Technology Graduate Development Programme Ref. 1285

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Technology Roles
London
£33,783 rising to £36,522 after one year

At MI5, technology plays a crucial and increasingly frontline role in safeguarding our nation from terrorism, espionage and cyber-attacks. Our Technology Graduate Development Programme (TGDP) offers you the unique opportunity to apply and develop your skills in this vital area of work.

This is a structured two year development programme that is designed to fully equip you with the skills, knowledge and experience needed to be an effective part of MI5’s technology workforce.

Upon joining one of our roles, you will have the opportunity to work with a number of different teams within that role to broaden your skills and experience.

Successful applicants will start the programme in September 2018.

Business Stream

On joining the TGDP, you will be assigned to one of the following roles, based on your preference, skills and business need.  Please click on the links to find out more:

•    Project Management
•    IT Service Management
•    Information Architecture


Please click here to find out more about the above roles.

Over the two year programme you can expect to carry out a variety of work and develop your business and technical skills relevant to your role.

•    In project management you will build your ability in stakeholder management, implementing project plans, and applying structured processes and methodologies to successfully take projects to completion. This role will equip you with the skills and qualifications to become a confident project manager.
•    In IT service management you could be solving problems under pressure during an unplanned outage, analysing the solution and response in order to reduce the impact of subsequent faults or working closely with partners across the organisation to implement business change.  
•    In information architecture you will develop your skills in data modelling and problem solving to help to solve the data and technology problems of tomorrow. You will work with a range of people from MI5, SIS and GCHQ to deal with some of the intelligence community’s most strategic issues. Intelligence agencies are nothing without information and you will assist in maximising how this is used.

To find out more about these roles, click here and view the video at the bottom of the page.

Training and Career Development

MI5 is a unique and stimulating place to work and we will ensure that you have all the ongoing support and development you need to build a rewarding and successful career with us.  During the programme you’ll receive a combination of extensive on the job and more formal training.  You will follow a role specific training pathway and you’ll train alongside other members on the Development Programme.

Examples of training courses include:
•    Emotional Intelligence
•    Communicating and Presenting with Impact
•    Influencing with Integrity
•    Practical Strategic Planning

Examples of funded training include:
•    APM Introductory or PRINCE 2 (Foundation and Practitioner)
•    ITIL

In addition, further external and accredited training and qualifications may be funded by the organisation to support your future career with us. You will also have an opportunity to continually develop your personal and leadership skills. Our training programme is designed to enable you to meet your potential as an innovative IT professional, and equip you with the skills and ability to manage and lead in different areas of the IT department in the future.  Your development doesn’t stop at the end of the programme, it continues in your subsequent roles, MI5 may fund relevant additional training that will enable you to complete, or further advance, your professional qualifications and career aspirations.

We offer a supportive environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.  We also place great importance on our staff maintaining a healthy work-life balance. For more information about working for MI5, please follow the link to ‘Working at MI5’ here.

The Person

To join the Technology Graduate Development Programme, you will have a passion for technology and will have (or be expecting) a 2:2 in any degree subject by September 2018.

The nature of our technical work means you will need to be an articulate communicator with the ability to build strong working relationships with people at every level in MI5. With strong analytical skills and the confidence to challenge conventional thinking, you will combine honesty and resilience with sound judgement and the ability to take responsibility for your work.


Recruitment Process

The first thing we will ask you to do is complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you meet our initial criteria.  If you do, we will then ask you to begin an application. To do this you will need to create a login by providing your full name, email address and a memorable password.  You will then be asked to complete a basic application form and equal opportunities monitoring information.  

After submitting this form you will be sent an e-mail asking you to take an online verbal reasoning test.  On receipt of this invitation e-mail, you will have up to one week to take the test.  If you do not take the test within this timeframe we will assume that you no longer wish to proceed with your application.  You will be given 25 minutes to complete the test and you will need to do this in one sitting.

If you pass this test, we will invite you to complete and submit our full application form.  The application form consists of basic eligibility questions, sections for you to list your qualifications and work experience, as well as competency questions. It will explore your motivation to work for MI5 and in particular why you want to join the TGDP.  You will be asked to select your preference area to work in.  Our recruitment team will then conduct an application sift.  

Successful applicants will be invited to telephone interview.  This interview will primarily be competency based and will require you to give specific examples of when you have demonstrated abilities or behaviours required to be successful in our programme.

Assuming you pass the telephone interview, you will be invited to attend an assessment centre in London. We will be running assessment centres in December 2017 and January 2018.  This will be followed by a final selection interview to explore your suitability for the preferred business area.  If you successfully pass the final recruitment stage, you will be made a conditional offer of employment. These are made on the condition that you pass the Developed Vetting (DV) stages of the process, which will include a security interview with one of our vetting officers.

You should read about the vetting process and satisfy yourself that you meet the criteria outlined in the vetting pages of the ‘Applying for Jobs’ section prior to submitting an application.  Giving misleading information or omitting or concealing information during the recruitment and vetting process is viewed very seriously. You should ensure that you follow our guidance from when you apply.  Find out more about the vetting process here.

The recruitment and vetting process can take up to nine months to complete.  If you are in the final year of your studies we advise you to apply now.  Once all vetting enquiries have been completed and DV clearance has been granted, we will be in a position to make final offers of employment to candidates and agree start dates.  Candidates will be joining in September 2018.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

As a “Disability Confident” employer we offer an interview to all candidates with a disability who meet our minimum criteria for the job vacancy that they are applying for. This is known as the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS).

Along with the standard eligibility requirements for this role, your application will be assessed on how far you meet the job specification based on your application and the answers you provide in the “Skills and Additional Information” section. Your application must score the minimum amount of points set. On successful completion of this stage, you will be invited to interview. This will be a telephone interview and is our guaranteed interview.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply, you must meet our residency criteria. You must be a born or naturalised British citizen and one of your parents must be a British citizen or have substantial ties to the UK.

Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for nine out of the last ten years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. However, we will still consider you if you’ve served overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of Her Majesty’s Government, studied abroad, or lived overseas with your parents.

Due to vetting requirements you will need to be 18 years old, or above, to apply. Your application may take around six months to process.

Owing to the sensitivity of our work, we do not publicly disclose the identities of our staff. Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.

The Security Service is committed to reflecting both equal opportunities and the society we protect.

Key Dates

Application closing date - Monday 13th November 2017 @ 23:00

Telephone interviews will take place during November and December 2017

Assessment Centres will take between December 2017 - January 2018

This Program / Vacancy is closed to applications.