Spy agency’s TV ad bidding to bring minorities into the fold

New campaign highlights the ‘soft’ skills intelligence service is seeking

MI6isseekingtocastoffitsmachoJames Bond image in an attempt to bring more women and ethnic minority recruits into the Secret Intelligence Service.

While Britain’s most famous fictional spy may be renowned for his high-speed driving and his handiness with aWalther PPK, the agency’s first TV advertising campaign highlights the “soft” skills it is looking for in new entrants.

The opening shot could come straight from a Bond movie, with a shark gliding menacinglythroughthebluewatersofan aquarium.

It then cuts to a child who steps back in momentary alarm before turning to his motherwhosweepshimupsmilinginher arms.

The voice over says: “We are intelligenceofficers, butwedon’tdowhat you think. It is not keeping your cool in the shark tank, it is picking up the silent cues that matter.”

It ends: “MI6 – secretly we are just like you.”

At a briefing for journalists at MI6 headquarters, the agency’s head of recruitment, herself a mother with 20 years in the service, said the ad sought to subvert the Bond image.

“The concept was to play on the Bond image, buttoexplainveryclearlythatthis was not James Bond,” she said.

“In many respects, the people we are recruiting have sets of skills that are common to many people in the population.

“MI6 can take advantage of this Bond image and then turn it on its head.”

She said they were looking for new intelligence officers who had a “blend of emotionalintelligenceandinterpersonal skills” combined with a “strong sense of integrity and creativity”.

The agency is looking to recruit 800 newstaffby2021. MI6chiefAlexYounger said it was essential they were able to continue to attract the very best candidates, including women and membersoftheblack, Asianandminority ethnic communities who previously might not have considered applying.

Picture: United Artists. Daniel Craig as James Bond.