Applying for a role in the Civil Service? The Personal Statement will likely be an important part of the application. Here is our advice for how to get the best out of this important phase and sell yourself in the best light possible.

1. Personal Statements for Civil Servicejobs
The idea of a personal statement is to showcase your skills and experience that are
relevant to the person specification that the employer is looking for to fill the
position. It's your opportunity to give evidenced examples of how you fit this
specification and why you should be selected as a strong candidate for interview
and employment.
Hopefully the above will give you an idea of what is being looked for in a personal
statement, and how it forms an important part of the success profiles application
and selection process. Here is my advice for completing your personal statement
to give yourself the best chance of progressing, and highlighting the skills you
have:
• TAKE it seriously! A few lines isn't good for a personal statement, and won't
provide the evidence needed to allow your application to be assessed
fully. You have up to 1200 words for most personal statements, this should
be a good guide of what is being looked for in terms of detail.

2. | www.ons.gov.uk | @ONS | Working at ONS
Personal Statements for Civil Service jobs
• USE WORD (other WP are available) and make sure you write it offline first,
so you can check your spelling and grammar. It also gives you chance to
read and re-read before going anywhere near that submit button.
• READ the person spec, then read it again, to make sure you understand
what is being looked for.
• ANSWER - all of the points in the person specification as if they were a
question, and your personal statement is the answer.
• USE STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) as a basis for your answers, think
about what was needed, what YOU did, and what happened). Not sure on
what the STAR technique is? Check out this article.
• HOW you do this is up to you. I prefer to treat every point as a separate
question to be answered, and lay my response out accordingly, but use
whatever works best for you.
• ASK someone for a 2nd opinion of whether what you have written is clear
and answers the questions posed by the person specification.
• READ it again, to make sure you are happy with it and your relevant skills
and experience are clearly evidenced, before you upload it and submit.
And lastly, if you aren't sure about anything, ask QUESTIONS! Contact the
advertiser or managers mentioned on the advert or pack, get in touch with the
recruitment or talent team, and ask for clarification. There's no point guessing if
you aren't sure, and it won't affect your application.