Live EO jobs today: 154

Most Civil Service jobs are assessed with Success Profiles, a framework published on GOV.UK. It lets each advert test a mix of things: behaviours, strengths, experience, technical skills and sometimes ability tests. At entry level, behaviours are by far the most common.

Plum checked 333 live entry-level adverts on 10 Nov 2026. Only a handful listed a degree as essential, and almost all of them scored behaviours. A degree can still help you, because it gives you plenty of examples to talk about. It just isn't the ticket in on its own.

So two graduates with the same degree can get very different results. The one who wins is usually the one whose examples clearly show the behaviour the advert asks for, in their own words, with what they did and what came of it.

Each advert names the behaviours it will test, usually a few of the nine in Success Profiles. Common ones at EO are Working Together, Managing a Quality Service, Delivering at Pace, Making Effective Decisions and Communicating and Influencing.

For each behaviour, GOV.UK describes what good looks like at each grade. At EO the descriptions are practical: supporting colleagues when they need help, and understanding what customers need and explaining clearly what can be done.

They also include spotting common problems and suggesting fixes, and checking your progress against what you set out to do.

You show these twice. First in the application, where you write a short example for each behaviour within the word limit the advert sets. Then at interview, where the panel asks you to talk through examples and asks follow-up questions.

The advert or candidate pack tells you how each behaviour is scored and what the pass mark is.

You don't need a career behind you to have good examples. Success Profiles itself says your example doesn't have to come from a job. Uni, a part-time job, a society, volunteering or a hobby all count, as long as you can say clearly what you did.

A group project is a natural fit for Working Together: what did you do when a teammate was struggling or the group got stuck?

A bar, shop or call-centre job fits Managing a Quality Service: how did you find out what a customer needed and sort it out? Your dissertation fits Delivering at Pace: how did you plan it, check your progress and recover when you fell behind?

Say “I”, not “we”. The panel scores your actions, so the middle of every answer should be what you did and why. Keep the setup to a sentence or two, and finish with the result, with a number if you have one.

If all your examples come from uni, that's fine, as long as each one shows the behaviour clearly and says what you did.

Each card shows the reference number (Ref), the pay, the job title, the department and the closing date. Tap Open in Plum on a card to see the full job.

Jobs are grouped by work area, such as Admin & Office Support or Operational Delivery. Some areas, such as Legal, Engineering or Software Engineering, are more specialist, and some jobs there ask for a qualification. Tap an area in the row of chips to jump straight to it.

Before you apply, open the advert and read the essential criteria. A small number of jobs do ask for a degree or a specific qualification, and the advert will say so. Check the closing time too, not just the date: some close at midday.

Tonight, pick three jobs from the list in an area that interests you. Open each advert and note the closing date and time, the behaviours it tests and the word limits.

This week, write one example for each behaviour, using the shape above. Start with your strongest one. Then read them out loud, because the same examples will carry you through the interview if you're invited.

You apply on Civil Service Jobs itself: make an account there and press Apply on the advert. Plum doesn't apply for you. Plum matches you to live jobs, shows what each one tests, and helps you write and practise your examples. You can also save a search to hear when new EO jobs land.