Civil Service and NHS Application

UK public-sector applications are scored, not skimmed. Civil Service roles use Success Profiles: behaviour examples marked against a published scale, usually within a 250-word limit. NHS roles score the supporting information against the person specification's essential and desirable criteria. This skill writes to the scoring.

Part of the pm-cv bundle.

What This Skill Produces

• Behaviour statements, one per behaviour asked for, within the word limit
• A personal statement or NHS supporting information mapped to each criterion
• A criteria check: every essential criterion and where it is evidenced
• A CV, if the advert asks for one, in the plain form these schemes expect

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The advert: the behaviours, essential and desirable criteria, and word limits
• The grade (for example HEO, SEO, Grade 7) or the NHS band
• The person's examples, ideally from career-inventory

Working from a brief

Given one example, the behaviour, the grade and the word limit, write the full statement anyway in STAR form at the stated length, with [bracketed] numbers or dates to confirm. Never ask for more detail before the first draft.

Framework: Behaviour Statements

Use situation, task, action, result, with most of the words on action:

• Situation and task: two or three sentences
• Action: what I did, in steps, showing the indicators for the grade
• Result: the outcome, with a number where the person has one, and what was learnt

Rules:

• Use the behaviour's published indicators for the grade as a checklist. Show three or four of them clearly.
• Stay within the word limit. Count it and state the count.
• One example per behaviour; reuse an example only if the advert allows it.
• Write "I", not "we".

Framework: NHS Supporting Information

• Go through the person specification in order. One short paragraph per essential criterion, then the desirable ones.
• Use the criterion's wording as a sub-heading so the shortlister can tick it off.
• State registrations and qualifications exactly as held.

Output Format

Application: [role], [department or trust], [grade or band]

1. Behaviour statements: each with the behaviour, the statement, and the word count 2. Personal statement or supporting information 3. Criteria check | Criterion | Essential or desirable | Where evidenced | 4. CV, if required

Quality Checks

• Every behaviour statement is within its word limit, with the count shown
• Action is the longest part of each statement
• Every essential criterion is evidenced
• Each statement is written in the first person singular
• Examples are the person's own; nothing is invented

Anti-Patterns

• Going over the word limit. Text beyond it may not be read.
• "We did". Scorers can only credit what the applicant did.
• Describing the situation at length. It scores nothing.
• Skipping desirable criteria when the field is competitive.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Write my Success Profiles behaviour for Delivering at Pace, 250 words, SEO level."
• "Help me with my civil service personal statement."
• "Write my NHS supporting information for this Band 7 post."
• "Check my application against the essential criteria."