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The Mossad wants you!

Famously shadowy intelligence agency breaks with protocol to launch recruitment website and YouTube channel

By Debra Kamin 22 September 2014, 3:35 pm 46 Edit

Debra writes for the JTA, and is a former features writer for The Times of Israel.

The Mossad seal, quoting Proverbs, reads: "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. (Photo credit: Wikicommons)

Looking for a job? Have you considered working for the Mossad?

Israel’s legendary intelligence agency, long shrouded in mystery, is trying to give the future spymasters of tomorrow a hand in the recruitment process: On Monday, it announced the launch of a sleek new website in order to draw new candidates to its ranks.

The multilingual site, with tabs offering versions in Hebrew, English, Russian, Arabic, Persian and French, directs potential agents to an application page and offers a series of inspirational Zionist quotes such as “History is not written, history is created” (David Ben-Gurion).

“The State of Israel has been – and remains – under daily, tangible threats. We must continue to recruit the best people into our ranks,” Mossad director Tamir Pardo said in a press release.

Well known in Israel and widely considered to be a desirable place of employment, the agency would seem to be courting young men and women from abroad. The promotional videos also appear geared to those drawn to technology.

The Mossad noted that there are open positions for both men and women, and that one of the goals of the website is to remind potential job-seekers that employment with the Mossad offers all sorts of positions, including in the fields of technology and administration.

Continuing its expansion across the Internet, the Mossad has also launched a YouTube channel, which offers a handful of well-produced short videos with actors who, while depicting operatives, tout the many benefits of the job.

http://youtu.be/qX9ZoKO1H8E

An actor playing an operations officer named Neta, 32, who described her work in the field “as the kingdom of the unknown,” said that the tasks require patience and often entail a long process, during which “you do not always see the immediate results of your actions.”

A different actor, playing Galia, 31, an intelligence officer who was drafted from the Justice Ministry, described “middle of the night” meetings with the head of the Mossad, in which she has presented operational plans. “What sits on your shoulders,” she said, “is immense.”

Mitch Ginsburg contributed to this report.