Receptionist Ref. 3212

Working pattern: Full time, Monday to Friday shifts on a rota, 8am to 4pm, 9am to 5pm and 10am to 6pm. This is an office-based role, with no opportunity to work from home.

About us

We’re MI6, also known as SIS. Our mission is to protect the security and economic wellbeing of the UK from overseas threats such as regional instability, terrorism, and cyber-attacks. Working across the globe and in close partnership with MI5 and GCHQ, we help the Government to counter these threats through the provision of secret intelligence. A role in MI6 will see you providing vital support to this work, within a supportive and encouraging environment that puts the emphasis on teamwork.

The Role

As a Receptionist, you’ll be the face of MI6. You’ll be the first person people see when they arrive, providing a friendly, professional welcome. In practice, this means greeting visitors, printing passes for them, and handling the administration this involves. As part of a small and motivated team, you’ll deal with both UK and foreign nationals visiting our building. 

In many ways, you’ll have a central role, liaising with different departments to ensure every visit goes smoothly. You’ll be the main contact for MI6/MI5 & GCHQ pass encodings and for updating access control systems, for example. You’ll also connect with our Head Office to organise Inductions for new starters and contractors. It’s a fast-paced environment, so you will need to prioritise and multi-task to be effective in this role. When you’re not processing visitors, you’ll be compiling visitor data and collating security statistics. This includes maintaining a daily visitors’ diary and records for the MI6 estate. 

Our reception is open weekdays from 08:00 – 18:00, Monday to Friday, so you’ll be working shifts on a rota: 8am to 4pm, 9am to 5pm and 10am to 6pm. Working in collaboration with your team every day, you’ll contribute to the smooth running of our reception.

About You

To join us, you’ll need GCSEs in English Language & Mathematics at Grade 4 or above (or equivalent). You should also have sound IT skills: Microsoft Word and Excel. However, it’s just as important that you’re good with people and able to deal confidently with all our visitors. A background in customer service would help, as would an ability for problem-solving. 

Above all, you’ll need to be organised, professional and thrive in a team. Whatever the task, you’ll work with colleagues, applying your attention to detail, effective communication skills and professional attitude. 

Training and Development

We’ll make sure you get off to a great start with a two-day induction and additional reception-focused training. From this point onwards, you can expect regular one-to-ones and more training in areas such as first aid. With your personal mentor or buddy, you can discuss your aims and development needs. You can expect to spend up to 4 years in this role, at which point you are free to apply for other opportunities within MI6 and shape your own career path.

Rewards and Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £32,421 plus allowances (£3,050) plus other benefits including:

-    25 Days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays
-    Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
-    Interest-free season ticket loan
-    Excellent pension scheme
-    Cycle to work scheme
-    Facilities such as a gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
-    Paid parental and adoption leave. 

Equal Opportunities

At MI6 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our website.

We’re Disability Confident

MI6 are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident, we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the essential criteria for the role. This is our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of application process) are:

• Have the required minimum qualifications.
• Pass the initial sift.

What to Expect

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

• Application sift, looking at your motivation for the role and the organisation.
• Assessment Centre, including documents check and a HR interview.
• If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Before You Apply

To work at MI6, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.

This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here. 

Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.

Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us, to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid having identifying features in your email address, such as your first and/or surname and date of birth. This is good practice and will help you to manage your application with us more discretely. 

The role is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. A loan is available to support people relocating to London.

Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member. 

Right to Withdraw Statement: 
Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.