Application process
Civil Service Success Profiles Explained: The Complete Guide
Published · Last updated
Success Profiles has five elements, your advert uses a specific combination of them, and the highest-value preparation step is to decode exactly which ones your vacancy assesses, at which stage. Most candidates only ever prepare behaviours, then get blindsided by a strengths question, an unexpected test, or a personal statement scored against criteria they answered with STAR stories.
The five elements
| Element | What it assesses | Where it is assessed |
|---|---|---|
| Behaviours | Actions and activities that result in effective performance, defined in nine named behaviours with descriptors that change by grade | Sift (written statements), interview, or both |
| Strengths | What you do regularly, do well, and are energised by | Almost exclusively at interview, via short unseen questions |
| Ability | Aptitude for the role: numerical, verbal, judgement, casework skills | Online tests, usually an early sift gate |
| Experience | Knowledge and mastery gained through doing, measured against the advertised essential criteria | CV and personal statement |
| Technical | Role-specific professional skill or qualification | Only where the role genuinely needs it |
No vacancy uses all five. A typical EO campaign might run ability tests, then a behaviours-based sift, then a blended behaviours-and-strengths interview. A G7 policy role might sift on experience and one lead behaviour, then interview on four behaviours. The advert tells you, and most people do not read it as instructions.
How each element is scored
Behaviours are scored 1 to 7 against the descriptors for the advertised grade. The same answer genuinely scores differently at EO and SEO, which is the most underrated fact in Civil Service recruitment. Strengths typically score on a 4-point scale. The pass mark is usually 4 per element, but appointments go in merit order, so in an oversubscribed campaign the effective bar is a 5 or 6. The full mechanics are in how Civil Service interviews are scored.
Two consequences are worth internalising. Evidence that is not stated is not scored, because panels mark what you said rather than what you plausibly did. And preparation should target the descriptors at your grade rather than good answers in the abstract, which is why the grade guides exist (EO, HEO, SEO, G7).
The nine behaviours
Each links to a full worked guide with a fail-vs-pass rewrite:
- Seeing the Big Picture: awareness that changed a decision, not awareness held in mind
- Changing and Improving: the suggestion trap, managed risk, and improvements that stick
- Making Effective Decisions: owning the decision, not just the research
- Leadership: accountability and defence under pressure, no line reports required
- Communicating and Influencing: a position moved, not messages sent
- Working Together: a gap crossed, not a pleasant team described
- Developing Self and Others: someone else's capability, changed by you
- Managing a Quality Service: the system fixed, not the case handled
- Delivering at Pace: trade-offs named, not hours endured
You will be assessed on three to five of these, named in the advert. Prepare those deeply rather than all nine thinly.
Strengths: the element you cannot script
Strengths questions are deliberately unseen and fast: "are you a finisher or a starter?", "what would colleagues say you're the go-to person for?" The scoring rewards authenticity, energy and a concrete flash of evidence, all inside 60 to 90 seconds.
You cannot script them, but you can prepare the raw material. Know the published strengths dictionary, identify the six or eight that are genuinely yours, and have a one-line real example attached to each. The failure mode is treating a strengths question like a behaviours question and launching a three-minute STAR story. The panel wants the spark, not the saga.
Many campaigns now run blended interviews, with behaviours and strengths interleaved in one sitting. If your invite mentions blended, prepare both modes and practise switching gear between them.
Where candidates lose marks, element by element
- Behaviours: evidence pitched at the wrong grade. The answer that would score 6 one grade down caps at 3 or 4 at the advertised level.
- Strengths: scripted answers, delivered flat. Panels can hear rehearsal, and the scale rewards genuine energy.
- Ability: treating tests as a formality. They are a gate, so practise the format before your first live attempt, because some departments restrict retakes.
- Experience: writing the personal statement as one deep STAR story instead of breadth mapped against every essential criterion. Covered in the personal statement guide.
- Technical: assuming your day job speaks for itself. Technical elements are scored against a published framework level, so read the framework and evidence its language.
- All of them: not decoding the advert. Ten minutes with the advert and the elements it lists is worth more than a weekend of generic preparation.
Next: check which elements your target roles actually assess on the live vacancy tracker, filtered by grade and department.
Common questions
Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience and Technical. No role assesses all five — the job advert states which elements apply and how each is tested.
Success Profiles replaced the Competency Framework from 2018–19. The nine behaviours are the closest descendant of the old competencies, but assessment now flexibly combines up to five elements.
Behaviours are scored 1–7 against grade-level descriptors, strengths typically on a 4-point scale. The pass mark is usually 4 per element, with appointments made in merit order of total score.
The advert lists them — typically three to five per role, chosen by the vacancy holder as most relevant. You will never be assessed on all nine at once.
Not by scripting — answers are deliberately unseen and panels look for authentic energy. But you can review the published strengths dictionary, know your genuine strengths, and practise answering fast and concretely.
Practise before the real thing
Reading how panels score is step one. The candidates who pass are the ones who practised saying their answers out loud — and got scored feedback against the official Civil Service Behaviours framework before interview day.
Start Practising FreeStart a practice session3 free practice questions · No card needed · Cancel anytime