Administrative Assistant (AA) – Behaviour Statements

Applying for an Administrative Assistant role? Civil Service behaviours are used to test how you work, how you handle tasks, how you support others, and whether your examples fit the AA grade.

AA Seeing the Big Picture
How to show you understand where your work fits, who it helps, and why following the right process matters.

AA Changing and Improving
How to show you can spot small improvements, respond to feedback, and support better ways of working.

AA Making Effective Decisions
How to show sensible judgement, checking information, following guidance, and making practical choices.

AA Leadership
How to show responsibility, setting a good example, staying calm, and helping others when needed.

AA Communicating and Influencing
How to show clear communication with colleagues, customers, and other teams.

AA Working Together
How to show teamwork, support, cooperation, and respect for other people.

AA Developing Self and Others
How to show learning, taking feedback, building confidence, and helping others improve.

AA Managing a Quality Service
How to show accuracy, reliability, customer focus, and following a good process.

AA Delivering at Pace
How to show you can stay organised, meet deadlines, and keep work moving.

What are behaviour statements?

Behaviour statements are short written examples used in Civil Service applications.

They are designed to show how you have acted in a real situation. The assessor is looking for evidence of what you did, how you did it, and what happened because of your actions.

For Administrative Assistant roles, behaviour statements should be clear and practical. You do not need to write like a senior manager. You need to show that you can deal with tasks properly, work well with others, communicate clearly, follow instructions, and get work done to a good standard.

A good AA behaviour statement usually focuses on one situation. It explains the task, shows your personal actions, and gives a result. The result does not need to be dramatic. It just needs to show that your actions made a useful difference.

The main mistake many applicants make is writing about general duties. A behaviour statement should show a specific example. Instead of saying you “always provide good customer service”, explain a time you helped a customer, dealt with a problem, or supported someone who needed clear information.

What level is expected at AA?

At Administrative Assistant level, the expected evidence is usually practical, sensible, and focused on doing the basics well.

You are usually being assessed on whether you can follow a process, support a team, communicate with people, stay organised, and complete work accurately. You are not expected to lead large projects or make senior decisions.

Strong AA examples can come from everyday situations where you took responsibility for your part of the work. This might include helping a colleague, dealing with a customer, checking information, meeting a deadline, or learning a new process.

The best AA answers are often simple. They show that you understood what was needed, took action, and achieved a useful outcome.

You should avoid trying to make your answer sound more senior than it is. At AA level, assessors usually want clear evidence of reliability, accuracy, teamwork, and good communication.

Where can AA examples come from?

AA examples can come from paid work, education, volunteering, caring responsibilities, community activities, or personal experience where you had a clear task and took useful action.

Your example does not have to come from an office job. Civil Service applications are based on evidence, so the situation matters less than what you did in it.

Experience from retail, hospitality, customer service, admin, warehouse work, care, school, college, university, or volunteering can all be useful if it shows the right behaviour.

For example, a retail situation can show communication and customer focus. A college group task can show teamwork. A volunteering role can show reliability and service. A family responsibility can show organisation and judgement if it is written carefully.

The key is to choose examples where your role is clear. The assessor needs to see what you personally did, not just what the group or team achieved.

Do your examples need to match the job?

Your examples do not need to match the exact job, but they should match the behaviour being assessed.

If the behaviour is Working Together, your example should show how you worked with other people. If the behaviour is Managing a Quality Service, your example should show accuracy, service, or following a process. If the behaviour is Delivering at Pace, your example should show organisation, focus, and getting work finished on time.

The job advert can help you choose the best angle. Look at the duties, essential criteria, and wording in the advert. If the role involves customers, examples with customer contact may be stronger. If the role involves processing work, examples involving accuracy and routine tasks may fit better.

You should also think about the level of the role. For AA jobs, a clear and relevant example is usually better than a complicated one. The assessor should be able to understand the situation quickly and see why it fits the behaviour.

Subscribers can unlock guidance on structuring a strong 250-word AA behaviour statement, choosing where to spend the word count, cutting wasted words, keeping the answer focused, and using a simple layout when writing their own statement.