Recruitment for MI5/MI6 - AIBU to think that they find you, you can't apply?

[DoTheHop]

Does anyone know how this happens?
They appear to have an application process, but I'm not sure what they're looking for.
An ex of mine was contacted by them after his degree, in Computers and Maths I think, but according to him (not sure if true or bullshit) he'd have had to meet them in a field and never bothered.
I've a ds who is interested in this field. It's not really something you see discussed. I'm not sure what area of it he is interested in - he just finds it fascinating really.
Do they really take applications or is it a case of them hunting you down lol?

I once received a locked encrypted combination usb stick randomly in my Amazon parcel, we joked it was a secret MI5 test to unlock it for spy recruitment. A few months later I tried to sell it on eBay and when I sent it via tracked delivery to the buyer it went 'missing' in transit

I was going to suggest GCHQ. My step father worked there. We still don't know what he did. ( now sadly deceased). He died suddenly after being away on a 'business trip'. We found he had 2 passports etc. GCHQ turned up to collect lots of stuff.
He spoke at least 6 languages including Afrikaans.

His claim to fame was that he helped to free Nelson Mandela.

When he was marrying my mum we were all 'positively vetted'. To the point that my Nan walked into her local pub in West Wales and the landlord had been questioned about her! ( He was ex-special forces and 'their man' in W Wales).

They were told that the eldest daughter had 'subversive tendencies'. I was politically active at Uni and marched a lot. - and has been arrested for it etc. I was an 80s student!

Ponoka7 that’s very sad but also intriguing. What did your family think about the funeral?

You would be surprised at who you know who is involved.

They love Oxford classicists - I was given the tap on the shoulder years ago but wasn't interested (and also the vetting procedure would have taken for ever).

I've been questioned for several of my friends especially those coming out of the forces.

Beyond that I can't tell you - I couldn't kill you but they could kill me

They single people out from Oxford sometimes, a family member was recruited but decided to go to the city for more money in the end.

You can apply directly but you have to agree to only tell one person you've applied.

It's very serious and they check everything, and I mean, everything.

Spies and secret agents like on films don’t actually exist. Mi5 has mobile surveillance officers. www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/mso They are not armed.

www.sis.gov.uk/operational-officers.html

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/45953932

“Agents” aren’t employed by the UK services. “Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS), or “agents”, are people who can provide intelligence that assists our investigations. Agents are not MI5 employees – we refer to our staff as “officers”.”

There is no huge mystery about the vetting process either. Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK have security clearance.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-security-vetting-advice-for-people-who-are-being-vetted

www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/vetting

There is no phone tapping, no lie detector test, you are followed and they can’t read your mind.

That should be you aren’t* followed. Lots of odd ideas here about applying for a job there!

They are far too busy trying to prevent (and often failing) to prevent terrorist attacks and other incidents.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-48839789

“ MI5 has more than 650 live operations which are graded on a pyramid. The most concerning small number at the top have the most resources available to them. These are the people closest to staging an attack.”

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-mi5-police-foil-17-13081614.amp

I got a first class degree in Classics from a Russell Group university (one of the posh ones which races boats annually) and I’m apparently a super-recogniser. But I’ve still not been recruited by MI5/6. So I channel my mental energies into memorising (instantaneously) the number plates of cars parked on my residents-only street illegally. Too Mumsnet for my own good.

My friends son has just started to work for M16 - no, my friend was not supposed to tell anyone - they do rigorous background checks but I suppose they can’t find out that a parent has the tendency to say ‘ well, I shouldn’t mention this , and please don’t tell anyone else ‘ to a wide selection of her social circle.

He applied, wanting a change from a scientific career ( MSc) lots of interviews and tests and then there was quite a wait between being offered a position and being given a starting date. He does not share his mother’s gossipy tendency and am sure he will be very selective in what he tells her.

Civil service doesn't pay as much, even a senior intelligence officer is around 35k in London which is not considered high. Has he considered other surveillance roles?

You can apply mi5 via their website. I've done it, but I withdrew my application as it was more intrusive than I thought. They are required to ask about your parents background etc

It's really just the civil service at the end of the day. The recruitment process changed a great deal from 1970s onwards.

Previously Mi6 and 5 had been a bit 'tap on the shoulder'. GCHQ was almost exclusively ex-forces and ex-BOAC (immediately post war).

GCHQ has changed as swiftly as communication has since 1990 plus major restructuring since 91. A James Bond type is more Black Ops and likely to be Army Special Forces.

Mathsy/Computery geeks are both headhunted or applications received by GCHQ.

Is your son interested in the same field where your ex had to meet M15/M16?

I'd be fabulous at that kind of thing. Nosy as fuck, great memory and recall and the exact sort of person nobody would ever suspect of anything other than a mild eyeliner addiction. I could sit in John Lewis cafe and listen in on all sorts of shit for days before anyone noticed.

Come on, MI5, I'm here waiting for the nod. But I've got a holiday booked in June so don't go planning any Ops then, please and thank you.

I went out with someone from GCHQ a couple of decades ago. Brilliant mathematician and quite quirky, he told me lots of tales about the eccentricities of his colleagues.

Tbh I can't recall much about my ex's rendezvous in a field, but it was MI6. I recall that as I told them there was no such thing (I had only heard of MI5). I have no idea what the job was, nor did he as he didn't meet them. I'm assuming given his degree it was something nerdy and not remotely sexy.

And I don't think he went to a sexy university either.

It was 20 years ago though.

What happens if friends and family interviewed for the vetting refuse to co-operate? Presumably that just means the applicant is discarded?

tell us more pegasus

My first round interview took place in nondescript office building near oxford street and was pretty secret squirrel.

I had to disclose a lot of financial and sexual history data.

I'm pretty sure my phone was tapped during the process.

I was very disappointed that I didn't get through at the time but now I'm so grateful. Life definitely worked out for best 😊

I was once in a conversation with a senior colleague at work where they brought up the topic of MI5 with me, I said I'd always fancied it and he said to let him know if I wanted to proceed, I was a little but also pleased that he thought I had the right temperament!

Pegasus, checks out with what I've been told.
I suppose they 'own' you really. Own your info anyway. I wonder are they exempt from GDPR?

I think if you apply for the foreign office you sometimes get streamed into MI6

If they do meet you in a field stay away from the sharpened umbrella 🌂