Guides · Updated 23 October 2026

Civil Service applications: Success Profiles, behaviours and statements

How Civil Service job applications work: Success Profiles, behaviour examples, personal statements and sifting.

Civil Service roles are advertised on Civil Service Jobs and assessed with the Success Profiles framework. Knowing how it works makes applications far less daunting.

What Success Profiles assess

Each advert lists which elements it will assess. The five elements are Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience and Technical. At application stage you are usually asked for some of these:

• Behaviour examples — for example “Delivering at Pace” or “Working Together”. Each has its own box, often with a word limit (250 words is common).
• A personal statement — a longer piece showing how you meet the essential criteria in the advert. Check the word limit in the advert.
• A CV — often a short employment history with key achievements.

Writing behaviour examples

Use one real example per behaviour and structure it with STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Spend most of the words on what you did, use “I” rather than “we”, and end with a measurable result.

Tips

• Read the behaviour descriptions for the grade you are applying for — they differ by level.
• Many Civil Service roles are sifted without names, so let the evidence speak for itself.
• If there is a lead behaviour, it may be used for an initial sift, so make that example your strongest.
• Write in a document first; long forms can time out.