Skip to content
Sift Assist

Civil Service applications, in plain English

You have the experience.
Let's find the words.

Knowing you could do the job and explaining it in an application are two different things. Sift Assist helps you bridge that gap, one useful question at a time.

Create your free account See an example

300 welcome credits. No card needed. Your profile and advert analysis are free.

Your application notebookIllustrative example
The advert

Written behaviour · 250 words

Managing a Quality Service

Your life
“I helped organise the Saturday food bank. Things were a bit chaotic when volunteers couldn't make it.”
A useful question

How did you make sure someone was there to help when a volunteer couldn't come?

That's where your example starts.

For experience from work, caring, volunteering, study and everyday life.

There is more to your experience than a job title

From “I just helped out” to what you actually did

The detail is often there.
It needs drawing out.

You do not need to arrive with a polished story. We help you find the decisions, actions and results that make your example useful.

After a few guided questions

Your explanation

“I made a rota and asked who could be a backup. If someone cancelled, I called the backup first. We had enough people on the next few Saturdays and nobody had to wait outside.”

Plain words. A real situation. Useful detail.

A suggested answer excerpt

Your contribution, made clear

“When last-minute volunteer cancellations disrupted our Saturday food bank, I took responsibility for making cover more reliable. I introduced a rota, agreed who could provide backup and contacted them first when a gap appeared. Over the following Saturdays, we had enough volunteers available and visitors no longer had to wait outside.”

Illustrative writing example, not a customer result or a complete assessed answer.

AI helps shape and develop your account into a suggested answer. You review the wording, correct any assumptions and check that it is accurate and permitted by the vacancy. Read our AI guidance

A clear route through

From the advert
to an answer
you can work with.

Take a closer look

  1. Make sense of the advert

    Paste the vacancy. Check the grade, word limits and what belongs in your written application or interview. We flag missing information so you know what to look for.

  2. Find your example

    Use your profile or choose another experience. Answer one plain-English question at a time about what happened, what you did and what changed.

  3. Build, review, improve

    Get a complete first answer, clear feedback and a few focused follow-up questions. Add anything we missed, then create your refined final answer.

The reading room

Understand the process.
Before you spend a penny.

Free guides and original practice exercises, written to make Civil Service recruitment easier to understand.

Explore all free resources
Application writing

STAR without the robotic answer

Find the balance between setting the scene and showing what you did.

Know what they mean

The nine Civil Service behaviours

Translate the labels into recognisable things you have done.

Practice, with explanations

Civil Service Judgement Test practice

Try original workplace scenarios and understand the reasoning.

Start with what you know

You bring the experience.
We'll help you explain it.

Create a free profile, add your advert and take the next step.

Create your free account 300 welcome credits after email verification.
No card needed to start.