Civil service success framework personal statements

[riotlady]

Hi :) I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in applying for civil service roles and could help me work out what I'm doing with my personal statements. I have 4 questions to answer, with 250 words for each. The job role requires 4 success profile behaviours. I can see clearly that two of the questions obviously link to 2 of the behaviours, but the other two questions are along the lines of "why are you interested in this job/area?".

Should I try and make sure I evidence all 4 behaviours in the 2 behaviour focused question? Do I need to stick to one example or can I use a few? Should I be using the STAR structure?

As a side question, I scored 99% for the maths and judgement and only 48% for the verbal (which was a surprise, I have a language based degree and haven't done maths in years!). It says I've passed the minimum standard but is my low verbal score likely to rule me out further down the line?

Thanks so much to anyone who's able to help.

Re the tests, they don’t count after that stage for normal vacancies on CS Jobs so don’t worry about the score. I put them in sometimes to reduce the number of applications we get but we never see the scores.

With the behaviour statements, use each to evidence the one relevant behaviour. If it’s not obvious then just answer the question and don’t worry about evidencing behaviours. Behaviours will be tested at interview if they aren’t tested on the application form.

Thank you!