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civil service interview - confused by success profile

3 replies

cigarsmokingwoman · 11/07/2025 20:00

I have an interview with ACAS for an HEO role and I've been told I'll be assessed on 'strengths' and 'experience' in the success profile.
I'm confused though as I've seen people on here before talk about questions around 'delivering at pace' or 'communicating and influencing'. I haven't been given anything like that, just 'strengths' and 'experience' which is really broad!
I've watched videos on youtube by that Jac guy and bought his question guide but even that has so many questions under 'strengths' and 'experience' that it doesn't really help me.
Any ideas / suggestions very much appreciated

OP posts:
NeverAndEver · 11/07/2025 22:20

Have you seen this as a starting point? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
Delivering at pace etc. are behaviours, so I suppose it's possible that the interview won't be behaviour based but I've never had a civil service interview that wasn't. Is there definitely no more info about the interview either in the email (no attachment or anything) or on civil service jobs? If there's really nothing more than saying it's experience and strengths I'd probably send an email asking if they can you any more about what the interview will involve. Good luck!

Success Profiles

Success Profiles are the recruitment framework used within the Civil Service.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

ChocolateEarlGrey · 12/07/2025 09:25

@NeverAndEver ”it's possible that the interview won't be behaviour based but I've never had a civil service interview that wasn't”

If you are a civil servant then you should know better than to give such vague advice!

Not all civil service interviews are behaviour-based. If it is behaviour-based then it would say so in the job advert, including the specific behaviours being tested like ‘communicating and influencing’. If there are no behaviours in the job advert then there will not be any in the interview - no ‘it’s possible’ about it.

OP, experience questions will ask either ‘tell me about a time when you did X’ or ‘what would you do in X situation’ and will relate to duties and spec in the job description. Strength questions are designed to be more off the cuff. If you search for ‘experience questions’ and ‘strengths’ on the Reddit page ‘thecivilservice’ you will find lots of information about these.

NeverAndEver · 12/07/2025 12:58

I was trying to help based on my experience, that's all.

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