After recent reports surrounding MI6 some interesting facts have been released about how they recruit their agents…
The notoriously secretive agency recruits the brightest and best from top universities. But instead of the traditional tap on the shoulder from their Oxbridge tutor, MI6’s new spooks go through a disappointingly mundane recruitment process.
Roles are advertised in the paper, candidates are invited to attend an interview and, just like thousands of companies across the country it protects, MI6 asks potential spooks to complete a psychometric test.
So why does MI6 use psychometric testing? To reduce the risk of recruiting the wrong person for the role. Sound familiar? It should if your organisation uses psychometric assessment tools. Whether you are organising a sales call, engineering a new product or integrating yourself into a foreign society, natural temperament, character and ability will be the key to your success.
As we’re now into spook speak and the world of James Bond, what would you say his profile would look like? I’ve taken a guess below:
Generalist Persuader
An ability to assume a strong leadership role of a generalist nature with a need for autonomy and authority. A clear preference for initiating and setting own direction an orientation towards achieving results and sense of urgency to set and realise goals. An aptitude for keeping a wide variety of tasks on stream a predisposition towards persuasiveness, able to sell his own ideas to others in a diplomatic manner.
Sound right? What temperament traits would you say James Bond displays? Leave a comment below…
