Vetting Officer Ref. 742

Every person who works with the Security and Intelligence Agencies will have gone through a rigorous vetting procedure to ensure their suitability and trustworthiness to work in this environment. As one of our Vetting Officers you’ll play a key role in helping us to recruit the best, most appropriate people to protect the UK’s interests.

“Taking difficult decisions sensitively" accurately sums up the work of vetting officers: they must be able to recognise and balance an individual's vulnerability against the needs of the business as a whole is critical. In order to do this they must interpret often conflicting and complex information within the context of a specific set of individual circumstances, against the specific needs of the business and within guidelines laid down by the Cabinet Office. Recent knowledge and/or experience of Intelligence and Security Delivery issues is therefore helpful, but not essential, for this role.

When in post, vetting officers carry out in depth interviews with existing and potential new recruits and contractors, who have applied to work for us. Each interview is highly detailed and will cover a variety of topics from family relationships and social life, to financial affairs and sexual behaviour. Vetting officers must be able to look for discrepancies or possible risks without making moral judgements.

Vetting officers need to be self-motivated and able to work independently, guided by departmental and national personnel security policy. Successful candidates will need to have good written skills in order to produce written reports on their findings, flagging any significant issues and making a risk based recommendation on whether or not to grant a security clearance. They will need to ensure that recommendations are supported by well-reasoned arguments. Experience of conducting interviews is highly desirable. To be able to discuss someone’s presence on and use of the Internet, officers will need sufficient understanding of the Internet enabled world.

To achieve all of this, you will have a genuine interest in people, be reliable and discreet and capable of gaining the trust of those you interview. You’ll be an excellent listener with the focus to assess the significance of what you hear. Candidates should have empathy and the ability to persevere in order to elicit the sensitive information required. Excellent interpersonal skills together with considerable tact and unquestionable integrity are therefore essential.  

We employ staff from all walks of life and are looking for vetting officers from a wide range of backgrounds. Successful candidates will benefit from a comprehensive personal development programme. After this, they will be expected to carry out the full range of vetting officer duties including staff reviews and initial clearances.  There will be an amount of UK travel on initial clearance work; a limited amount of working from home is possible after a training period.       
    

Salary: £30,911 (for roles based in London, appropriate weighting will be applied)

Working Pattern: Full time or Part time (minimum 28 hours per week)

Employment Terms: Permanent

Employment Terms Hours: 42
 

Selection Process Details: The selection process will include an online application and a telephone interview, a practical test of your own interviewing skills, a written exercise, a role-play exercise and a selection interview. In addition, candidates will be required to undertake a drugs test as part of selection.

Key Dates

Application closing date: Monday 18th April 2016 at 23:00

Telephone Interviews to be held from mid-April

Assessment Centres to be held: 23rd May - 3rd June 2016