Linguists: how to apply

The timing of recruitment campaigns varies, and tailored application forms only become available during each campaign.

The next mainstream Linguist Recruitment Campaign will open early in 2008.

We advertise in the national press and on various Internet job boards. Vacancies are posted on the recruitment website, www.careersinbritishintelligence.co.uk, and you can apply online from there.

Please pay particular attention to the nationality rules, which require you, among other conditions, to be a British citizen. Linguist candidates whose spouses or cohabitees are not British may also be ineligible for security clearance. Each case is considered on its merits. however, so check with us on this point as early as you can in your application.

Information and guidance on GCHQ's language exams

If your application successfully passes the sifting stage, you will be invited to GCHQ to complete a number of assessments. The following provides some detail on our language exams which form a large part of the overall assessment.

• We only ever test passive foreign language skills (i.e. reading and listening) and this reflects the skills that you use on the job on a daily basis.

• The tests contain textual and audio foreign language material and the target language will always be English.

• The content of all the language tests is usually based around current affairs or topics that have been in the news over the preceding few months.

• We are not able to offer copies of past papers.

• Before coming to assessment centre, we would like you to think about the strengths and weaknesses within your language knowledge and to consider whether there is any work you can do to strengthen your skills.

Our advice is to get as much practise at the skill of transcription (listening to the spoken word and translating into English) as possible. From the moment that you decide to submit your application to us, we recommend that you practise on a regular basis ahead of the selection tests.

(For example, we highly recommend that you assign yourself an hour or two at a convenient time each week, record a few minutes' worth of foreign language news broadcast and time yourself to produce a close translation within an hour.)

More details will be available at the time of advertising on the timings and content of Linguist assessment days.

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