How do you get a job as a spy at ASIO or ASIS?

TAKING down evil villains and donning disguises around the world. How do you sign up for the espionage business?

James Bond is probably the most famous spy in pop culture.

INTERNATIONAL jetsetting, disguises, dead drops and taking down evil scoundrels sounds pretty intriguing. And who hasn’t envied James Bond’s gadgets, hook-ups and Tom Ford wardrobe if not the near-death escapes?

So how does one become a spy? Not so much the Cody Banks variety, more the Jason Bourne, Carrie Mathison or Sidney Bristow type.

We’ve all heard the stories of cloak and dagger recruitment scenarios, the mysterious tap on the shoulder at university. But time has marched on since the Cambridge Five era and anyone can apply to be a spy these days.

Australian spies aren’t recruited by a tap on the shoulder like Carrie Mathison was in Homeland.

In Australia, there are two primary organisations responsible for intelligence services: Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the more aptly low profile Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

Both organisations work in intelligence gathering with ASIO focused on the domestic sphere while ASIS is international and based out of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

If you’re interested in spywork, there’s a trove of information available on the organisations’ websites, which is now their main recruitment portal. There are also information nights, commonly on university campuses.

Professor Clive Williams, a Visiting Fellow at Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, has a background in military intelligence operations. He said most people enter ASIO and ASIS through the formal process of applying on their websites.

Recruiting spies isn’t as cloak and dagger as it used to be, like in the era of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

“There’s no identification of [suitable] candidates at universities and it’s also harder for people with a family member in the organisation to get in because they don’t want to be seen as preferring them,” he said.

Professor Williams said the recruitment process is very tough and very intrusive. Applicants should expect a written application, written test, interviews, psychological testing, medical check, security assessments and thorough background checks including financial records. Your associations will also be checked so if you hang out with any unsavoury characters your chances of a gig are decreased.

Professor Williams said ASIS and ASIO are looking for people who are reliable, stable, intelligent and lateral thinkers. People with language skills, particularly Arabic or Asian languages, are sought after.

Alias, a show about a spy, ran for five years in the noughties.

He said you need to be an Australian citizen and have at least a 10-year checkable background, so if you’ve worked in China for example, it would rule you out because they can’t verify your past.

The whole recruitment process could take between six months and a year. But the chances of success are slim. Assuming you’ve met all the initial criteria, approximately one in every 100 hundred applicants for ASIS and around one in every 50 for ASIO actually get hired.

And it’s even harder at the moment with ASIO and ASIS not immune to public sector budget cuts. So before you start dreaming of a life of espionage and trench coats, have a plan B. That’s what a good spy would do.

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