UK Civil Service tech interview, scored in the open.

The stages below come from Civil Service HR's guidance on Success Profiles and from two departmental digital teams describing their own hiring. Each advert says which stages it uses.

Civil Service HR's guidance says experience, technical skills and behaviours are scored on a 7-point scale and strengths on a 4-point scale. Each panel member scores every question on their own, then the scores are averaged into a final score and a merit list. Defra's digital recruiters say you need 4 or more on each assessment to pass, and an HMRC recruitment manager writes that very few people score 7.

• Get 4 or more on every element: A strong behaviour answer cannot carry a weak technical one. Prepare each element the advert names, at the level it asks for.
• Answer the level, not just the behaviour: Behaviours are written for each grade. Choose examples that match the indicators at your level, such as leading the team's priorities at HEO and SEO rather than only your own work.
• Make your own actions the centre: An HMRC recruitment manager says scores depend on how well you evidence the behaviour: your actions, why you chose them and the impact they had. Say 'I', and give the reason behind each step.
• Expect follow-up questions: Defra's recruiters say a follow-up means the panel wants your best answer. Treat it as a chance to add evidence, not as a sign you are failing.
• Technical skills are scored against the framework: DBT's digital team says technical skills are scored out of three and linked to a proficiency level, and that they influence your offer and salary range. Know the level the advert asks for and bring an example at that level for each skill.
• Strengths are answered, not rehearsed: Strengths questions such as what motivates you are not named in the advert. Keep them to about two minutes and answer honestly, without STAR.

An HMRC recruitment manager warns that AI-written answers tend to replace your key actions with buzzwords. Use your own words and real examples.

The nine Civil Service behaviours are seeing the big picture, changing and improving, making effective decisions, leadership, communicating and influencing, working together, developing self and others, managing a quality service, and delivering at pace.

Each is written at five levels: Level 2 for EO, Level 3 for HEO and SEO, Level 4 for Grade 7 and Grade 6. Read the indicators at your level before you choose examples. At Level 3, delivering at pace includes keeping the whole team's efforts focused on the top priorities, so an example about your own speed alone answers the wrong level.

Answers are expected as situation, task, action and result. The government's digital and data careers hub also offers STARR, which adds a reflection, and CAR (challenge, action, result).

The questions below are built from the behaviours and from the capability framework's skills for a Developer, since departments publish what they assess rather than the questions. Pick the ones your advert names.

1. Read the advert line by line and list every behaviour, skill and level it names. That list is the interview.
2. For each behaviour, prepare one example at the level of the grade, told as situation, task, action and result, with your own actions at the centre.
3. Look up your role in the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework and prepare an example for each skill at the level it sets, such as Practitioner for programming as a Developer.
4. Prepare the presentation if there is one: about five minutes, on the topic the invitation gives you, with time to answer questions after.
5. Don't rehearse strengths answers. Know what genuinely motivates you, and keep each answer to about two minutes.
6. Aim for 4 or more on everything rather than a 7 on one element; one weak element fails the interview.
7. Write and say your answers in your own words. Recruiters say AI-written answers lose the detail of what you did.

This guide covers digital, data and technology roles in the UK Civil Service. The scoring rules come from Civil Service HR's guidance and departmental digital teams; each advert sets out its own stages, so follow your advert where it differs. For management and leadership roles the loop is similar but the bar shifts to people, delivery and strategy, so pair it with the leadership interview prep hub. The bar for your exact role comes from the role-by-role guides, and the prep that actually transfers is spoken, so run a mock interview before the real one.

• 01GOV.UK, Success Profilesthe five elements, and that not all are relevant to every role (updated 29 January 2025)
• 02GOV.UK, Success Profiles candidate overviewthe advert says which elements are assessed and how; the STAR method; strengths questions at interview (updated 29 January 2025)
• 03GOV.UK, Civil Service behavioursthe nine behaviours, the five levels and the grades for each, and the Level 3 indicator for delivering at pace (updated 29 January 2025)
• 04Civil Service HR, Application of Success Profile Guides (EO to Grade 6)no more than four behaviours, strengths not named in adverts, the blended interview with a 5-minute presentation, the 7-point and 4-point scales, and scores averaged into a merit list (May 2020)
• 05Defra Digital, how to improve applications and ace your interviewsSTAR, follow-up questions, technical exercises, two-minute strengths answers without STAR, the 1 to 7 scale and the pass mark of 4 (14 April 2023)
• 06HMRC Careers, how are people scoring 7a recruitment manager on the base pass mark of 4, how few score 7, evidencing your own actions, and AI-written answers (November 2025 to March 2026)
• 07Department for Business and Trade digital blog, the recruitment process explainedblind sift, five days' notice, technical skills scored out of three against a proficiency level and influencing the offer and salary range (updated 13 July 2026)
• 08Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Frameworkthe eight role families and the four skill levels, renamed from the DDaT framework in December 2023 (updated 30 September 2026)
• 09Capability framework, software developerrole levels with typical grades and the Developer's skills and levels (updated 29 August 2025)
• 10Government Digital and Data careers, STAR(R) and CARthe STARR and CAR answer structures (undated)
• 11Roadmap for modern digital government, digital, data and AI specialiststhe pay framework updated in March 2025, Software Engineer and Data Scientist in the Digital Fast Stream, and 75 TechTrack apprentices in September 2025
• 12Civil Service World, digital pay frameworkallowances of up to £10,000 a year above standard pay (30 April 2024)

Interview processes change. This reflects widely-reported and sourced conditions as of 2026 — confirm specifics with your recruiter, and treat it as a map rather than a guarantee.