Civil Service STAR method

How Success Profiles work

The Civil Service recruits using Success Profiles, which can assess five elements. Not all of them apply to every role: they vary with the profession, level and type of job. The job advert tells you which ones will be assessed and how.

• Behaviours: the actions and activities that lead to effective performance in a job.
• Strengths: the things you do regularly, do well and feel motivated by.
• Ability: your aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard.
• Experience: the knowledge or mastery you have gained from doing an activity or working in a subject.
• Technical: specific professional skills, knowledge or qualifications.

Do you have to use STAR?

It’s recommended rather than required. GOV.UK’s Success Profiles guidance suggests considering STAR because it lets you set the scene, show what you did and how, and give the overall outcome. The Civil Service’s own tips for candidates also suggest it for behaviour questions and for preparing interview examples.

Departments can add their own guidance, so read yours carefully. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, for example, recommends STAR at interview, but says you don’t need a specific format for a personal statement. It also reminds candidates to say “I” rather than “we”, so the panel can see what you did yourself.

Read the full STAR method guide, with a template to copy.

The nine Civil Service behaviours

You won’t be asked to show all nine for one role. Recruiting managers choose the ones that suit the job, and the advert lists them. The official descriptions change with the grade, so read the ones for the grade you are applying for.

The summaries below are our own, and the practice questions are written by DontBlank in the usual style of behaviour questions. They are not official Civil Service questions.

Build an example for each behaviour

1. Read the advert and the grade.

   List the behaviours in the advert, then read the Success Profiles descriptions for that grade. They show the level of responsibility expected.

2. Choose an example at the right level.

   Pick something you did personally, at a scale that fits the grade. GOV.UK says you don’t need to demonstrate every part of a description to be successful, so choose what you can evidence best.

3. Write it up with STAR.

   Be concise and stay on topic. If the application has a word limit, cut the background first and protect the action.

4. Prepare to say it out loud.

   A written statement doesn’t always work as a spoken answer. Rehearse from notes, and be ready for a panel to ask what you did and why.

Examples at three grades

These are original illustrations, not real applications or model answers, and we can’t say how any panel would score them. They show how the scale of an example can grow with the grade.

Situation I work in a benefits enquiries team. Callers often rang back because our letter didn’t make clear what evidence they needed to send.

Task My job was answering those calls, but I wanted to understand why so many people had the same problem.

Action I kept a simple note of the questions for two weeks and found that most were about the same paragraph. I asked a few callers what they had expected it to mean. I then drafted clearer wording and a short checklist and took them to my team leader, who checked the wording with the policy team.

Result The new letter went out the next month, and we had fewer repeat calls about evidence. Colleagues also started using my checklist on calls.

The speaker works out what customers need, spots a common problem and proposes a fix, while going through the right people. That is a suitable scale for this level.

Same question. Your story.Free, no account neededUp to two minutesRecord my answer

Situation I led three caseworkers in a regional team that relied on information from another department. Requests were often taking weeks, because nobody knew who to contact.

Task I was responsible for my team’s work being done on time, so I wanted to make it easier for us to get what we needed.

Action I arranged a call with my counterpart to understand what made our requests hard for them. Incomplete forms were their biggest problem, so I gave my team a checklist and asked them to use it. We agreed named contacts on both sides and a fortnightly call. When their team was short-staffed, I told them which of our cases were most urgent so they could deal with those first.

Result Requests started coming back sooner, and we cleared our backlog. Both teams kept the fortnightly call, and I passed on what we had learned to another regional team.

The speaker builds a relationship beyond their own team and starts by asking what the other team needs. Sharing the lesson with another team matches this behaviour’s focus on sharing knowledge.

Same question. Your story.Free, no account neededUp to two minutesRecord my answer

Situation I led a small team running a grant scheme for local organisations. Two weeks before a funding round, we found evidence that our online form was putting off smaller applicants.

Task I had to decide whether to delay the round and fix the form, or go ahead on time and accept the risk.

Action I looked at the drop-off data from the last round and spoke to three organisations about where they had got stuck. I asked finance how much flexibility the timetable had, and asked our legal team whether a delay raised any issues. I set out three options with their risks, recommended a one-week delay with a simpler form and explained my reasoning to the senior responsible owner and the team.

Result My recommendation was accepted, and we received more applications from smaller organisations than in the previous round. I recorded the reasoning so the next round’s team could review it.

The speaker uses several sources of evidence, weighs up the options and risks, and explains the decision. It shows wider responsibility than the examples for the earlier grades.

Same question. Your story.Free, no account neededUp to two minutesRecord my answer

Where STAR doesn’t fit

Strengths questions are different. GOV.UK describes strengths as the things you do regularly, do well and feel motivated by, and it advises you not to rehearse those answers, because the panel wants your initial response. A Defra blog on Civil Service applications makes the same point, and says you don’t need the STAR format for them.

To prepare, think about what you enjoy and how you like to work, rather than building more stories. Check the advert too: experience, technical and ability assessments may ask for something else again.

How answers are scored

Scoring details can vary, so check the advert and any candidate pack. As one example, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service scores behaviours from 1 to 7 at both sift and interview, from “not demonstrated” to “outstanding demonstration”.

DontBlank’s score is separate from this. It is practice feedback on your spoken answer, and it can’t predict how a Civil Service panel would score you.

Common mistakes

• Choosing an example that shows a different behaviour from the one you were asked about.
• Saying “we” throughout, so the panel can’t tell what you did yourself.
• Ignoring the grade. An example that is too small for the role can be just as unhelpful as a vague one.
• Repeating the wording of the framework. Using the same phrases as the official description isn’t evidence.
• Writing long background sections and leaving too little room for your actions.
• Reading a written statement aloud at interview, rather than telling the story.

Practise out loud

Use the practice link under any behaviour above to record an answer and get feedback on its structure, relevance and delivery. You can also add your CV and the job advert to a free account to generate five questions for that role. DontBlank is an independent practice tool. It isn’t affiliated with the Civil Service or any government department.

Generate practice questions from your CV and the job description.