What happens in a CIA job interview? It’s not what you expect

What happens in a CIA job interview?THE INDEPENDENT

Transcript

00:00The guy who was interviewing me had it down on the table in front of him, and it was just

00:07covered in ink, like red ink.

00:10I mean, it looked like he had absolutely hated this thing, and we never talked about it.

00:18He literally just sort of had the paper there, and he kind of slid it over to the side.

00:21This is the opening question.

00:22He's like, what if I told you that in the mid-90s, Baywatch was the most popular show

00:27on television in Tehran?

00:30That was the question.

00:31I was like, is that true?

00:32He's like, it doesn't matter.

00:33I think what he was trying to get at was, could you sort of help me break down this

00:37seemingly very bizarre out-of-cultural-context fact and kind of explain what it might mean?

00:43But of course, as a 19-year-old, it's sort of an intimidating question from this guy

00:48who's, is he lying to me?

00:49What is this setup?

00:50Why aren't we talking about my essay?

00:52After the interview, you do psych exam, medical, polygraph, all this kind of stuff on top of

01:00it.

01:01And it's like what we call a full lifestyle poly, which means you're basically plugged

01:05into this thing for like three or four hours, and they ask you every question about every

01:11embarrassing thing you've ever done in your entire life.

01:13It's this sort of deeply unsettling, chaotic process in which they're trying to get as

01:19much information as possible about you so they can sort of figure out where you might

01:24fit in the organization and whether you're a good fit.

01:27So it was very bizarre.

01:28I've never had an interview experience like that, and I am hopeful I never will again.