Military Careers and Women The Forces Need You!

Military Careers and Womenâ€" The Forces Need You! There has been a major push recently for organisations to meet their targets when it comes to equality in recruitment. The military has traditionally been a male-dominated organisation, so great efforts are being made to change that. Here are just a few of the military careers for women, from the perspective of Great Britain.   There are equivalent opportunities in the U.S. and other countries. MI6 Ever considered working in intelligence? Well, MI6 are targeting women and minorities in their first ever TV ad for recruitment. The advert is brief, and shows a young mother taking her son to the aquarium. This is certainly no James Bond, MI6 are clear trying to attract a broader spectrum of applicants. Chief of MI6, Alex Younger, said that he wanted to stop potential candidates from ruling themselves out from applying. MI6 have already won awards for their work towards equal opportunities, but they need to do more; perhaps why they are relaxing their entrance criteria and claiming that the right skills and shared values are the most important quality. The ad is specifically targeted at recruiting Military Intelligence Officers, which is open to applicants with 4+ GCSE’s and between the ages of 17 and 33. Following an initial 14-week military training program, you’ll go on to complete 15 weeks of intelligence-specific training. The role of intelligence officer is a varied one, that includes international travel. The starting salary is £15k during training, which rises to £26k on completion of all training.   To learn more or apply, visit this site. But there are other roles also available within Mi6 including HR, business support services and science technology. You can learn more about these opportunities here. Gurkhas This 200-year-old regiment is opening its doors to applications from women next year and hopes to have the first female trainees by 2020. There are currently 3,000 Gurkhas, and the plan is to increase that number by 800. However, the regiment is not altering its recruitment process for women; the test will still include a race to carry 55lbs of sand, held in a basket on your head, three miles up hill. The opportunity is seen as a golden ticket amongst the Nepalese, with the salary of £18,000 per year also assuring them a British Passport and a pension. The recruitment process is not the standard for the UK Military, it involves visiting Pokhara and attempting the physical challenge; amongst thousands of hopefuls, just a handful will be chosen to join the regiment whose motto is, ‘Better to die than to be a coward.’ Navy The Royal Navy are also targeting women in their latest recruitment video. Like Mi6, they’ve chosen a young woman of colour to spearhead their campaign that puts a spin on the idea that a woman’s place is in the home. While you might immediately thing of ‘sailor’ as a role within the navy, there are actually more than 100 different roles available in the vast organisation. Admin, tech support, healthcare, catering and more are all required to keep the navy operational. And you don’t need to be enlisted, there are also many civilian roles that work alongside the navy. Pay for ratings (non-officer roles) are similar to those offered by Mi6 with paid training stating at around £15k per year. Following promotion, this could increase to almost £50k over the course of your career. The Bonus of Equality Companies and organisations know that there are definite benefits to hiring more diversely, but that also opens up new opportunities for us, as candidates. While the military is not everyone’s chosen career path, there are a number of non-combat roles in all fields which offer job security and promotion potential. It’s definitely worth considering! Sarah Dixon writes for Inspiring Interns, which specialises in finding candidates their perfect  graduate jobs. To browse our  internships London listings, visit our website.