SIS bans AI in its tests and every kind of interview, including automated video ones

Secondary sources report verbal reasoning and situational judgement tests in the SIS online stage. The verbal part of our reasoning test practises the same narrow skill: deciding what a short passage does and does not support, quickly and without outside assumptions.

SIS does not set out its test list on the pages we found, and it says the mix of forms, tests, interviews and assessment centres depends on the role. Our tests do not cover judgement scenarios, interviews or the Developed Vetting that every SIS role needs. Prepare the verbal skill here and the rest from SIS guidance.

Many employers say something general about AI. SIS publishes a page on using AI in applications and lists exactly where it is prohibited: during online tests, during online, telephone or face-to-face interviews, and during automated video interviews. Its tips page separately covers using AI securely and accurately when preparing an application.

Read that list as a map of the process as well as a rule. It tells you SIS uses online tests and automated video interviews somewhere in its recruitment, even though it does not publish the full sequence. If your role has an automated video stage, practise speaking to a camera with no one reacting, because that is the format most candidates find strangest.

Careers guides agree that SIS starts with an eligibility check and then uses some combination of online forms, tests, interviews and assessment centres, varying by role. A technologist, a language specialist and an intelligence officer can face quite different routes.

Third-party timelines disagree badly: one says up to six months, another up to nine, another more than twelve for intelligence officers, and one aggregator claims eleven stages. We do not repeat those as fact. What is safe to say is that it is a long process and that vetting is a large part of it.

Verbal reasoning tests usually give a short passage and ask whether a statement follows from it. For an intelligence role this is not an abstract skill. Reporting rests on separating what a source said from what you inferred, and a statement that is likely but unsupported is exactly what the test wants you to reject.

Practise until you can name the sentence that settles each answer. If you cannot, the honest answer is that the passage does not say. Our verbal reasoning questions and the free reasoning test give you material to drill.

SIS says MI6 roles require Developed Vetting, the highest level of clearance. It also says an application for clearance can be halted at any point during the process, and that sometimes an application is refused without a vetting interview being held. It keeps vetting information separate from recruitment information.

That is uncomfortable reading, but it is also useful. A refusal at vetting is not a judgement on your test scores or your interview. It is a separate assessment run on separate records. If it happens, it says nothing about whether you would succeed in a different employer's selection.

• Be complete and consistent in every form. Small omissions cause more trouble than awkward facts disclosed openly.
• Expect to be asked about finances, travel and relationships in detail.
• Do not discuss your application widely; discretion is part of what is being assessed.

SIS says adjustments are offered at stages throughout the process, and that it can reimburse reasonable travel expenses for in-person appointments during recruitment and vetting. Ask for adjustments as early as you can; a stage that is hard for you without them is not a fair test of you.

For the wider picture of public sector selection, our public sector assessments guide compares SIS with GCHQ, the Civil Service and others.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and SIS (MI6) has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• Careers guides say SIS recruitment begins with a short online eligibility check followed by a role-dependent mix of forms, tests, interviews and assessment centres.
• Prep sites report verbal reasoning and situational judgement tests in the online stage, and one names Cubiks verbal reasoning tests.
• Third-party sources give conflicting timelines, with estimates of up to six months, up to nine months and more than twelve months for intelligence officers.
• Careers guides say successful candidates receive a conditional offer subject to vetting.