience in a form as well as uploading your CV. Use the words from the ad in both, where they match what you have done. With the ATS score you can see which words from the ad are missing, and if you create your CV with Selja, the words are worked in for you. Most ads are in Norwegian, so it helps to know terms such as saksbehandling (case handling), utredning (analysis and reports) and enkeltvedtak (individual decisions). These words come up again and again:

• Case handling, individual decisions and appeals.
• Analysis, reports and decision papers.
• The Public Administration Act (forvaltningsloven), the Freedom of Information Act (offentleglova) and the special laws in the field.
• Memos, letters, consultations and replies to the ministry or political leadership.
• Guidance for users, municipalities or businesses.
• Project work, grant management and supervision.
• Strong written communication, independent and structured.

Formal requirements: the qualifications and the rules in the state sector

There is no authorisation for advisers and case officers. The requirements are set out in the ad, and are usually a bachelor's or master's degree in specific subjects, sometimes with the option of replacing education with long experience. In the state sector, section 3 of the Civil Servants Act (statsansatteloven) says the best qualified applicant must be hired, with weight given to education, experience and personal suitability measured against the requirements in the ad. Build your CV so that each requirement can be ticked off: degree, subject, year and experience with the same kind of work.

In the state sector, the employer must invite at least one qualified applicant who states that they have a disability requiring adjustments, and at least one qualified applicant with a gap in their CV, to interview. A gap here means you have been out of work, education or training for a total of at least two of the last five years, because of illness, substance abuse or prison, or while actively looking for work. It does not apply if you have a permanent job or a temporary job of more than one year when you apply. The rules are in sections 4 and 4a of the regulations to the Civil Servants Act. Our guide to gaps in your CV shows how to explain such a period.

In the public sector, a list of applicants is drawn up with name, age, position and municipality. You can ask not to appear on the public list, but the employer assesses the request and can refuse, under section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act. Some positions require security clearance. According to the Norwegian National Security Authority (NSM), you cannot apply for it yourself. The organisation requests clearance when you are about to be hired.

Example of a summary for an adviser or case officer CV

The summary is the three to five sentences at the top of your CV. It should say who you are, what you can do and what you are looking for. Here is a made up example you can use as a pattern:

Example: “Adviser with a master's in political science and four years of experience in case handling and analysis at a directorate. Has processed more than 300 grant applications a year, written consultation responses and prepared decision papers for management and the ministry. Knows the Public Administration Act well and enjoys making complex rules easy for users to understand. Looking for a senior adviser role with responsibility for analysis and regulations.”

Replace the numbers and fields with your own, and only write what you can explain in an interview. You will find more examples in our guide to writing a CV summary.

Bullet points with results: weak versus strong

Many advisers write their CV like a job description. What the reader wants to know is how much you have handled, what you have written and what improved. Start with a strong verb in the past tense, and finish with a number or a sense of scale. Here are examples from both the public and private sector:

• Weak: “Case handling.” Strong: “Processed 350 grant applications a year under the Public Administration Act, cutting processing time from eight weeks to five.”
• Weak: “Wrote memos.” Strong: “Wrote 40 memos and replies to the ministry a year, including the decision paper for a new grant scheme worth 50 million kroner.”
• Weak: “Worked on appeals.” Strong: “Handled appeals for the municipality, reducing the share of decisions overturned by the county governor (Statsforvalteren) from 15 to 6 percent.”
• Weak: “Project work.” Strong: “Led a project with five municipalities that introduced a shared digital application, halving the number of incomplete applications in the first year.”
• Weak: “Guidance.” Strong: “Ran 12 courses a year on new regulations for the municipalities in the county, with around 400 participants in total.”
• Weak: “Advised clients.” Strong: “Advised 60 business clients on insurance, and renewed 95 percent of the agreements in the portfolio.”

Skills, systems and courses worth including

Advisers are judged on subject knowledge, writing and analytical ability. Be specific about the rules, methods and systems you know, so the reader does not have to guess.

• Rules you know well: the Public Administration Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Archives Act, data protection rules and the special laws in your field.
• Case and archive systems such as Public 360, Elements, WebSak or ePhorte, and specialist systems by name.
• Analysis and statistics: Excel, Power BI, SPSS, Stata or R, and methods such as surveys and interviews.
• Writing: reports, consultation papers, circulars and plain language.
• Project management: courses or certifications with name and year.
• Languages: Norwegian and English, and Nynorsk if the ad asks for it.

Recent graduate, or many years as an adviser

Many recent graduates start as a junior officer or adviser. Then your education has to show that you can do the job. Give the topic, method and findings of your master's thesis, mention subjects that fit the role, and include placements, student jobs and positions of responsibility. Writing is a core skill, so mention tasks where you wrote a lot, for example a report for an external client. Our guide to a CV for recent graduates has more advice.

If you have many years as an adviser, breadth and depth are what count. Show your fields, the rules you work with, the most important cases and reports, and responsibility as subject lead or project manager. Cut older roles down. If you fill in an application form as well as sending your CV, write the same in both, so numbers and dates match. If you are a law graduate, our guide to a lawyer and trainee lawyer CV shows how to describe legal work.

Common mistakes in an adviser or case officer CV

In public sector jobs, applicants are often compared against the same requirements. Anything that makes it hard for the reader counts against you. Look out for these:

• It is unclear how you meet the education requirement, for example a degree without the subject or year.
• Job titles only. “Adviser” says little without the field and tasks.
• Internal abbreviations and names of systems only your workplace uses.
• Long paragraphs. The reader wants short bullet points, even if you write well.
• Different information in the application form and the CV.
• No results, such as processing times, number of cases or changes you got through.

Answer the requirements in the ad with Selja

Public sector ads often have long lists of requirements and desired qualities. Going through them and rewriting your CV for every job takes time. With Selja you paste in the job ad and upload the CV you already have. Selja picks out the keywords and requirements, and in under a minute you get a professional, ATS-friendly CV and cover letter tailored to the job, in Norwegian or English. In the app you can also find open positions from arbeidsplassen.no and create a CV and cover letter for them directly.

Selja never adds experience or skills you do not have. If the ad asks for experience with grant management or a set of rules your CV does not mention, Selja asks you first and only uses what you confirm. It is free to start: take a free ATS check against the ad, or check your CV for free. Get started when you want to create the application.

The application and next steps

In the public sector, the cover letter should show how you meet the requirements. Say why you want to work in this particular field, how you meet the most important requirements, and give an example of a result. Keep it to one page. See our guide on how to write a cover letter and our example of a job application.

The interview often includes questions about specific situations, such as “tell us about a time you had to prioritise between several deadlines”, and sometimes a writing task or a case. Read our guide on how to prepare for a job interview, and practise with the interview questions. If the salary range is in the ad, you can compare it with the free pay check.