Key findings
since the Agencies practised the traditional ‘tap on the shoulder’ at
university: there is now a far more modern and inclusive approach to
‘sourcing’ candidates. At SIS, recruitment adverts are placed in lifestyle
magazines and on social media, rather than just in the broadsheet
newspapers and on the Agency’s website. The advantage of this is
that they might catch the eye of someone who would not necessarily
have thought of a career in intelligence or who might not have gone
looking for it.
“Recruitment
campaigns have to
evolve to challenge
the norms, particularly
those surrounding
the seemingly
male-dominated
intelligence world.”
“I first came across the MI5 advert in the Metro newspaper. The
wording made me think that I would have suitable skills for the role,
and I also thought that if you are going to be a Security Officer it
doesn’t get much better than doing the role at MI5! I thought it
would be something different from the norm.
I can’t remember whether the advert was particularly designed
to appeal to women, but then Security Officer isn’t a role usually
associated with women. The advert appealed because of the way it
described the skills required. [NB: There was an image of a female
security officer in the advert.]
I wasn’t aware of any negative bias in the recruitment process. The
website specifically said that they were looking for women and
I didn’t feel disadvantaged in any way throughout the recruitment
process.
Another female security officer joined around the same time as me
and there were three other women on my induction course and
about six men.
When I joined MI5 my first thought was how friendly everyone was.
Throughout my first week everything seemed efficient and well
organised. In my section it is predominantly men but I have never
felt at a disadvantage because of that. Everyone is really friendly and
I love what I do.”
Recent female recruit at MI5
20. Outcome. Has this activity had a measurable impact on the
numbers of women applying and being successfully recruited?
“There is some
recognition from
within the Agencies
of the need to reach
out to women in
new ways.”
(i) In terms of applicants:
• SIS figures show that they are now attracting more women
applicants – albeit that the percentage increase from 2012 to
2014 is a small one.
• We sought to make similar comparisons for applicants to MI5
and GCHQ. However, MI5 record their data by recruitment
campaign rather than by year, while GCHQ-recorded data on
applicants is incomplete.11
11 In the case of GCHQ, it is worth noting that the Agency does have data for 2013 and
January to September 2014, and this indicates that the number of women applying is
rising (25% in 2013 compared with 34% in 2014).
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