How to Join MI6

Joining MI6 was until recently an operation as covert as the organisation’s official business, but now applying to become a spy is simply a matter of filling out the right application form.

Non-Convert Application

Traditionally you don’t choose to work for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), or MI6 as it’s more popularly known, the service chooses you. Potential spies were often identified from behind the cloisters of Oxford and Cambridge and then tapped up surreptitiously.

Alternatively job applicants might arrive for interviews without any idea who their potential employer might be and only ever find out if they pass through the various rounds of recruitment successfully.

Recent years have, however, seen a very significant change in the intelligence agency’s recruitment policy. Believing secrecy at the recruitment stage to be counter-productive and talent-spotting to be too labour intensive, MI6 now find their spies in a more straight-forward and transparent manner, much like their sister service across the Thames, MI5. Likewise they also now have their own website rather than just a mysterious PO box number.

Discretion

The application process may be more straightforward these days but that doesn’t mean MI6 have also curtailed their fine art of selection. They are no less particular about the type of candidates they are looking for and keen as ever to dissuade “thrill seekers and fantasists” looking to follow in the footsteps of James Bond.

Successful candidates still need to be very discrete - it’s one thing to have a hugely exciting and impressive job but then to have to keep any mention of it limited to your nearest and dearest is an enviable skill in itself. Show-offs are therefore as welcome as would-be 00-agents.

Besides being averse to the limelight, SIS employees are expected to be motivated problem-solvers who are good at building relationships, exhibit strong intelligence and have a healthy interest in international affairs.

Broader Recruitment

As well as keeping a particular eye out for specialists such as linguists – particularly in Arabic – and computer experts, the SIS is also looking wider in terms of the sex and ethnicity of its potential employees.

It is now accepted that the white males from privileged university backgrounds that have historically formed the backbone of the security services are not naturally suited to all foreign security threats, not least those posed by Islamic extremists.

The service is keen to recruit more staff from ethnic minority backgrounds not simply because public organisations should be reflective of the society they work on behalf but because of the valuable insight and understanding different ethnic minorities bring - and because they want people that look the part. MI6 have said they are keen to recruit from the Muslim community. Women are also in greater demand.

Recruitment Process

The SIS can’t afford to choose the wrong person and so recruitment process is a rigorous process that can take as long as nine months for successful applicants.

Up to 80 per cent of applicants fall at the first hurdle, the online application form, and often for trivial mistakes such as failing to answer the questions properly. Half of those selected for first interview don’t make it any further and then 50 per cent of the remainder don’t make it beyond the second.

Those that manage to make it so far still have to face an assessment course and then an intensive personal vetting process.

Before you even think about starting this journey you have to make sure you passport confirms you are a British citizen, that you have a 2:2 degree or above and haven’t indulged in any recreational drugs in the preceding 12 months.

Perks of the Job

If you would feel a great sense of purpose and pride in the idea of protecting the security and economic well-being of the United Kingdom from threats such as terrorism, drug trafficking and regional instability then it is certainly worth all the effort.

In being centred on foreign intelligence gathering it is not surprising that one of the perks of the job is the opportunity to travel. An SIS officer may be expected to spend months in a particular country soaking up its culture. The SIS is also noted for the warmth and friendliness of its working environment.

Weighing down the numerous attractions of a role within the SIS might be a concern for danger, a common presumption for which James Bond and his ‘licence to kill’ can share at least some of the blame.

The safety of MI6 staff reigns supreme and they are not asked to do anything they are not comfortable with. Even if they did fancy the idea of having a concealed weapon about their person it wouldn’t be their domain to do so. On occasions where action is required specially trained operatives would be contracted in, usually ex-special forces members.