The UK's government intelligence agency GCHQ has joined LinkedIn this March 2024 as part of a drive to recruit the right 'mix of minds' to tackle the UK's toughest security challenges.
To mark the occasion, it has released a new visual puzzle — pictured above — designed to appeal to those who have strong lateral thinking skills but may not have considered a career in government intelligence, security or cyber before.
The puzzle — co-created with Manchester artist Justin Eagleton — is a nod to the agency's historic links with codebreaking and features UK locations where GCHQ has a presence including Cheltenham, Manchester and London.
Inside the image are hidden 13 clues of letters which can then be brought together to spell out a message.
The agency has joined LinkedIn in a move to recruit new people of different backgrounds who have a wide range of skills and experience to help counter real-world and online threats from nation states, criminal groups, terrorists and individuals.
The agency says the skills needed to solve the puzzle are linked to its historic roots in cryptography and encryption and continue to be important to its work today.
In a video posted on LinkedIn, GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said: 'The world is getting more complex and we're only ever going to stay ahead of those threats by bringing together the right mix of minds that lets us tackle the challenges ahead.
'For us, that means bringing in people with different backgrounds, different experience, different insights, different knowledge, and creating a team where all of us can play our part. For us, it's clear that that diversity is mission critical.
'So we're on a journey to make sure that we reach out and connect to people who've never thought of working with us. And today we're launching on LinkedIn as a way of starting to showcase a little bit more of the work that we do and some of the amazing people who work at GCHQ.'
To find out the answer to the puzzle, see GCHQ's LinkedIn page.
