We’re all used to jumping through hoops to get a job – there’s the CV, the form where you put in all the info from your CV, a cover letter and more.
But if you’re gunning to join the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Britain’s century-old spy agency, there’s one more hoop to go.
To find recruits who ‘think outside the box’, GCHQ posted a new job spec yesterday, asking wannabe spies to solve a puzzle.
‘To celebrate our arrival on LinkedIn we’ve worked with artist Justin Eagleton to produce this special visual puzzle for you to complete,’ GCHQ said on LinkedIn.
‘Within the image are 13 elements that represent letters of the alphabet. Your task is to identify those letters and assemble them to reveal a hidden message.’
The rather trippy-looking mini puzzle is a nod to GCHQ’s code-breaking roots, with a high-definition version available to download here.
It features everything from GCHQ’s Gloucestershire office and Alan Turing to a helicopter carrying an old television and someone wearing a sweatband with the LGBTQ+ Pride flag.
…And after looking over the puzzle ourselves, all we can say to you is good luck.
But if you find yourself too stuck on it, GCHQ said it would reveal the answers the following day (today).
Director GCHQ, Anne Keast-Butler, said that diversity is ‘critical’ to the agency’s mission to keep the country safe, which is why joining LinkedIn was a no-brainer.
‘The world is getting more complex and we’re only ever going to stay ahead of those threats by bringing together the right mix of minds that lets us tackle the challenges ahead,’ she said.
‘For us, that means bringing in people with different backgrounds, different experience, different insights, different knowledge, and creating a team where all of us can play our part.’
GCHQ’s decision to join LinkedIn – which makes it the first intelligence agency to do so – was done to help it reach out to people ‘who’ve never thought to work with us’, Keast-Butler added.
Jobs at GCHQ aren’t just for tuxedo-wearing James Bond types. Other gigs include intelligence analysts and data scientists, business support officers and engineers.
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