SAM Soundtrack: Les Paul (RIP)

Les Paul died this past week. If you have not ever heard his music, I suggest you take a look/listen at the video below. If you are unfamiliar with his contributions to virtually every kind of music we listen to today, I suggest you check this out or make a pilgrimage to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

Part 7 -- Beyond Borders: Europe, India And South Africa (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three
Part 6 -- Beyond Borders

It has been my pleasure over the last several years to get to know a number of intelligence professionals in other countries. I recently reached out to some of them to ask them what the job market was like for intelligence professionals in their neck of the woods. I received some good replies that I thought were worth sharing.

(Note: I have lightly edited these responses for length and clarity (ie spelled out abbreviations, etc). Chris, Nimalan, Dalene; if I messed up what you were trying to say in the process, please take me to task in the comments)

Europe
by Chris Pallaris, Head of Open Source Intelligence at the International Relations and Security Network, Zurich, Switzerland

For my part, jobs are certainly to be had in Europe, both in the public or private sector. One caveat: the economic crisis has meant more people staying in university longer. The research positions in a great many university-affiliated think tanks are tough to land and are likely to remain so for a little while longer.

The problem, however – and this has been echoed by a number of people I have spoken to - is not attracting applicants but rather finding those with the qualities and skills that are really in demand. The problem here is as much one for the employer as it is for the employees.

Students may leave university with good subject or region specific knowledge. But they lack the IT and information literacy skills that will allow them to jump in at the deep end. More notably, many lack the tact to deal with the sensitive issues that invariably cross their desks (a consequence of letting it all out on Facebook as a matter of course perhaps?). It’s a little unfair to expect them to have these skills from the word go, but in the current climate... My advice as an occasional recruiter: a little old school courtesy would go a long way towards making up for any skills shortages.

Also, it’s important for young graduates to note that intel jobs increasingly come in lots of different flavors: as information officers/knowledge managers, in policy planning units, as market researchers etc. All make use of intelligence skills. Moreover, there is a growing call for people who can think about the future (scenarios, foresight, etc.) without having smoke pour from their ears.

In the “competitive intelligence” domain, my (albeit limited) experience suggests that the best “spooks” and strategists have served a long(ish) apprenticeship in one or more departments (research, planning, marketing etc.) before graduating to a competitive intelligence role. Knowing the business or industry you’re in is part and parcel of being able to survey the market, identify trends, anticipate threats, etc. That may be something worth passing on.

I would also proffer the following advice: a good job as an analyst, researcher, desk officer, etc. in a lowly but effective department is far better than a sexy sounding intelligence job in a dysfunctional agency. The important thing for young graduates is to be around people who can teach them how to get things done and not just how to navigate the political rapids.

India
By Nimalan Paul, Manager, Infiniti Research, Mysore, India

Regarding the job market for intelligence analysts in India, I am no expert but here is my take based on what I have seen, read and heard.

National security -

Analyst jobs are possible through positions in RA&W or the IB. Entry into these organizations, like other Indian government organizations is through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The UPSC recruits people for government services ranging from typists to scientists all year round through written tests and interviews across various cities and towns.

I haven't been tracking this for long but have never come across specific requirements for IB or R&AW. What I understand is that people, once selected through the UPSC for a certain "grade" of employment, are then moved on to junior level positions in IB or R&AW. So, in effect, what I understand is that the UPSC recruits for a certain grade of officers who can get drafted into the IB/ R&AW or if luck has it, get into the Indian Postal Service as well (incidentally an ex director of R&AW was previously head of the Indian Postal Service).

Apart from this, the senior officers of R&AW and IB get deputed from the Indian Police Service (IPS) and to some extent from the IAS (Indian Administrative Service). The IPS is the point of entry for someone to reach the upper echelons of the Indian police force. An IPS officer, for instance, starts much higher in the hierarchy and moves ahead faster than a police officer who started as, say, a constable. Entry to the elite IPS / IAS is by means of a rigorous examination and interview.

Once selected, these officers are trained in an exclusive training school and are considered the creme de la creme of Indian youth and groomed for top government roles. Having an IPS or an IAS tag to your name is also highly prestigious. The point is, if you have an IPS tag you might serve in a local police force but then there are very high chances of being deputed either to the R&AW or IB. R&AW and IB have their own training programs for analysts, operatives, and the like which the IPS officer would undergo.

R&AW is also supposed to have its own cadre system like the IPS / IAS called the RAS (Research and Analysis Services) but I have never seen an advertisement or heard anything much about it.

Law Enforcement -

Apart from the police force with its various divisions, we also have the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is something similar to the FBI. Recruitment to the above is also through the UPSC. They have their own training academy in Gurgaon near New Delhi. In the end since its all government service, CBI officers can be deputed to IB and R&AW and vice-versa.

Corporate -

This is, by far, the easiest way to get into intelligence analysis and very transparent - unlike the others. However, not many companies have a competitive intelligence (CI) division and it is only big multinational corporations who have a team of approx. 4-5 people to take care of their intel needs. Examples that come to mind are Oracle, SAP and so on who have teams of less than 10 people to take care of intel needs.

However, from what I understand, recruitment is essentially internal - mainly from the sales / marketing teams because they would know the competition better. A CI executive from a big corporation whom I had the chance to speak to said his job mainly involved helping Sales close deals and since he himself had worked in Sales in the past, it helped.

The other option is to work for market research firms, otherwise referred to as KPO firms (Knowledge Process Outsourcing firms). They need analysts and India has a lot of these KPOs (the biggest being Evalueserve which, incidentally, exhibited at the SCIP Conference this year). These are not pure play CI firms (the word CI is relatively unknown here) and do a lot of market research and other activities for European and US clients. So, in effect, you do not have a specific CI analyst but an analyst who also does CI! Therefore there are very good chances that there are no dedicated CI processes, tools and techniques in these organizations.

To sum it up, in India, there is no clear field of work called "intelligence analysis" nor is there a clear tribe of people called "intelligence analysts" except for government service and they never talk about it.

South Africa
By Dalene Duvenage, Owner, 4Knowledge Analysis Solutions, Johannesburg, South Africa

Glad you asked, but as you would expect, we're in a totally different position. We have no academic programs in intel here...I'm starting an African intel college with Don McDowell in the new year, but it might be only 2011 that we actually present accredited courses. Which means that we're not in the position that graduates from Mercyhurst would be, looking for jobs in intel per se. Also, our analytic cadre is way smaller in "statutory intel" (i.e. domestic, foreign, police and defence intel). I would say it is not bigger than perhaps 400 (most probably nearer to 300).

What is growing is the private sector's investigation or "intel" units. They would normally have investigators with support personnel at the beginning, until they realize or are told about the benefit of having dedicated analysts. Sometimes people from statutory intel will be appointed as managers in these units and they have experience with the benefits of dedicated analysts.

Those in the private sector having the job description of analyst can be found in the banking sector or competitive intel market, with all the variants of names for what they are actually doing. The biggest growth is in the counter-corruption, crime investigation and risk management units of our local, provincial or national government departments or even the private security sector, because our police capacity is so dismal.

These units are separate from the police and have the mandate to secure and prevent crime/corruption in their department or company. Most of these units at this stage do not have dedicated analysts, only investigators, but I'm busy penetrating this market (it sounds a bit self-serving, but it will benefit the profession in the end).

So, if you put the previous number of about 400 in statutory intel and these quasi analysts together it might run up to 1000? Serious thumb sucking here...

The typical scenario at such a private or government investigation unit will be: A manager who has heard about intelligence, is not sure what it means and what it can do for the unit, investigators and support personnel. But it sounds sexy enough, or they have intel background and want someone from the outside to come and convince their employees that this new approach is the best. When I give intel awareness workshops to such a combined group, we go through the intelligence process, they realize what intel can do, how they can work better together to create knowledge and impact on the decision-making level. This bird's eye view course provides everyone a sense of what intel is.

Thereafter, we coach and mentor throughout the career progression of the analyst or manager. (The learning pathway is on my website http://www.4knowledge.co.za/training.html) Those identified to be analysts or do analysis type of work will then do a proper intel analysis course. There are investigators who also attend this course, which helps a lot with the dynamics and post-course inculcation.

As they progress as analysts (and I stress the professionalization of intel analysis), they would come for further courses according to their needs and the learning roadmap. Now the idea with the college is that they could 1) do the diploma or certificate or whatever or 2) they attend these short courses which will then be accredited towards that qualification.

More about the analysts in the statutory environment: Due to our history of amalgamation of all the different intel services after 1994, you will have people with a Masters degrees in anything from social sciences to physical science to people who have no qualifications. Of course, it has an impact on the quality of analysis and all sorts of other ramifications. We also have the same problems re: the long vetting process. I have heard of excellent candidates who just could not wait for a year to be approved and took a job at a private company.

Also, the poor state and stigma of our intel services is definitely something that the connected and inquisitive new generation keep in mind. As with the US, we're also bleeding 45 -60 year old veterans as well as some of the new generation that just could not fit into the paranoid, stove pipe, restrictive culture of our intel. This for me, is the saddest. Which just reinforces that intel has to change, and FAST!

Hope this helped. I'm just starting to scratch the African market, and it seems as though there are only a few analysts and that the same process needs to be followed to let the people realize firstly the benefit of intel-led policing/security/business/risk/intel;) and then see the benefit of dedicated analysts.

Next: Going It On Your Own

Part 6 -- Beyond Borders (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!
Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three

So far, I have really only talked about intelligence and intelligence analysis positions within the US. There are actually quite a few ways to find good jobs outside the US as well. There are many reasons to take a job outside the US -- travel, cultural exposure, learning a language, etc. Some of these jobs pay quite well, many are very rewarding and almost all of them are good resume builders.

The first, and probably the easiest, way to get an overseas job is through a US agency or company. Almost all of the US national security intelligence agencies have slots for intelligence professionals overseas and I am not just speaking about covert operatives. Any number of locations (such as the Joint Analysis Center in Molesworth, England) have both civilian and military analysts. Most of these kinds of jobs can best be found through a careful search of USAjobs.gov.

Companies -- and not just US companies -- also sponsor any number of jobs overseas. You can find these jobs by searching various employers' websites and some of them will get listed on the major job boards such as Indeed.com or Monster.com. A keyword to know, however, is "expatriate" (sometimes abbreviated as "expat"). The community of people who are living and working outside their home countries is quite large and the internet has helped this community become better organized. It has been some time since I left this community so I am not sure of the reputable sites out there anymore. If any reader has a lead for the rest of us, please pass it on.

• One quick tip: Before you take any job in a foreign country with a company or organization you do not know well, touch base with your home country's embassy before you accept the offer. Not everyone is a fly-by-night operator but they do exist. I can't speak for every country's embassy employees but I know the hard working consular officers who manage US citizen services in US embassys would prefer to talk to you before you go rather than after you are in trouble.

Another oft-overlooked place for employment is the International Civil Service Commission. This is the place to look if you want a job in the United Nations system. Though not as well organized as USAjobs, this website gives links to all of the UN agencies and, yes, you have to search each site for jobs within each member agency. Remember as well that the UN doesn't do "intelligence" so what you are really looking for are intelligence-like jobs.

Also remember that the UN works on a quota system. It has an obligation to hire people from around the world so it will not allow certain jobs to get filled up with Americans and Europeans. For non-westerners, this gives you a bit of an edge if you are otherwise qualified but come from a developing country.

Other international organizations are often looking for people with analytic skills if not for "intelligence analysts" per se. Many of them have special hiring restrictions. For example, EUROPOL requires its candidates to be from the EU while INTERPOL is mostly looking for police and other officials who have been seconded by a hosting country to the organization. One good place to look for jobs with international organizations is (as already mentioned in the comments to this series) on Reliefweb.org.

Next: Beyond Borders -- Europe, India and South Africa

Part 5 -- Beyond The Big Three: Jobs In Commercial Intelligence Agencies, Think-tanks And NGO's (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!
Part 4 -- Even Better News!

When most people think of jobs in intelligence, they immediately think of the CIA or other national agencies. A few think about law enforcement positions and even fewer think about the place, oddly enough, where most of the jobs actually reside -- in business.

This breakdown is mirrored in a survey I have been running on another of my websites (more on that later) for the last couple of years. You can see the current results below:



Only about 3% are looking for jobs beyond these three categories. My theory is that most people just don't know about all of the opportunities in intelligence analysis or intelligence analysis-like jobs in commercial intelligence agencies, think-tanks and non-governmental organizations.

Commercial Intelligence Agencies

The "commercial intelligence agency" is my neologism for all those entities out there who are essentially doing what intelligence agencies do but they do it for profit. The granddaddy of this type of organization is, of course, Jane's. Jane's has been around since 1865 and produces some of the best information and analysis on defense and defense industry matters for business and national security clients.

Jane's is also on almost every desktop in the national security community (which is one of the reasons we offer an nearly complete subscription to their service to our students here at Mercyhurst). A quick search of IHS, Jane's parent site, shows 22 jobs with the word "analyst" in the title.

There are others, of course. STRATFOR and IJet are two more "cia's" that are extremely well respected. Other firms are more specialized, such as the Economist Intelligence Unit and Cyveillance (which focuses on cybercrime). All periodically offer jobs through their sites.

Beyond the growing number of cia's, there are also the large consulting firms such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Accenture. Most of the jobs in these fields require specialized business backgrounds, so entry-level opportunities might be limited for pure intel analysts but not impossible. For example, Mercyhurst intel studies graduates work or have worked at two of the three companies listed above. All of these companies have robust internship programs which, in turn, could lead to what would be a very good job.

Think Tanks

There are a ton of think-tanks, such as The Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, The Cato Institute, the RAND Corporation and The Heritage Foundation, that do analysis. The truth is, however, that there are often some high barriers to entry into these types of positions and not all of them will be a good fit for a generic analyst.

If you do not have the special skills required of these high profile positions, an internship might be the best way to get a job with one of these institutions. Most of these organizations offer robust internship possibilities (although many of them are unpaid).

Likewise, while the ones mentioned above are among the most high profile institutions in the country, there are a number of other think tanks -- often at a state or local level -- that would be an easier "fit" for an entry level analyst.

Non-Governmental Organizations

This category overlaps, to a certain extent, with the think-tank category but is often characterized by an explicit advocacy position. Analysis is often a core product of these organizations but it is articulated from a particular point of view.

This does not necessarily mean it is biased, but it is focused, and if the job seeker does not share that focus, the fit is unlikely to be very good. For example, the Sierra Club produces analysis but if you don't accept climate change as fact, I would predict that any job involving analysis you might get with the organization would be pretty unsatisfying.

Even more so than with think-tanks, the jobs here are not as plentiful and internships are more likely to be unpaid. The work can be enormously rewarding, however. Two good examples of organizations that examine topics that would be fascinating to many analysts are the Federation Of American Scientists and Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project.

Just A Few More Thoughts...

These three broad categories are really just that: Categories. There are obviously many more opportunities in these fields than I can catalog in these few paragraphs.

Furthermore, virtually any job from any of the organizations listed above will require a deep search of their job listings (jobs in these categories, if available, are unlikely to be titled "intelligence analyst", for example. A more nuanced and time consuming search strategy will almost certainly be necessary to find a job that is a good fit for a particular set of analytic skills).

My primary purpose is to encourage job seekers in "intelligence" (and, particularly, "intelligence analysis") to think more broadly about their field and where they might fit into it.

Next: Beyond Borders

Part 4 -- Even Better News!! (How To Get A Job In Intelligence)

(Note: First, I apologize to all about the frequency of these posts. Life is getting in the way, unfortunately, and the best I can do right now is move forward in fits and starts. Second, if you are new to the series or have not yet had a chance, I strongly recommend you take a look at the previous posts and, in particular, the comments. Many people have taken the time to add their own insights to mine or to ask good questions which I have tried to answer. The series is more useful to everyone due to their efforts.)

Part 1 -- Introduction
Part 2 -- The Intelligence Job Market From 20,000 Feet
Part 3 -- The Good News!

The skills that the intelligence professional possesses are in high demand throughout the business world. In fact, the President's Council Of Economic Advisers recently issued a report that stated, "Employers value workers who can think critically and solve problems. Many highly-paid occupations require workers with good analytic and interactive skills." Sounds like an intel analyst to me (except for maybe the "highly paid" part...).

In fact, the largest and the fastest growing job market for intelligence and, in particular, intelligence analysts, is likely to be companies who need the skills that the typical intelligence analyst possesses in order to understand the broad range of largely unstructured data that confronts the corporate decisionmaker.

Our own conservative estimate is that there are close to half a million jobs currently in this market and more than 50,000 (yes, 50,000) jobs will be added over the next 5-10 years. These numbers are based on a variety of statistics but before I get into those, I need to outline some of the challenges in this area.

The Challenges

The first problem is definitional. The same Council Of Economic Advisers report I cited above also says, "In 2003, for example, a quarter of American workers were in jobs that were not even listed among the Census Bureau’s Occupation codes in 1967, and technological change has only accelerated since then." Needless to say, "intelligence analyst" wasn't (and still isn't) one of them.

What do we call intelligence professionals working in the business world? When you want to do a job search, what key terms do you use?

Well, one you shouldn't use is "business intelligence". This term has been appropriated by a wide variety of software companies who produce applications that allow companies to examine in greater detail the structured information that they already have. This information is mostly about the internal workings of the organization and the output of these programs is designed to support recommendations for improving the efficiency or profitability of a company's operations.

These software packages typically do not focus on analyzing the unstructured data that swirls around the outside of the organization. In short, it is not the kind of "intelligence" we are talking about here. Our kind of intelligence focuses on events and organizations that are outside the control of but still relevant to the business we are tasked to support. This data -- which can include blog posts and tweets and random emails -- is largely unstructured and requires a vastly different skill set and methods to understand.

So, if not business intelligence, then what? I have done dozens of studies for businesses of all sizes. In almost all cases, the CEOs and managers I have worked with are interested in two things: Where is my market and what are my competitors doing? It is no surprise then that the terms "competitive intelligence" and "market intelligence" are worth using to find jobs.

Check out the growth rates in the two charts below for jobs bearing these terms (found by my colleague, Prof. Shelly Freyn on one of the better job search engines out there, Indeed.com):


The problem is that these terms are not industry standards. You could just as easily search for jobs as a "market analyst" or a "research analyst" or a "marketing specialist in competitive research" or many others. The Bureau of Labor Statistics uses the term "market research analysts" but it is unclear precisely which kinds of jobs this definition includes. The wide variety of terms (coupled with the red herring of "business intelligence") makes hunting for the right kind of intelligence job in the business world a bit of a pain.

The second challenge is getting employers to recognize the need for intelligence. We know, for example, of a number of companies who refuse to call the positions "intelligence" positions because they think it implies that they practice industrial espionage. You can usually get past this objection with some discussion (the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professional's and the American Marketing Association's positions on the ethics of their professions go a long way towards alleviating some of these concerns).

Even if you can get past the spook factor, though, there is still a perception by many businesses that they do not need intelligence. My technique in these cases is to ask the managers and executives I deal with, "Who in your company has it as a fundamental part of their job -- as part of their job description -- to systematically examine all the factors relevant to your company's success but outside your company's control, integrate those factors as necessary and provide estimates of how those factors will change over time in order to support your planning processes?"

The answers vary, of course. Some companies have market analysts but they are not tasked to look at the competition. Others have competitive intelligence and market analysts but clearly have other intelligence needs that aren't being met (like the company with a global presence that needs to understand if its employees are likely to get kidnapped or the company who transports critical raw materials in ships that travel off the coast of Somalia...).

Even if all the various needs are covered, no one is integrating the reports, coordinating the activities or providing meaningful estimates about how conditions are likely to change. Some places have even told me that performing this function is "everyone's job" but I just laugh (I can do that because I am a professor and not a consultant).

No matter what the answer, the discussion leads to the follow-on question: "Don't you think it would be useful to have someone who does all this for you?" The answer is always, "Yes" but it still translates only slowly, if at all, into intelligence jobs.

Even if the company or organization accepts the need for intelligence and even if there is job position available, the final challenge is to get the business to understand the kind of intelligence qualifications necessary for the job. All too often companies look to particular degree fields which are inappropriate for their needs. The most common example is looking for a specialist when a generalist would do a better job.

Imagine you are an engineering company and you have lots of engineers who do engineering stuff really well. You need to understand the environment -- political, social, economic, competitive -- in which the company will be operating. Who do you hire? Too often, I see this kind of company go after an engineer to fill this kind of analytic position.

This is an expensive mistake. The engineer that gets hired to do this is likely just waiting to move to a "real" engineering position and costing the company an arm and a leg in the process. In addition, this new hire will speak the language of engineering but is less well prepared than an intel analyst (who wants the job and is likely to stay in it) to look at the broader range of issues in which the company is interested.

Back To The Numbers

Despite these challenges, the market potential here for intelligence analysts is enormous, dwarfing the numbers of analysts needed in the Law Enforcement or National Security realms.

According to data Shelly found on the Bureau of Labor Statistics site, the number of "market research analysts" alone is set to rise from 234,000 in 2006 to 281,000 (+47,000) by 2016. Other analyst positions within the business community are almost certainly at least partially intelligence analyst positions by another name. How many of the 236,000 "financial analysts", for example, are actually looking that the risk posed by political factors in foreign countries in much the same way as a CIA Desk Officer? If it is anything close to 10%, then the number of jobs in this sector alone exceeds the total number of analysts (17,000) in the US national security intelligence community. Under these circumstances, I feel more than comfortable with a 50,000 increase estimate.

Resolving the challenges inherent in getting a job in the corporate world as an intel analyst are going to take some time. Intelligence has to grow up as a discipline and realize that is more than James Bond or George Smiley. Until this happens, it is unlikely that the world of corporate intelligence will become easier to move around in. In the meantime, see the job hunt as a test of your analytic skills with the full knowledge that these woods are full of game.

Next: Beyond The Big Three