Reference no: EM133097410

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) is a civilian-run agency, formerly the Security Services of the RCMP.  Its role is defensive - to protect Canada from terrorists and foreign spies.  It does not send armed spies overseas.  Selecting spies used to be a secret process - there was no public knowledge about how spies were recruited, what the job description was, and what the selection criteria and methods were.  However, now it recruits openly, and its selection criteria and processes are public.  Part of the reason to go public was to increase the percentage of women.

Each year CSIS receives 3,000 unsolicited applicants for about 100 openings.  However, most of these applications are from unqualified James Bond wanna-be's.  CSIS wants highly qualified, well-educated, multi-lingual, multi-skilled employees. 

For requirements, CSIS looks for Canadian citizens who are university graduates, preferably with advanced degrees.  Candidates must have a driver's license and be able to re-locate anywhere in Canada at any time.  They must have lived or studied abroad, be proficient in English and French, and have a third or fourth language.  CSIS looks for generalists - people who are knowledgeable about international and political issues and who have investigative and analytical skills.  As a CSIS employee, they will not be able to discuss their work with outsiders at any time.

CSIS recruits at government job fairs.  Applicants must go through the following selection process in order:

1. Submit a resume
2. Complete a twelve-page application, which also involves writing a 500-word essay explaining why they want to become an intelligence officer
3. Attend a group information session, where Recruiters and Intelligence Officers answer questions
4. Attend a suitability interview, where their motivation, verbal and interpersonal skills are judged
5. Take a multitude of psychological, aptitude and cognitive ability tests
6. Have their language skills tested
7. Attend a national assessment panel - veterans will assess their motivation, knowledge of CSIS, and general awareness of public affairs
8. Be submitted to security clearance procedures, including a polygraph test, fingerprints, credit check, criminal record check, and references back to teen years, which takes three months and costs CSIS thousands of dollars
9. Go to a final interview

This is a multiple hurdle model of selection.  Each candidate will have to pass each hurdle before being allowed to continue to the next.  If successful, they will be on probation for five years, undergo twelve weeks of classroom training and language training, and spend two or three years at an operations desk at headquarters, before being transferred to the field under the guidance of a mentor.

Using your comprehensive knowledge from the course, critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of the recruitment and selection system at CSIS and develop recommendations with rationale through a detailed discussion (no point form). 

Tips:

• Discuss the requirements for the job - explain why or why not you think they are valid.  Also, describe any discrimination issues in the requirements.
• Is their recruitment method effective or not?  If not, explain how you would improve it.
• Evaluate the selection procedure and explain how you would improve the process - which selection procedures would you add, remove or change, and include how you would change the order of steps if necessary. Include issues of reliability and validity in your answer as well as discrimination issues.
• Discuss the decision-making model of the hurdle method used and whether it is effective.  Explain how final decisions would be made and how more women can be hired.