Civil Service Behaviours Explained: What Assessors Actually Score

If you've ever opened a Civil Service job advert and felt your heart sink at the phrase “you will be assessed against the following behaviours” — this article is for you.

Behaviours are not personality traits

The first misconception: behaviours like Making Effective Decisions or Delivering at Pace aren't asking what kind of person you are. They're asking for evidence — specific occasions when you demonstrated that behaviour, described concretely enough to score.

How scoring works

Your written behaviour statements (usually 250 words each) are scored against a numbered scale, typically 1–7. The sift panel reads for markers: Was it clearly your action? Was there a decision or difficulty? Is there a result? Statements without a result, or written entirely as “we”, cluster around 3–4. Shortlists are made at 5 and above.

The 250-word statement, structured

A reliable shape for the word count:

• ~40 words — situation and your specific responsibility
• ~150 words — your actions: decisions, trade-offs, who you involved
• ~40 words — the result, with a number where possible
• ~20 words — a closing line of reflection

Choose examples at the right level

Every behaviour is defined differently at each grade. “Communicating and Influencing” at EO level means clear, tailored communication; at G7 it means shaping the message strategy for an audience of seniors. Download the behaviour definitions for your target grade and match your examples to those words — not the generic ones.

The single most common sift failure: a good example, told at the wrong grade.

Recycle deliberately

Build a bank of six to eight strong examples and map them across behaviours — most good examples can serve two or three. That bank becomes your interview preparation too, because the interview asks for the same evidence out loud.

Master this once and every future application gets faster. The framework doesn't change from job to job — only the words in the advert do.