Civil Service Success Profiles: The Complete 2026 Guide

**TL;DR.** Success Profiles is the recruitment framework used by every UK Civil Service department. It has five elements — **Behaviours, Strengths, Ability, Experience, Technical** — and not all five apply to every job. The job advert will tell you which elements your role assesses and at which grade level. This guide explains each element, how it is scored, and what changes between grades from AA to Senior Civil Service. All definitions are taken verbatim from the Success Profiles framework on gov.uk, last updated January 2025.

You have just opened a Civil Service Jobs advert for an HEO Policy Adviser at the Department for Transport. The advert lists five things you'll be assessed against: three behaviours, one strength area, and a technical exercise. The application form has a 250-word box for each behaviour. The deadline is in nine days.

If that is your situation, your first job is not to start writing. Your first job is to understand what the framework you're being assessed against actually is. Because everything that wins or loses a Civil Service application — the structure of your behaviour answers, the way you describe motivation in a strengths interview, the level of detail in your personal statement — comes from the Success Profile framework. Once you understand it, the application becomes mechanical. Until you understand it, you will keep losing on technicalities you didn't know existed.

This guide explains the framework in full, in the order an applicant needs it.

What Success Profiles is — and what replaced

Success Profiles is the framework introduced in 2018 to replace the older Civil Service Competency Framework. Where the old framework relied on a single dimension — competencies — Success Profiles uses five elements that can be combined in different ways for different roles.

Why the change? Two reasons. First, the old competency framework had become predictable: candidates were rehearsing the same five examples and assessors were scoring them with diminishing variation. Second, the Civil Service wanted to broaden the assessment to capture aptitude, motivation, and technical skill alongside past behaviour. Success Profiles is the result.

The framework is documented on gov.uk. The current version was last updated 29 January 2025 and applies to all Civil Service recruitment. Departments may add specific guidance for their professions (DDaT, Government Finance, Government Commercial, Government Project Delivery, Government Legal Service) but the five elements are constant.

The five elements, defined

Each definition below is taken verbatim from the official Success Profiles publication on gov.uk.

1. Behaviours *"The actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job."*

There are nine Civil Service behaviours, each with a level descriptor for every grade. Behaviours are assessed via written examples (250-word answers in application forms), competency interview questions ("Tell me about a time when..."), or assessment centre exercises. The full list of behaviours appears in the next section.

2. Strengths *"The things we do regularly, do well and that motivate us."*

Strengths are about what energises you and what you do naturally. They are assessed in interviews using questions like "What energises you most about your work?" or "When do you feel most like yourself professionally?" The Civil Service uses a strengths dictionary internally, but candidates are not expected to memorise it — the questions probe authentic motivation, not labels. There is a separate guide to Civil Service strengths-based interviews that covers the interview format in detail.

3. Ability *"The aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard."*

Ability is assessed via online tests, normally before the application form is read. Common test types include verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning, situational judgement, and Civil Service Judgement Test (CSJT) for higher grades. Ability tests are typically untimed practice followed by a timed real attempt. They are pass/fail or banded — strong scores can compensate for weaker areas elsewhere in the application; weak scores will usually screen you out before the application is read.

4. Experience *"The knowledge or mastery of an activity or subject gained through involvement in or exposure to it."*

Experience is assessed through the personal statement (typically 750–1,250 words depending on grade) and through CV-style fields in the application form. It is the element where you describe what you have done — the roles, projects, and outcomes that demonstrate readiness for this specific job. Experience criteria are listed in the job advert as essential or desirable.

5. Technical *"The demonstration of specific professional skills, knowledge or qualifications."*

Technical is the element that varies most between roles. For a digital role, technical might mean an SC-cleared system design exercise. For a finance role, it might mean a CIPFA qualification check and a budget reconciliation exercise. For a legal role, it might mean professional registration with the Bar Standards Board or SRA. The job advert specifies the technical requirements and the assessment method.

**The critical point: not all five elements apply to every role.** The advert will tell you which elements are assessed and how. Some roles use only Behaviours and Experience. Others use all five. Read the *How to apply* section of the advert carefully — it lists the assessment elements for that specific job.

**Fast Stream candidates:** the Fast Stream scheme uses the same five elements but adds additional stages — online tests, a video interview, and a day-long assessment centre — all before any written behaviour examples are read. The grade-level language in this guide applies to Fast Stream starting grades (EO or HEO-equivalent on entry), but Fast Stream-specific content is covered in a separate guide (upcoming).

The 9 Civil Service behaviours

The behaviours are the most heavily-weighted element for most non-technical roles. The full list, taken verbatim from the Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours page on gov.uk:

1. **Seeing the big picture** 2. **Changing and improving** 3. **Making effective decisions** 4. **Leadership** 5. **Communicating and influencing** 6. **Working together** 7. **Developing self and others** 8. **Managing a quality service** 9. **Delivering at pace**

Each behaviour has a level descriptor for every grade from AA to SCS. The descriptors get progressively more strategic and more system-focused as the grade rises — at AA you are demonstrating reliable execution within established processes; at SCS you are demonstrating strategic transformation across the system.

A separate guide gives STAR examples for all 9 behaviours at every grade.

How each element is assessed

Different elements are assessed in different ways. Knowing how each one is scored changes how you prepare.

**Behaviours.** The most common assessment method is a 250-word written example for each behaviour the role assesses. (Some roles allow up to 500.) The example follows the STAR structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result. The Action section accounts for ~60% of the word count and is where the assessor finds the score. Vague Actions ("I worked with the team to deliver the project") score 1. Specific Actions ("I drafted the project plan, identified two risks the senior responsible owner had missed, escalated them to the Grade 6, and re-baselined the milestones with three weeks of contingency") score 4.

At interview, behaviours are assessed via competency questions ("Tell me about a time when you led a team through change"). Answers should follow STAR and be 2–3 minutes long. Going over the time signals poor judgement.

**Strengths.** Assessed only at interview. Questions probe motivation rather than past examples: "What energises you?", "What comes naturally to you?", "What would you find draining about this role?". The right answer is authentic and brief — 60–90 seconds — followed by one short example to make it real.

**Ability.** Assessed via online tests, taken before the application form. Practice tests are available on most departmental careers pages. The tests are time-pressured and the marking is automated.

**Experience.** Assessed via the personal statement (750–1,250 words). The personal statement is *not* the same as a behaviour answer. It is a continuous narrative addressing the experience criteria in the advert, written in flowing paragraphs with embedded examples. There is a separate guide to the Civil Service personal statement.

**Technical.** Varies by role. Could be a written exercise, a presentation, a portfolio review, or a professional qualification check.

What changes between grades — AA to SCS

The same behaviour name means very different things at different grades. Calibrating your evidence to the right grade is the single biggest predictor of whether your behaviour examples score.

**AA / AO (Administrative Assistant / Administrative Officer).** Demonstrate reliable execution of defined tasks. Evidence is typically about following processes accurately, raising issues to a line manager, working as part of a team, and learning new procedures. Examples that describe individual ownership of small tasks score well; examples that try to claim strategic influence will be marked down as not credible at the grade.

**EO (Executive Officer).** Demonstrate competent ownership of work within established processes. Evidence is typically about managing your own workload, taking responsibility for outputs, working with colleagues at your level, and beginning to take initiative on small improvements. The shift from AO to EO is from "I did the task" to "I owned the output".

**HEO (Higher Executive Officer).** Demonstrate independent judgement and ownership of outcomes. Evidence is typically about managing a piece of work end to end, dealing with ambiguity, influencing colleagues, and producing a measurable outcome. The shift from EO to HEO is from "I owned the output" to "I delivered the result".

**SEO (Senior Executive Officer).** Demonstrate cross-team influence and the ability to deliver through others. Evidence is typically about leading a small team or workstream, managing risks, presenting to stakeholders, and producing outcomes that affect more than your immediate area. The shift from HEO to SEO is from "I delivered" to "I delivered through others".

**Grade 7.** Demonstrate strategic ownership of a defined area, accountability to senior stakeholders, and the ability to make recommendations to ministers, boards, or senior officials. Evidence is typically about leading a project or service area, managing budget and resource, dealing with conflict between stakeholders, and producing recommendations that were adopted. The shift from SEO to G7 is from "I delivered through others" to "I shaped the strategy".

**Grade 6.** Demonstrate leadership of a function or major workstream, with accountability for outcomes that affect the department or the wider Civil Service. Evidence is typically about leading multiple teams, setting direction, managing performance, and influencing senior officials. The shift from G7 to G6 is from "I shaped a strategy" to "I led a function".

**SCS1 / SCS2 / SCS3 (Senior Civil Service).** Demonstrate strategic leadership, system-level transformation, and accountability to ministers and Parliament. Evidence is typically about leading change across a directorate or department, dealing with public scrutiny, and producing outcomes that affect citizens at scale. SCS-level evidence is fundamentally different in scope and language — sentences are about systems, not tasks.

A worked example: "Communicating and influencing" at three grades

The same general scenario — improving how a team communicates with stakeholders — produces fundamentally different evidence at different grades.

**EO version (250 words).** *In my role as a casework officer, I noticed that our weekly stakeholder updates were being ignored by half the recipients because they were too long. I drafted a one-page summary template using bullet points and a "what you need to do" section at the top. I tested it with two colleagues, refined the format based on their feedback, and proposed it to my line manager. After approval I rolled it out across the team. The new format reduced the stakeholder query rate by 30% over the next quarter and was adopted by two adjacent teams.*

**SEO version (250 words).** *I led a workstream to redesign how my division communicated with five external stakeholder groups. I started by interviewing each group to understand what they actually used in our updates and what they discarded. Three of the five groups said they used less than 20% of what we sent. I drafted a tiered communication structure — daily flash updates, weekly summary, monthly deep dive — and presented it to my Grade 7 with a costed implementation plan. I then ran a four-week pilot with one stakeholder group, measured engagement (open rates, query volume, action completion), and refined the structure based on the pilot data before scaling. The new structure reduced the volume of our outbound communication by 40% while increasing stakeholder action completion by 25%, and was adopted by two adjacent divisions.*

**Grade 7 version (250 words).** *I led the redesign of stakeholder communications across my directorate (180 staff, 14 stakeholder groups). The existing approach was producing low engagement and creating reputational risk after a recent ministerial complaint about communication failures. I commissioned a rapid review with the directorate's communications business partner, identified that 11 of our 14 stakeholders were receiving conflicting updates from different teams, and presented findings to the Director with three options. The Director approved a single co-ordinated communication function which I established in three months, including a new tier-1 escalation route to the Director's office for high-risk issues. The change reduced ministerial complaints relating to communication from an average of two per quarter to zero across the next six months, and was cited in the directorate's positive Cabinet Office Capability Review.*

The same theme — communication improvement — has fundamentally different scope, named stakeholders, and outcomes at each level. Submitting the EO version for an SEO post would screen you out as not yet ready for the grade. Submitting the Grade 7 version for an EO post would screen you out as not credible.

Calibration is the most under-discussed skill in Civil Service applications. Most candidates write at one grade below their target.

Ability tests — the part most candidates underestimate

Ability tests are taken before the application is reviewed. If you fail them, your application is never read. This is the silent rejection mechanism that catches most strong candidates the first time they apply.

• **Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT).** Reading comprehension under time pressure.
• **Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT).** Numerical reasoning, including charts, percentages and ratios.
• **Civil Service Judgement Test (CSJT).** Situational judgement — multiple-choice scenarios with no objectively right answer, scored against a model of effective Civil Service behaviour.
• **Civil Service Initial Sift Test (CSIST).** Used at the entry stage of higher-volume schemes.

Practice tests are available on the careers pages of most departments. Practice them under timed conditions before you take the real test. Most candidates who fail at the test stage failed because they did not realise the tests were timed.

What to do next

If you are starting an application now, the order of preparation is:

1. Read the advert and identify which Success Profile elements are assessed and at what grade. 2. Take any practice ability tests for that grade. 3. For each behaviour the role assesses, draft a STAR example calibrated to the grade. 4. For the personal statement, write a continuous narrative addressing the experience criteria. 5. For strengths, prepare 5–6 honest answers to "what energises you" type questions — do not memorise them, but rehearse them aloud. 6. For technical, do whatever the advert requires (qualification check, written exercise, portfolio). 7. Submit two days early to leave room for form failures.

SpecMatch handles steps 3 and 4 automatically — it reads the job advert, calibrates the evidence to the grade level, and produces drafts of every behaviour example and the personal statement using STAR structure and your real career history. The free plan includes the gap analysis and 3 lifetime applications. Pro at £12/month gives you 10 applications per month and the personal statement generator. Expert at £29/month adds the interview question predictor, which uses your gap analysis to predict the questions a Civil Service panel is most likely to ask you and lets you score practice answers against STAR structure.

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