ASIO can help you develop a career that counts, whether you’re a recent graduate or an experienced professional. Within a changing security landscape, the intelligence community is growing – meaning our operations are expanding. This growth has brought about unique opportunities to work at the very centre of security intelligence.

As an IO you’ll be more than just a talker, listener, thinker. You’ll be called upon to cross cultural boundaries, generating solutions to interesting and complex problems. Highly creative, your critical thinking and problem solving skills will adapt to meet the situation at hand.

Following a year’s traineeship, you’ll be posted to Collection, Analysis or other areas. These postings can be based in any capital city in Australia, with operational requirements and your geographical preferences being considered. It’s a mobile role, so you can expect significant travel and relocation - you may even have an opportunity to work in an overseas liaison office.

Expect a uniquely varied career. Further down the line you may have the opportunity to work across other functions, helping you develop new skills in areas as diverse as HR, Finance, IT and more.

As an IO, the two main investigative roles you’ll undertake involve the collection and analysis of information through overt and covert sources.

Collection
Communicate with a variety of people, including members of the public who are volunteering information.

Analysis
Evaluate and analyse information, providing verbal and written briefings concerning assessments and recommendations.

Overt
Collect information from publicly available sources, including talking to people externally, internet-based research and liasing with government departments.

Covert
Occasionally it’s necessary to use covert and sometimes intrusive methods of investigation, most of which require the approval of the Attorney General and a warrant. This can include the use of listening/tracking devices, interception of telecommunications, access to restricted information and the searching of premises.