Problem setting. The relevance of public administration reform, trends and prospects for its implementation and achievement of goals require the refinement and in-depth study of the standards of professional activity of public service personnel to form requirements for the competence of civil service personnel, assessment of their level of qualification and compliance with a particular position.Recent research and publications analysis. The analysis of recent studies and publications shows the presence of increased scientific interest of researchers to professiography as a method of versatile study and description of professions, and, in particular, the professional activities of a public servant.Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The question of methodological provision of professiographical researches in the civil service system remains open, and therefore requires a comprehensive solution.Paper main body. One of the most important methods of studying professional activity by international practices is the functional analysis, which separates the activity process into structural elements – labor functions. In accordance with these functions, requirements are set for the skills and knowledge of employees, etc.To study human activities in the course of their specific work, use the analysis of tasks. The latter involves a hierarchical analysis of tasks, a task list, a positioning analysis questionnaire, a method of a critical incident, a map of the main and general skills and abilities, etc.Guided by the necessity of a systematic study of the work of a public servant, it is advisable to interpret the principles of professiography and their adaptation to the study of the activities of the staff of state authorities, namely: complexity principle, the principle of goal-setting, the principle of personal approach, the principle of reliability, the principle of differentiation, the principle of typing, the principle of promising and reality.In the process of psychological study of the professional activities of a public servant, his competencies are used by means of which it is possible to gather information about the features of the professional environment, the content of managerial tasks and psychological requirements for managers and specialists, the properties of the subject of work and its requirements for working conditions. The main methods in professiography are polls, conversation, observing, self-observation, experiment, which are supplemented by analysis of documentation, analysis of critical situations, consideration of results of work, etc.The research of various categories of positions with the help of these method s makes it possible to determine the requirements that apply to public servants in the professional activity. On their basis, a list of professionally important and individual psycho-physiological qualities necessary for its implementation is determined. According to them, psychodiagnostic methods for assessing the professional and personal qualities of public servants for the improvement of personnel technologies and the content of vocational training are selected. Thus, the u se of methods for assessing the professional and personal qualities of a public servant can greatly improve the efficiency of the activities of civil service personnel.Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Investigation of the professional activity of public servants needs to highlight a number of important psychological aspects that affect the quality and effectiveness of their work. This involves establishing a psychological structure of the requirement s and features of positions of various categories, designing the psychological structure of the state body. The latter has a close connection with the professional conduct of a public servant, his attitude to official duties, the formation and development of professionally important qualities. Realization of these tasks is possible with the help of profound professiographic and psychographic researches of professional activity of civil service personnel in various managerial situations – from typical and regular to crisis and extreme. The results of the study should become the empirical basis and guidelines when developing the standards of professional activity of public servants, further scientific and methodological developments aimed at improving the management of the personnel of state bodies, drawing up educational and vocational training programs, specialization, retraining and in-service training of public servants.