Annie Macron

if one of you is on the outside so a lot of people end up in relationships on the inside because you can just let it all hang out you can't talk about your day you can talk about the operations you're working on and it's not a problem it's um not alice down the rabbit hole it's more alice through the looking glass i think i would say that's what it felt like and the recruitment process yeah that was the beginning of it it was a very odd time

So you have the first three-hour interview.

You sign on the dotted line.

Then you have, if you get through that, you go through a two-day intensive recruitment process.

It's psychometric tests, it's analytical tests, it's written tests, it's role play, all the rest of it.

It's really, really hard.

And most people don't get through that.

I mean, they might get one out of every batch, so to speak.

Strangely, in my batch, two of us got through and we remained very good friends all the way through our years in MI5.

But yeah, it's really, really hard.

If you get through that, then you go through a final selection board with the greatest and the good.

If you get through that, that's when they start vetting you, which takes months.

So you have to nominate four people from different phases of your life, like a school friend, uni friend, work friend, whatever.

And then you get interviewed, they get interviewed, and then they have to nominate another four people each.

So the ripples go out very widely.

And of course, at that point, everyone knows that you're being recruited by something spooky.

So, you know, the whole idea about being really discreet about it is rather blown out of the window.

And then if you get through that, you start work.

Vividly.

It was surreal.