Commercial and Procurement Behaviour Statement Examples

HEO, SEO and Grade 7 Civil Service behaviour statements for commercial applications

Strong commercial behaviour statements show judgement through a real procurement, contract or supplier problem. The example should make personal ownership clear and stay within the 250-word behaviour limit.

The vacancy controls which behaviours are assessed. These examples focus on Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Seeing the Big Picture and Leadership because they regularly fit commercial work at these grades.

Return to the Commercial and Procurement Applications hub for the wider role guide.

How to structure a commercial behaviour statement

Keep the context short. Explain your responsibility and move quickly into the commercial evidence you used, the choice you made and the reason for it. Show how you handled challenge, governance or uncertainty where it mattered.

Use a simple Situation, Task, Action and Result flow. The action section should carry most of the detail. A strong result shows value, service improvement or a better commercial position with a specific outcome.

Common behaviour statement mistakes

• Turning the answer into a description of procurement procedure.
• Using “the team decided” when your own commercial judgement should be visible.
• Treating a lower price as proof of value for money while the wider value assessment stays unclear.
• Leaving the stakeholder challenge out of a negotiation or influencing example.
• Inflating HEO or SEO authority to create a more senior sounding result.
• Giving a Grade 7 example where the candidate performs all detailed tasks personally instead of leading through others.

Members can unlock twelve complete Commercial and Procurement behaviour statements across HEO, SEO and Grade 7. Each statement uses a different commercial scenario, stays below 250 words and includes a specific explanation of why the evidence works.