(BUTTON) Accessibility statement (BUTTON) Skip to main content (BUTTON) [1]Democracy Dies in Darkness [2]Sign in Democracy Dies in Darkness [3]World[4]War In Ukraine [5]Africa [6]Americas [7]Asia [8]Europe [9]Middle East [10]Foreign Correspondents [11]World[12]War In Ukraine [13]Africa [14]Americas [15]Asia [16]Europe [17]Middle East [18]Foreign Correspondents [19]Europe Spies can’t work from home — and that’s hurting recruitment in Germany By [20]Victoria Bisset May 23, 2023 at 9:31 a.m. EDT Bruno Kahl, president of the Federal Intelligence Service in Berlin, says that recruiting is a “major challenge” for the agency. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Listen 3 min (BUTTON) Comment on this storyComment Gift Article Share Would-be spies face many challenges — from mastering the difficult technical or linguistic skills that intelligence agencies seek, to the new life of secrecy that awaits them if they are accepted. But, according to the head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, its potential recruits have more mundane concerns: the lack of remote working and not being able to take their personal cellphone to work. [21]Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine. “We cannot offer certain things that are taken for granted today,” Bruno Kahl, president of the Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said [22]in a live-streamed discussion Monday. He called recruitment a “major challenge” for the agency. Remote working is “barely possible” for the agency’s workers for security reasons, he continued, and the idea of not being able to take cellphones to work “is asking a lot from young jobseekers today.” Advertisement He noted a lack of recruits for certain roles in science and technology, cyber experts and Arabic speakers, and said the BND is using “new methods” to recruit within specific target groups. He also cited a competition for skilled workers from other, better-paying employers. “Just three years ago, before [the coronavirus], I could always say that we have 10,000 applications every year and can choose the best of them — which also wasn’t enough; even then there were deficits,” he said. The BND did not immediately respond to The Washington Post’s request for comment Tuesday. Kahl’s remarks appear to reflect a wider [23]demand for flexibility among younger workers since the pandemic, as other intelligence agencies across the world adapt to new demands of the modern workforce and ramp up their recruitment tactics. [24]Gen Z workers demand flexibility, don’t want to be stuffed in a cubicle Last year, Britain’s three main intelligence agencies — MI5, MI6 and GCHQ — [25]announced an end to the requirement for applicants to have at least one British parent. Now they must only hold British citizenship, and MI6 [26]says on its recruitment website that its “flexible working policy means you can work around personal commitments.” Advertisement Earlier this year, the CIA [27]said that security issues leave “few chances to work from home or any other unsecured location.” But the agency added that it aims to improve flexibility in other ways. The CIA has also tried novel approaches at home and abroad, from publishing recruitment videos on [28]YouTube to launching a social media campaign in Russian [29]to recruit new spies. GCHQ (which stands for Government Communications Headquarters) [30]regularly releases puzzles for members of the public who want a sense of the challenges involved in its work. The U.S. federal government has also [31]been seeking new ways to attract talent, including job fairs and more internships, as its workforce ages. A [32]YouGov poll carried out from August to September 2021 in 14 countries found that 49 percent of workers in Germany would like to work from home at least some of the time in the future. In the United States, the figure was 66 percent. Working from home also comes with certain protections in Germany: In late 2021, a federal court[33] ruled that the route from an employee’s bed to their desk while working at home is considered a commute. [34]Injury on way from bed to home computer is a workplace accident, German court rules (BUTTON) Comments (BUTTON) Gift Article (BUTTON) View more TOP STORIES World news Essential reporting from around the world Sudanese hope new cease-fire holds as ethnic violence in Darfur intensifies IAEA chief pushes plan to secure nuclear plant ahead of Ukraine offensive Opinion|Chat with David Ignatius about the war in Ukraine and foreign affairs Try a different topic [35]Sign in or [36]create a free account to save your preferences Company * [37]About The Post * [38]Newsroom Policies & Standards * [39]Diversity and Inclusion * [40]Careers * [41]Media & Community Relations * [42]WP Creative Group * [43]Accessibility Statement Get The Post * * * [44]Gift Subscriptions * [45]Mobile & Apps * [46]Newsletters & Alerts * [47]Washington Post Live * [48]Reprints & Permissions * [49]Post Store * [50]Books & E-Books * [51]Newspaper in Education * [52]Print Archives (Subscribers Only) * [53]Today’s Paper * 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