Russian Language Opportunities Ref. 564

Thoughts can be lost in translation. It takes knowledge of the culture, history politics and ideology to fully understand the original idea. And if you can do that, you can enable us to make the right choices to help safeguard national security.

At GCHQ, Russian language analysts play a vital role which is complex and challenging. Fluent language skills are just the starting point - our Language Analysts work at the core of our operational teams, often helping to direct and drive forward projects and operations. They use their expert language skills every day to piece together snippets of information collected from a variety of digital communication sources. Language analysts will be called on to respond to changing world events to provide their cultural expertise to colleagues and seniors.  

While no two days at GCHQ will be the same, some of the main elements of the role are:

•    Using language and cultural knowledge to produce summaries and/or transcripts or translations into English of material assessed as being of intelligence value, some of which might be highly technical or specialist in nature.
•    Developing the analytical skills which underpin all language work.
•    Establishing and managing intelligence requirements with customers in Whitehall and/or beyond and producing intelligence reports for other government departments and/or law enforcement agencies and the military.

You will have considerable autonomy in organising your daily work, calling on technical experts where needed. You will be working in a modern, open plan working environment which encourages day to day collaboration. You’ll be supported by more experienced colleagues from the start and you’ll also have the opportunity to take part in further language training to keep building on your language skills.

GCHQ has a large language community and there are opportunities to progress to senior language roles which have greater responsibility. In addition, within our language community there is a wide diversity of roles, and you will be able to see which kind of role suits your individual skills and interests.

The Skills

Whether you have developed your Russian language skills at home as you were growing up, whilst living or working abroad or through academic study, you have a genuine passion for languages.  You’ll thrive on the challenge of applying your Russian skills on a daily basis.

To ensure you pass our language tests, you will need to be able to comfortably read newspaper articles and understand news broadcasts in Russian. You’ll be able to translate from Russian into clear, well drafted English.

Our Russian practice test will enable you to assess your suitability for a role using this language in the SIA.  The test does not reflect the full complexity of the challenges offered by our Russian language analyst role but is indicative of the type of skills successful candidates should be comfortable using on a routine basis.

Enthusiasm, flexibility and team-working are all important. You’ll have an analytical and enquiring mindset, sound judgement and good attention to detail.  You’ll also be confident in verbally briefing operational teams and other colleagues across the intelligence agencies.

Recruitment Process

If you wish to apply, the first thing we will ask you to do is complete our pre-screening questions to see if you meet our initial eligibility criteria. If you do, we will then ask you to begin an application. You’ll need to create an online login. You can do this by providing your full name, email address and a memorable password. Once you have successfully created a personal account, you will be required to complete an online application form.

As well as basic biographical details and your education and employment history to date, you will need to provide details of your Russian language skills and any other languages you have learned. You will be asked how you learned the language, how you currently use your language skills and to what standard you can speak, read and write these languages and dialects. You will also be asked about your interest in Russian language and culture and what appeals to you about using Russian in your work.

Please note that if you have applied for a Russian vacancy at MI5/MI6 or GCHQ within the last 12 months and have been unsuccessful at the language test stage, you will not be eligible to reapply for this role at this time.

Our recruitment team will complete an application sift to assess how far you meet the job specification. Successful applicants will be invited to attend a Russian language test to check whether or not you have the skills we are looking for.

At the language test, we will assess your Russian language ability across a range of tasks. There is an emphasis on listening and reading comprehension as well as translation.

Assuming you pass the Russian language test, you will then be asked to attend an assessment centre which will include a face-to face interview and other recruitment exercises.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

As part of our commitment to the "Positive About Disabled People" scheme we offer an interview to all candidates with a disability who meet our minimum criteria for the job vacancy for which they are applying. This is known as the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS).

Along with the standard eligibility requirements for this post, your application will be assessed on how far you meet the job specification based on your application and your Russian language ability. On successful completion of this stage, you will be invited to the Russian language test, which is our guaranteed interview.

Please note that if you are unsuccessful at the language testing stage of your application, you will not be eligible to reapply for Russian language vacancies at MI5, MI6 or GCHQ within a 12-month period.


Eligibility and discretion

To be able 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 eight out of the last ten years prior to application. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. You will nonetheless be considered if you have, for example, 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 nine months to process.

Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member, providing that they are British. You should also make them aware of the importance of discretion. You should not post on social media sites about your application or discuss it with anyone else at this stage. You will receive further guidance during the recruitment process.

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