Unlike a James Bond movie, in the real world, gathering intelligence is never up to one person alone. To achieve our outcomes, we require officers who possess strong analytical skills to support intelligence operations. These roles are responsible for researching and analysing particular intelligence problems and priorities, as well as validating and reporting on secret intelligence. Operations support team members typically focus on a particular geographic area or alternatively on a particular global thematic issue.
The skills and experience we look for in our operational roles are broad ranging. We typically look for education and/or experience (either public or private sector) in national security, international affairs, politics, languages and related fields, however, we are open to people with any tertiary qualification. Additionally, we look for candidates who have expertise in a particular country or thematic issue, through study or life experience. In the operational space, we employ people in a range of roles who work within multidisciplinary teams (MDTs).
The specialist nature of ASIS's work demands the highest levels of dedication, integrity and professionalism from our staff. For this reason, our selection processes are competitive and rigorous. As a rough guide, the selection process for Intelligence Support Officers generally takes around 7-12 months from the date of application to the offer of employment and covers a range of different selection phases. The selection process may include some, or all, of the following:
Following this selection process, as a successful applicant you may still need to undertake extensive training depending on your role.
We recruit Intelligence Officers from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to arts, politics, international relations, science, engineering, law, IT, finance/business and economics.
Our officers work in Canberra with the opportunity to undertake postings in a range of overseas locations.
Once you’ve submitted your completed online application form, you will receive an on-screen confirmation that your application has been successfully received by ASIS. Beyond this, you will only be contacted again if you’ve progressed through to the next stage of the application process.