Jobs that tell you what to lead with: 259

Most Civil Service jobs are assessed with Success Profiles. Part of Success Profiles is a set of 9 behaviours, such as Delivering at Pace, Working Together, Communicating and Influencing, Making Effective Decisions and Managing a Quality Service. Each advert picks a few of them, and for each one you write a short example of a time you did that thing.

The sift is the first round, where the panel reads and scores applications before choosing who to interview. Many adverts include a line like “In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift may be conducted on the lead behaviour”. That sentence is what this list looks for. The lead behaviour is the one the panel scores first when the pile is big.

Some adverts say lead criteria instead. That is usually an essential criterion from the person specification, such as experience of customer service or a professional qualification, and it works the same way: if lots of people apply, that criterion is scored first. A few adverts call it the lead competency or the lead requirement. The list treats them all as the same thing.

Behaviour examples are usually scored out of 7, and the advert or candidate pack tells you the pass mark. If you don't reach it on the lead, the panel may stop there. That isn't a judgement on you as a person. It is how a panel gets through hundreds of applications in the same, fair way.

Each card shows the reference number (Ref), the pay, the job title, the department and the grade. Under those is a line that starts Lead with: that is the behaviour or criterion the advert names. At the bottom is the closing date. Tap the card to open the full advert on Civil Service Jobs.

Sometimes the lead line says See the advert. That means the advert does name a lead, but in wording too long to shorten cleanly. Open the advert and look for the word “lead” to find the sentence.

Jobs are grouped by work area, such as Admin & Office Support, Operational Delivery, Policy & Strategy or Digital & Product. The areas run from the easiest to get into at the top to the most specialist at the bottom, where jobs often need a qualification. Tap an area in the row of chips to jump straight to it. Each area shows its first 3 jobs; tap the line underneath to see the rest.

Within each area, the job that closes soonest comes first. Many adverts close at 11:55pm, but some close at midday, so check the time on the advert, not just the date.

Write the lead before anything else. Pick the one example from work, study, volunteering or home life where you did that behaviour most clearly, and where you can say exactly what you did yourself. The panel scores your actions, so write “I”, not “we”.

Use a simple shape. A sentence or two on the situation and what needed doing, then most of your words on what you did and why, then the result, with a number if you have one. This is often called STAR. Keep to the word limit in the advert, because anything past it may not be read.

Read the behaviour's description for the job's grade. Success Profiles describes each behaviour separately for each grade, so Delivering at Pace for an EO job asks for different things than for a Grade 7 job. Use the words from that description where they honestly fit your example, so the panel can match what you wrote to what they are scoring.

If the lead is a criterion rather than a behaviour, treat it the same way. Say plainly that you have the experience or qualification, then give one specific example of it in action: what you did, how often, and what came of it.

Tonight, open your area in the list and pick two or three jobs where the lead is something you have really done. Open each advert and note the closing date and time, the lead, the other behaviours and the word limits.

This week, draft your lead example first and make it the best thing in the application. Then write the other behaviours, your CV and the personal statement if the advert asks for one. Finish a day before the closing date, so a late problem doesn't cost you the job.

You apply on Civil Service Jobs itself: make an account there, press Apply on the advert and fill in each section. 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 jobs land.