Sitting in state on the South Bank of the Thames, literally and figuratively watching over Government on the other side, the famous building at Vauxhall Cross is one of the most striking modern additions to the London skyline. The illuminated silhouette of a gigantic terraced pyramid, with its symmetrical twin towers blazing against the darkness beyond, has become a standard feature in 007 films and has seared itself onto the national consciousness as a mysterious symbol of espionage and intrigue. Sometimes it is easy to forget that 85, Albert Embankment is a workplace, an office for hundreds of men and women who wear suits and tap away on computers, just like the rest of the world.
Since 2006, the Secret Intelligence Service (more commonly known as MI6) has been openly recruiting staff online, so if you fancy entering the clandestine portals of its Headquarters and becoming James Bond, now is the time to apply. Open advertising on sites like Facebook, building on the 2005 launch of an official website, is intended to broaden and diversify SIS’s recruitment base.
The Head of Recruitment of SIS, known here only as John, is an engaging and articulate man, as you might expect from someone responsible for sourcing the personalities behind the imposing architecture at Vauxhall Cross – or, perhaps, from your friend’s patrician, successful and rather imposing father. He himself was ‘headhunted’ during his final year at Oxford, and has worked for the service ever since. “I was kicking around in my third year, not really sure what I wanted to do yet. And I was approached by someone and asked if I was interested in an interview.”
The days of this kind of tap on the shoulder at Oxford have been and gone. In today’s fraught employment climate, as students attempt to navigate a combination of sponsored company schmoozes, endless internship application forms and Daddy’s best contacts, everyone can apply.
“There are still people in Oxford, quietly asking students if they’ve thought of a career like this”, John revealed. “But nowadays, they will direct people to the website. A lot of people still apply from Oxford, and actually a lot of our successful applications do come from Oxford graduates. But having opened up the process, we have got a much broader base of applicants from different places and stages in their lives. Whilst we still welcome applicants from traditional subjects, like PPE, History and languages, now our recruits have studied a far wider range of subjects.”
It is easy to imagine a crusty old don in a green-tinged gown giving a Modern Languages student the wink over a glass of port during the 1980s, but the fact that some of them are still doing so behind their oak-panelled doors today is certainly food for thought, and demonstrates the lasting link between the University and the Service.
You can apply to SIS from the age of 21 upwards and they do recruit some people straight from University. “Some people have everything we need by then,” explained John. “Others are better suited to coming a few years later, after they’ve done another job and matured a bit.” But whatever age you are at the time of application, there are certain qualities you will need to possess order to make it through the rigorous selection process. “You definitely need a certain degree of intellectual horsepower. Our recruits are generally in the top 25-40% of their peer group. This is why we do stipulate a 2:2 or above as a requirement. As well as being intelligent, you will need to buy into the whole idea of government service and have a commitment to that, not into becoming wealthy. It’s not a job where you’re going to earn stacks of money or be in the limelight. You will need to have good judgement and decision-making skills as well as excellent interpersonal skills. It’s a very team-based job and you will need to have those kinds of personal abilities. We need people of integrity, who people will trust, because at the end of the day you will be out there recruiting and running agents.”
The long list of laudable personal qualities outlined (conjuring up, in my mind anyway, a twenty-five-year-old fusion of Pierce Brosnan and Adam Carter off Spooks) justifies the very long and rigorous process involved in recruiting officers, which can take over 6 months to complete.
The website http://www.sis.gov.uk gives a detailed explanation of the recruitment procedure, which includes an online application, followed by an online cognitive test. If you pass the online cognitive test and the application form sift, you will be invited to a first interview over the telephone. If you pass the first interview you will be invited to a second interview with an experienced operational officer and will be asked to sign the Official Secrets Act. It involves a day spent at the offices in London during which you will also be asked to complete some more cognitive tests and do a written exercise. A successful day will lead to a two day, non-residential assessment centre and a drugs test. If you are successful at the assessment centre, you will move to the final stage of recruitment, which is security clearance. Subject to this clearance and final references being received, you will get a formal offer of employment.
So what do the cherry-picked successful candidates do when they have survived the process? “Recruits go into 3 or 4 months of training when they join the organization,” John explains. “They can then expect a couple of years working in London. When you start you will be mentored by an experienced officer, so we don’t expect you to hit the ground running. Saying that, there is a lot of responsibility, and you will be expected to pick up speed quickly.”
Two people that did just this are James and Tanya, both operational officers who joined SIS soon after graduating. Despite the secret nature of their employment, the immediate impression the pair give is of overwhelming normality. Both disarmingly modest and, frankly, human, the one thing that seems to distinguish them from the majority of their peers is their belief in and enjoyment of their work, both concurring that “yes, the job is both immensely enjoyable and fundamentally worthwhile.”
The lifestyle of young recruits is something that many would worry about subscribing to, given that the job is so serious in nature that you can’t talk about your professional life with outsiders. When pressed about this, John was keen to refute the stereotype. “People coming into the Service have been really impressed by the quality of the people and the convivial environment,” he countered. “Whilst we wouldn’t want it to become an introspective organization, people do form very strong relationships with their colleagues. Of course you can’t be completely open about your job to outsiders, but it soon becomes second nature. People remain in touch with their university friends in just the same way as people in other professional environments.”
Touching on the issue of dealing with ‘outsiders’, operational officer James revealed a similar response: “Since I first joined, I have grown used to conveying the impression to friends that my job involves worthy but rather tedious bureaucracy in a Whitehall department. And there is nothing like tedious bureaucracy to ensure that any social conversation moves swiftly on. Do I wish that I could tell others about the reality of my job, one that is far removed from relentless paper-pushing? No, nor would I be well-suited to the role if I did.”
He doesn’t go so far as to say that his career is ideal. Clearly the age-old problems that have dogged centuries of fictional spies do sometimes take their toll upon their real-life counterparts. “Of course not, no career could ever be ideal. As with any office, it has its frustrations and its demands on your personal life, although far less so than I imagined before I joined – joining SIS doesn’t stop you having a ‘normal’ social life. I have never once looked back at the path I chose in 2000 with any regret, something that cannot be said for most of my university friends.”
Tanya too challenges the stereotypical view of the intelligence officer’s poor social life. “I made friends for life during my initial induction course and some of my peers attended my wedding last year. Having said that it is possible to continue with your old life, and I still regularly see friends that I have known since my school days. Whilst they don’t know what I do, they loved the opportunity to visit me during my overseas posting and meeting up for lunch or a drink after work is still an option. In fact, my work/life balance remains very similar to that during my year in the private sector.”
Whilst fiction has portrayed intelligence officers as combat-trained physical specimens complete with a license to kill, John clarified that this was “a bit of a fantasy. SIS is not a military organization. There are medical tests, but no physical fitness tests for potential recruits. For a small minority of postings in places where there is a potential threat, officers will be trained so they are capable of handling themselves in these areas for their own safety.” So in reality there are less of the rippling Rupert Penry-Jones look-alikes sprinting around the streets of London. What a pity.
A career with SIS can be a career for life, and the Service has very high retention rates, which must say something about the rewarding nature of the work. And the perks do sound appealing: the opportunity to travel, to learn new languages and, in James’ words, “though it sounds hyperbolic to say so, to save lives”.
Spy lifestyles are never going to quite match up to the glamorous world of 007, and you probably won’t find yourself parachuting onto the O2 Arena during your initial training period. There is, nonetheless, a well-trodden path from Oxford to Vauxhall Cross that you might want to think about looking into, starting on the website. Just don’t tell your housemates.
