How many words should a civil service behaviour answer be?

Most civil service applications cap each behaviour at 250 words; some senior roles cap at 300 or 500. Use the full count — answers under 70% of the limit score lower because they don't show enough evidence. The form will hard-stop at the cap, so don't draft past it.

How are civil service behaviour answers scored?

Each behaviour is scored independently on a 1–7 scale against the level descriptor for the grade you're applying for. A score of 4 or above means you've evidenced the behaviour at the right level. Sift panels mark each answer separately, then total or threshold the scores depending on the campaign.

What's the difference between behaviours and strengths in civil service Success Profiles?

Behaviours are evidenced in writing on the application — you tell a STAR story. Strengths are assessed at interview, usually through a few quick questions about what energises you. Application forms almost always ask for behaviours; strengths come later in the process.

Can I use the same example for two different civil service behaviours?

It's allowed but risky. Sift panels notice when the same project appears twice, and unless each behaviour clearly extracts a different facet of the work, the second answer scores lower for repetition. Aim for distinct examples per behaviour where you can — it shows breadth.

Do civil service behaviour answers need to use STAR?

STAR isn't mandatory but it maps cleanly to how panels score. Situation and Task get you context (low-scoring on their own); Action and Result are where the marks live. Most successful answers spend roughly 25% on Situation/Task and 75% on Action/Result.

How to Answer Civil Service Behaviour Questions on the Application Form

The civil service uses Success Profiles as its hiring framework, and behaviours are the part of the application form where most candidates win or lose. Each behaviour gets its own 250-word box on the form, scored independently against a level descriptor for the grade. Get the structure right and you score well; treat it as a personal statement and you score below threshold. This guide covers the structure, the worked example, and the common mistakes that keep otherwise-strong candidates out at sift.

What are civil service behaviours?

Civil service behaviours are nine defined skill areas (e.g. Communicating and Influencing, Making Effective Decisions, Working Together, Delivering at Pace) used across government departments to assess candidates. Each role's job advert names which behaviours apply — usually three or four — and the application form asks you to provide a written example for each, capped at 250 words per behaviour on most campaigns.

The behaviours are graded by level: from Level 1 (entry/AA) up to Level 6 (SCS). The level descriptors are public and specific — read the descriptor for your grade before you write a single word. Writing a Level 4 example for a Level 3 role wastes your strongest evidence; writing Level 2 detail for a Level 4 role scores below threshold.

How long should each behaviour answer be?

The standard cap is 250 words, sometimes 300 or 500 at senior grades. Use the full word count. The internal benchmark is roughly:

Below 175 words (70% of cap): scores lower because there isn't enough evidence to mark.
175–245 words: the scoring sweet spot.
Hard 250 cap: the form will not accept more.

Don't write a 280-word draft and trim — write straight to the cap. Each sentence should earn its place against the level descriptor.

The STAR structure that scores well

Use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result), but weight it for written civil service scoring:

Situation — one sentence, two at most. The panel doesn't score context.
Task — one sentence on what you specifically owned.
Action — the bulk of the answer (~150 words). This is where the marks are. Numbered or bulleted detail is fine on the form.
Result — two or three sentences, with at least one number where possible.

The most common scoring failure is spending 100 words on Situation and Task and only 80 on Action. Flip that ratio.

Worked example: "Communicating and Influencing" at HEO

Situation. As a team lead in the analytical division, I was asked to brief a new director on a politically sensitive piece of evidence on regional skills funding ahead of a select committee appearance.

Task. I needed to land the key statistic — a 22% disparity between funded and delivered training places — in a way the director could use under questioning, without overloading her with the underlying methodology.

Action. I structured a 90-second oral briefing around three top-line numbers and one chart, having tested the language with a policy colleague unfamiliar with the data first. I prepared a one-page back-pocket annex covering the seven most likely follow-up questions, each with a single short paragraph and a source citation. I rehearsed delivery with the director's private secretary the day before, refined two phrasings she flagged as easy to misread, and supplied a short list of "do not say" lines drawn from the legal team's review.

Result. The director used the headline statistic verbatim in her response to the chair, and the back-pocket annex covered four of the five technical follow-ups raised. The session ran without correction or follow-up letter from the committee — the first time in eighteen months that division had given evidence without one.

That answer is around 220 words. It hits the level descriptor for HEO ("communicates with clarity, conviction and enthusiasm") with concrete evidence — three numbers, a named artefact, a specific outcome.

How behaviours are scored: the 1–7 scale

Each answer is marked on a 1–7 scale:

1–3: below the standard for the level. No further consideration.
4: meets the standard for the level. Shortlist-eligible.
5–6: exceeds the standard. Strong candidate.
7: substantially exceeds. Rare.

You need a minimum threshold across the behaviours to progress (the campaign's pack states this). Scoring 7 on one behaviour and 3 on another is worse than scoring 5 across the board, because a 3 on any single behaviour usually rules you out.

Common mistakes that score low

Personal-statement framing. "I have always been passionate about effective communication…" is not evidence. Cut the warm-up and start with the situation.
No numbers in the result. The Result paragraph carries disproportionate weight. "Stakeholders were happy" earns nothing; "the panel adopted the recommendation in full and shortened the consultation by three weeks" earns marks.
Using a team example as if it were yours. Civil service panels are alert to "we did" answers when the question asks what you did. Use "I" liberally and name the specific decision or action you owned.
Reusing the same project across behaviours. Allowed but penalised by repetition. Have at least three distinct examples ready before drafting.
Ignoring the level descriptor. Every grade has a published level descriptor. Read it. Mirror its phrasing in your topic sentence.

For the broader patterns underneath every kind of online job application question — the three question types and how STAR adapts to written answers — the framework guide covers the structure used here. If you're working through a four-behaviour campaign with 1000 words to write in total, AI Job Answers' Application Question tool drafts a 250-word STAR answer from your CV and the job description in seconds, leaving you the time to edit each one against the specific level descriptor. The same approach applies to other long-form written applications like NHS Jobs supporting information.