Record applications for tough jobs

A record number of applications have been received for seven analyst jobs assessing potentially criminal content on the internet.

The Internet Watch Foundation, based in Cambridge, is more than doubling its team of Internet Content Analysts following a £1million donation from Google in June.

It has received 114 applications for the seven posts.

IWF analysts receive reports from the public of potentially criminal content. They then assess the reports against UK law and work with the online industry and police globally to remove child sexual abuse images and videos.

The IWF’s work with the online industry has resulted in less than 1% of known child sexual abuse images and videos being hosted in the UK – down from 18% in 1996.

Heidi Kempster, IWF Director of Business Affairs, said: “The job is tough and not for everyone;most of what we see is children aged 10 and under, and can also show rape and sexual torture of the victim.[1]

“We have an excellent welfare package and looking after the health of our staff is paramount.

“Recruiting the right person is quite an intensive process with more stages than you might expect.  We need to know the candidate is mentally up to the task, that they have a good support system around them and that they want to work for IWF for the right reasons.

“We now have the difficult job of selecting the best candidates from 114 applications. This is an extraordinary number and I’m confident we’ll find who we are looking for. For those who have applied, I would say please bear with us. Finding the right candidate is important and with such a pool of interested people it might take longer than we first anticipated.”

The welfare package includes monthly individual counselling, quarterly group counselling, an annual psychological assessment, a shorter working day and away days once a quarter.

The IWF recruitment, vetting and selection process is as follows:

    No CVs– Applicants must respond to a series of set questions on an application form;
    Warner Interview prior to meeting IWF – carried out by external assessors to find out more about candidates’ personal lives, attitudes and motivations;
    Formal IWF interview by IWF staff;
    Image Viewing Assessment – where candidates will view images of child sexual abuse before considering if they would like to accept a position at IWF.

A job offer is subject to a DBS check and completed Medical Questionnaire.

Notes to editors:

Contact Emma Lowther, Director of External Relations, on +44(0) 1223 203030 or +44 (0) 7929 553679 or @IWF_Emma.

About the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF)
The IWF is a charity and was established in 1996 by the internet industry to provide the UK internet Hotline for the public and IT professionals to report criminal online content in a secure and confidential way. The Hotline service can be used anonymously to report content within our remit:

    child sexual abuse images hosted anywhere in the world;
    criminally obscene adult content hosted in the UK;
    non-photographic child sexual abuse images hosted in the UK.

To be kept up to date with our activities throughout the year you can

    like us on Facebook Opens in New Window
    follow us on Twitter Opens in New Window
    add us to your Google+ circles Opens in New Window
    sign up to our regular e-newsletter

The IWF is a charity and is part of the UK Safer Internet Centre.

[1]IWF 2012 Annual Report published March 2013 said 81% of the child sexual abuse content was of children aged 10 and under. 53% depicted levels 4 and 5 on the Sentencing Guidelines Council’s five levels of child sexual abuse. This is rape and sexual torture.