Careers In The ASIS
The Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) operates to collect and distribute foreign intelligence to help protect Australia's security, and promote Australia's interests.
Its counterpart ASIO, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, works inside Australia. ASIS was established in secret in 1952. In fact, it wasn't until 1975 that ASIS was even mentioned in Parliament, and it wasn't officially acknowledged until 1977.
The Intelligence Services Act 2001 gave ASIS a legal framework and made public both its functions and its limits.
Types Of ASIS Jobs
Working for ASIS isn't quite what you might have seen in the movies or in popular culture. Keeping staff safe while collecting and collating so-called 'human intelligence' from around the world means looking for employees who are passionate and motivated, all while keeping their role completely secret.
There is more to the staff at ASIS than intelligence officers. ASIS lists its roles as corporate specialists, intelligence officers, operations analysts, operational technology officers, data engineers and technical officers.
Tertiary graduates can apply for the Operations analyst development program, a 12-month programme that starts with an in-house training course followed by placement in an operational team. There is also a 12-month Career Starter Program for people gaining trade qualifications.
How To Get A Job In The ASIS
If you want to apply for a role in ASIS, the first thing that you need to remember is that you need to keep your application a secret. Maintaining a high level of secrecy is important for any member of the ASIS team, as it protects the intelligence community and the individual employees themselves.
ASIS describes itself as values led, guided by its mission, Australian law and well-established values, and says there is an ethical foundation to everything it does.
ASIS Application Process
If you think you have what it takes to be an Intelligence Officer - or any other pivotal role in ASIS - then you need to be prepared for a long and detailed application process.
All staff have to undertake strict background checks to be awarded high levels of security clearance, and making sure that every applicant has what it takes is not something that only takes a few weeks. ASIS says the process from application to offer may take 7 to 12 months, and sometimes less, depending on the role and your personal history.
ASIS Written application
The written application is your first chance to show ASIS that you meet the requirements of the role.
To start with, you need to create an online account. This is a very secure process, needing a username and a password as well as a key to access. ASIS does not store these details, so if you forget them, or are locked out after three wrong login attempts in a row, you will need to create a new account through a new job application.
The form has four sections: personal details, education and employment, extra-curricular and foreign experience, and an extended response.
You must be an Australian citizen with a checkable background; ASIS cannot progress applications from people awaiting citizenship. Education requirements differ from role to role, so check the vacancy.
The extra-curricular section gives you space to describe activities outside work and study that support your application.
Give full and accurate details of your time overseas. ASIS says it needs to examine your travel and employment history for security reasons, and this can take time.
ASIS Extended response
As part of the initial application, there is an 'extended response' section that is based on the skills and competencies needed for the position you have applied for.
You will need to use this space to answer questions that address the selection criteria of the advertised position - and to do this successfully, you will need to give concise examples that demonstrate your capability.
When you submit your application, you will see an on-screen confirmation.
ASIS will only contact you if your application is shortlisted, usually within 6 to 12 weeks. If you progress, you may receive an SMS asking you to complete online testing.
ASIS Interviews
The interview process will vary depending on the role you have applied for, as will the content of the questions that you will face.
Whether you are invited to a phone interview, a video interview, or a face-to-face interview, you need to be prepared with research, intimate knowledge of your CV, especially education and work history, and be ready to answer questions based on your skills, competencies, experience, and motivation.
Interviews can be challenging, but you can make the best impression by knowing what you are talking about. This means understanding the role you have applied for, ASIS as a service, and the wider industry of intelligence gathering - and then demonstrating how you are a good fit.
Use the job description to find out what they want from a candidate, and pick examples from your experience to fit those competencies. Ask thoughtful questions when you are invited to - about ASIS, about intelligence, or even about something that has been in the news recently regarding the service.
Aptitude Test Practice for ASIS
Every role at ASIS requires a high-level national security clearance.
ASIS says its selection process may include a written test and, for some roles, an assessment centre, but it does not publish which tests it uses. The formats below are common in intelligence recruitment and are worth practising.
Most of these assessments need no prior knowledge - they are not about learned information, but about how you approach problems, your critical thinking, and the logic you use to reach a conclusion.
Personality Questionnaire Practice
Personality tests can come in many forms, but they are all looking for the same sort of information.
In a personality test, you are usually presented with different statements, and you have to select how much you agree or disagree with them - or how well you think they describe your behaviour at work.
Personality questionnaires are often untimed. There are no simple right or wrong answers, but employers compare your responses with the profile they want for the role, so answer honestly and consistently.
Spatial Reasoning Practice
Spatial reasoning assessments are designed to test the way you visualise things. They are a type of logic test that is usually based on shapes in both 2D and 3D.
You will usually be presented with a shape or image, and will have to mentally move it to create a 3D image - perhaps it is a shape that is unfolded and you need to put it together in your mind to find the right answer.
There might be questions about mirroring, or which shape matches an outline.
These tests are usually timed, and the answers are presented as multiple-choice options.
Logical Reasoning Practice
Logical thinking is valued in many roles, and logical reasoning tests are a common way for employers to measure it.
Logical reasoning assessments are designed to test your ability to use step-by-step deductions to come to a rational conclusion. They can be framed in a number of ways - from word problems that ask you to deduce whether a conclusion follows a statement, to image-based questions that are more like abstract reasoning.
Like most aptitude tests, you will find that a logical reasoning assessment has multiple choice answers and is timed.
Abstract Reasoning Practice
Abstract reasoning is a skill that helps you make logical decisions based on limited information. To achieve this, the test will provide a series of shapes or images, with one missing.
You will need to quickly analyse the sequence to find the rule or pattern that governs it so that you can select the right answer from the multiple-choice options.
Sometimes the rule might be a simple numerical change, other times it might involve mirroring, size, colour, or any combination of changes from one image to the next.
Mechanical Reasoning Practice
Mechanical reasoning tests are common for technical roles. ASIS does not say whether it uses one, but practice may help if you are applying for a technical role such as technical officer or operational technology officer.
In a mechanical reasoning assessment, you are being tested on your knowledge of physics and mechanics - including things like force, gears and pulleys, electricity, and acceleration.
Each question is based on a diagram - these are usually using common household objects, so you don't need in-depth mechanical knowledge to answer. The answers are presented as multiple-choice, and as long as you are confident in your basic science knowledge, you should find the content reasonably simple to grasp.
Job-Specific Skills Tests
Depending on the role, you may be asked to show a specific skill during selection.
For a technical role this might be a coding exercise, for example. Check the vacancy for details.
You do not need a second language to apply; ASIS provides any language training a role needs.
Skills tests are a type of aptitude test that is about more than natural talent, and they are used to ensure that the candidate has the required experience, education, or developed skill in that area.
Numerical Reasoning Practice
Numerical reasoning assessments test your ability to quickly read, understand and analyse numerical data. Although you will usually need to complete basic mathematical operations to answer the questions, it is not a maths test. It is about using data in a logical way.
The questions are based on data in a table or graph, and the answers are usually multiple choice. You may be asked to complete an operation (adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing) to find the answer, and you will usually need good knowledge of working with ratios, percentages, and fractions.
Situational Judgement Practice
Understanding how you make decisions under pressure and what type of person you are at work can be a difficult thing to assess, but in the situational judgement test, you are given a number of realistic yet fictional work-based scenarios to work through.
Each scenario will be described in detail, and there will be a number of possible courses of action that you can take to deal with the problem described.
In some tests, you will need to pick the best and the worst option, while in others just the course of action that you would take.
Several options may seem reasonable, but situational judgement tests are scored against the employer's preferred responses, so read each scenario carefully and think about what the role requires.
Verbal Reasoning Practice
Extensive knowledge of English and the ability to quickly read, understand and analyse information presented as text is what is being tested in a verbal reasoning assessment.
You will be given a paragraph or a passage of text, and asked a question about it afterwards. Usually, this is a statement, and you have to decide if the statement is true, false, or there isn't enough information to tell based on the passage.
These passages are often written in quite formal, businesslike language, so you need to have a good working knowledge of both the English language and grammar.
ASIS Security Clearance
If you progress, you will undergo security and background checks to obtain a high-level national security clearance. ASIS vacancies say you must be assessed as suitable to hold and maintain a TOP SECRET-Privileged Access clearance.
Along with the initial application, the background check is one of the steps of the application process that can take the longest to complete.
Tips To Get Hired At ASIS
Prepare for the recruitment process
Being recruited by ASIS is not a quick process - and depending on the role you have applied for, there can be many stages to face before you are hired.
Make sure you are prepared by having all the necessary information to hand - and check your emails and SMS messages regularly so you don't miss any important communications.
ASIS publishes the main stages of its process but not the detail of each test, so prepare broadly and keep your application to yourself.
Practise the tests
ASIS may ask you to complete online or written tests, and practice can help you feel more prepared.
There are many different places online where you can practise the different kinds of psychometric tests that you could face. Take practice as seriously as you would the real thing, ensure that you are not disturbed, and use a timer so that you can get used to the pressure of completing questions against the clock.
Practice tests are also a good way to highlight any areas or subjects that you might need more revision on before you take the real thing, so that you can focus your practice for the best results.
