Civil Service Success Profiles: The 5 Elements and 9 Behaviours

The full guide to Civil Service Success Profiles: the five elements, how each is assessed, the nine behaviours with what good looks like at each grade, and how to prepare behaviour examples, strengths answers and your personal statement.

By Tony Musso on Sat Oct 17 2026

Civil Service Success Profiles is the framework UK government departments use to recruit. Instead of testing every candidate against one fixed list of competencies, each job is built from up to five elements: Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience and Technical. The job advert tells you which elements apply, and for behaviours it names the exact ones you will be scored against.

Behaviours are the element most applicants meet first, because they appear in almost every application form and interview. This guide covers the whole framework: what each of the five elements is, how each one is assessed, all nine Civil Service behaviours with what good looks like at each grade, and how to prepare your examples, strengths answers and personal statement.

What are Civil Service Success Profiles?

Success Profiles replaced the old Civil Service Competency Framework. The idea behind it is that a job should be filled by testing what that particular job needs, not the same checklist for everyone. A policy role might test behaviours, experience and strengths; a digital role might add a technical test; an entry-level operational role might use behaviours and an online ability test.

The five elements are:

A single campaign rarely uses all five. Read the advert and the candidate pack carefully: they list the elements, the behaviours being tested, the word limits and which stage each element is assessed at.

How each element is assessed

Behaviours

Behaviours are tested through examples of what you have actually done. In the application, you write a short example for each behaviour named in the advert, usually up to about 250 words each. At interview, the panel asks you for examples and probes them with follow-up questions. Some campaigns score only one "lead" behaviour at the sift and test the rest at interview, so the lead behaviour example deserves the most work.

Strengths

Strengths questions are about what energises you rather than what you have done. They are asked at interview, often quickly and without warning which strengths are being tested, for example "Do you prefer to plan your work in detail or to adapt as you go?" or "Tell me about something you are learning at the moment." The Civil Service publishes a strengths dictionary with descriptions such as Adaptable, Analytical, Resilient, Problem Solver and Organiser. Panels look for natural, genuine answers, so you cannot rehearse a script, but you can think in advance about the tasks you enjoy. Our guide to strength-based interview questions shows how these questions work and how to answer them well.

Ability

Ability is tested with online tests, often at the start of a campaign so that only candidates who pass move on. Common examples are the Civil Service Judgement Test, which gives you workplace scenarios and asks you to judge the best and worst responses, and numerical or verbal reasoning tests. Practice tests are usually linked from the advert or the test invitation, and it is worth doing them before you start the real thing.

Experience

Experience is about the knowledge and track record you bring. It is usually judged from your CV and a personal statement, written against the essential criteria in the job description, and sometimes from experience questions at interview. A personal statement is not a list of duties: it shows how what you have done matches each criterion. Our guide to the Civil Service personal statement walks through a structure that works.

Technical

Technical covers professional skills and qualifications, such as an accountancy qualification for a finance role, a legal qualification for a lawyer, or specific digital skills. It is usually tested with a technical exercise, a presentation, technical interview questions or proof of the qualification. Many professions in government publish their own capability frameworks, so check the advert for links.

The nine Civil Service behaviours

There are nine behaviours, and each is written at different levels, from Administrative Assistant and Administrative Officer up to the Senior Civil Service. The descriptions below summarise, in general terms, what good looks like at three broad grade groups. Always read the official descriptors for your grade on GOV.UK before writing an example, and pitch your example at that level.

1. Seeing the Big Picture

Understanding how your work fits with the wider goals of your team, department and government.

• AA, AO and EO: knowing how your tasks help your team and the people it serves, and keeping up with changes that affect your work.
• HEO and SEO: linking your area's priorities to the department's objectives, and spotting issues or opportunities beyond your own team.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: anticipating longer-term trends, shaping plans around wider government priorities and helping others understand the direction.

2. Changing and Improving

Looking for ways to improve how things are done, being open to new ideas and making change work.

• AA, AO and EO: suggesting practical improvements to your own work and adapting well when processes change.
• HEO and SEO: testing and introducing improvements, encouraging ideas from your team and helping people through change.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: leading larger changes, challenging the way things have always been done and managing the risks of change.

3. Making Effective Decisions

Using evidence and judgement to make sound, objective decisions, weighing options and risks, and explaining why you chose what you did.

• AA, AO and EO: gathering the right information, checking it and knowing when to refer a decision upwards.
• HEO and SEO: analysing evidence from several sources, considering options and their risks, and making clear recommendations.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: making difficult decisions where the evidence is incomplete, consulting the right people and taking accountability for the outcome.

4. Leadership

Showing pride and passion for public service, creating an inclusive environment, and leading or inspiring others. You do not need to be a line manager to show it.

• AA, AO and EO: being a positive presence in the team, treating people fairly and taking the lead on a task when needed.
• HEO and SEO: setting direction for a team or project, championing inclusion and helping people to do their best work.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: setting a clear vision, building a culture where people feel able to contribute and leading through uncertainty.

5. Communicating and Influencing

Communicating with purpose, adapting your message to your audience and persuading others.

• AA, AO and EO: explaining things clearly and politely, in writing and in person, and listening to others.
• HEO and SEO: tailoring messages to different audiences, handling challenge and persuading colleagues or stakeholders.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: influencing senior and external stakeholders, presenting complex issues simply and building support for difficult messages.

6. Working Together

Forming effective working relationships, sharing information and resources, and supporting colleagues. It is one of the most commonly assessed behaviours at entry level.

• AA, AO and EO: helping colleagues, being approachable, sharing information so the team works well, and building relationships with other teams.
• HEO and SEO: creating networks across teams or organisations and encouraging collaboration to reach shared goals.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: building strong partnerships with stakeholders and setting a collaborative culture for others to follow.

7. Developing Self and Others

Focusing on continuous learning for yourself and helping others to develop.

• AA, AO and EO: taking up learning opportunities, asking for feedback and sharing what you know.
• HEO and SEO: coaching colleagues, identifying development needs in your team and making time for learning.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: building the capability of a whole area, supporting talent and modelling your own development.

8. Managing a Quality Service

Delivering a high-quality, efficient service that meets customer needs, planning work and managing risks. Customer service, casework and operational roles often test this one.

• AA, AO and EO: giving accurate, courteous service, following procedures and dealing with problems promptly.
• HEO and SEO: planning how a service is delivered, setting standards, using feedback and managing risks to quality.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: designing services around users, setting performance measures and making sure the service offers value for money.

9. Delivering at Pace

Taking responsibility for delivering results to time and quality, staying focused under pressure and managing your workload.

• AA, AO and EO: managing your own work to deadlines, staying calm under pressure and asking for help early.
• HEO and SEO: planning and prioritising work for yourself and others, and keeping delivery on track when things change.
• Grade 7 and Grade 6: setting priorities across an area, holding people to account and making sure resources match the goals.

The grade difference matters. An Executive Officer example that only shows you helped a colleague may score lower than one that shows you built a working relationship with another team to get something done.

How behaviours are scored

Behaviours are usually scored on a 1 to 7 scale:

• 1 is insufficient evidence
• 2 is minimal evidence
• 3 is moderate evidence
• 4 is acceptable standard
• 5 is good standard
• 6 is strong evidence
• 7 is outstanding demonstration

Many departments set a minimum, often 4, for each behaviour, and then rank candidates by total score across all the elements being tested. One weak example can therefore sink an otherwise strong application, even if your strengths and experience scores are good.

How to write a behaviour example

Most departments ask for around 250 words per behaviour, but check the advert because limits vary. The STAR structure works well:

• Situation: one or two sentences of context.
• Task: what you needed to achieve.
• Action: what you did, in detail. This should be most of your answer.
• Result: what happened, ideally with a number or clear outcome, and what you learned.

Use "I" rather than "we", because the panel scores your actions, not your team's. Pick recent examples, and use different examples for different behaviours where you can. Examples from volunteering, education, caring responsibilities or community roles are accepted, as long as they show the behaviour at the right level. If you are new to STAR, our guide to the STAR method for interviews walks through it with worked examples.

Example: Making Effective Decisions (EO level, about 200 words)

This is an illustration of the structure, not a model answer to copy. Your own example should come from your own experience.

Situation: As a team leader in a busy contact centre, I noticed complaint calls about late refunds had risen by around a third over two months. Task: I needed to decide whether to move staff from general enquiries to a dedicated refunds queue without hurting overall answer times. Action: I pulled three months of call data and found that refund calls peaked on Monday and Tuesday mornings. I spoke to two advisers from each team about how long refund calls took and what slowed them down. I set out three options for my manager, with the likely effect on wait times and the risks of each. I recommended a part-time refunds queue staffed by four trained advisers on peak mornings only, and agreed a two-week trial with clear measures. Result: Refund complaint calls fell by 25% during the trial, while general answer times stayed within target. The approach was adopted permanently, and I now use the same data-first method before proposing any change.

Notice the detail in the Action section and the specific result. That is what moves a score from 4 to 6.

Success Profiles at interview

A Civil Service interview usually mixes question types from the elements in the advert:

• Behaviour questions: "Tell me about a time you had to deliver something to a tight deadline." Prepare two examples per behaviour so you are not caught out if the panel has already heard one, and practise saying each aloud in two to three minutes. Expect follow-ups such as "what would you do differently?"
• Strengths questions: short and quick, with no right answer. Answer naturally and honestly.
• Experience and technical questions: about your background, your knowledge of the area or a professional skill, sometimes with a presentation set in advance.

Our list of Civil Service interview questions gives examples of each type with tips on answering. For general preparation, see our guides to competency-based interview questions and common interview questions and answers.

Common mistakes

• Describing the team, not yourself. Say "I", and explain your own decisions.
• Too much Situation, not enough Action. Keep the background short.
• Pitching at the wrong grade. Read the grade description and match it.
• No result. Always say what happened and, if possible, quantify it.
• Reusing one example for every behaviour. Panels notice, and it limits your score.
• Ignoring the other elements. A strong behaviour example will not make up for a personal statement that misses the essential criteria or an ability test you did not practise for.

Where to go from here

Start with the advert: list the elements, the behaviours and the word limits, then draft one example for each behaviour and a personal statement against the essential criteria. Cut them to length and read them aloud. If you are still deciding whether the Civil Service is right for you, our civil servant career guide covers the routes in and pay, and Career Compass matches your strengths and interests to UK careers, including public sector roles.

Find out where you fit Career Compass gives you a ranked shortlist of UK careers that suit you, with pay and how to get in.

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