Post by Jason Bones on Nov 14, 2009 20:44:06 GMT
Recruiting:
CHERUB agents need to meet strict criteria for physical fitness and intelligence. They are usually orphans who do not have surviving aunts, uncles or grandparents (Exceptions can be made where a surviving relative is serving a long prison sentence, mentally incapable or barred from contacting their children by legal mechanism such as a restraining order).
Finding children who meet all these criteria, while simultaneously not advertising the fact that you are looking for them, has been a problem throughout the history of CHERUB. The organisation has a long standing aim to increase the number of CHERUB agents from the present level of 280 to around 400. At the end of 2003 a new measure was introduced to help with the recruitment problem. For the first time, the children of retired agents who are single parents, or who are married to another retired CHERUB, can be admitted as agents if their parents allow it.
CHERUB agents are usually recruited between the ages of six and twelve years old. Occasional exceptions to this rule are made, usually where a prospective recruit has a younger sibling aged four or five. When coming to CHERUB, the kids are asked to change their names, so that people won't be able to recognise them when they go out on missions.
Recruitment Mission:
A mission undertaken by a CHERUB agent for the specific purpose of recruiting another agent. A single agent is typically sent to live in a children’s home for 4-6 weeks. Their job is to evaluate all the other children in the home, in the hope of finding suitable candidate for CHERUB.
These missions are essential, but they do not have the prestige of more glamorous missions that involve serious crime or terrorism. Quite often, a recruitment mission will be given to a cherub who has misbehaved on campus, or performed badly on another mission.
Retiring:
Most CHERUB agents retire at age seventeen or eighteen. Some who grow up quickly and look older than their years may retire earlier. A few, who have been assigned to an unexpectedly lengthy mission, have served until they are nineteen or twenty years of age.
Retired CHERUB agents are strongly discouraged from entering the intelligence service or police force, as there is a chance that these jobs may bring them into contact with criminals they came into contact with when working undercover for CHERUB
