Were your hopes for a career as a Biotic-Powered Super Soldier dashed by revelations that an ad for this most unethical job was a hoax promoting a computer game? Well, here's an alternative that we're pretty sure is for real.

There were double-takes aplenty at the EthicalJobs.com.au office this week when we noticed ads for ASIO Surveillance Officers in the "community and sport" sections of Seek and MyCareer, alongside jobs with the Salvation Army, the Australian Red Cross and Amnesty International.

Yes, it's strange but true - the big jobs boards are advertising jobs for spies in the same place that everyone else is looking for social workers, meals on wheels workers and volunteer co-ordinators.

So what can you expect from this particular community job? Well, according to the ad, you'll "observe targets of national security relevance - watching people and places on foot, in vehicles and from static locations."

Leaving aside the mind-boggling implication that Australia's domestic intelligence agency might consider some of the community organisations it is advertising alongside to be "targets of national security relevance", the appearance of the ads raises some curious questions about the big jobs boards' definition of "community jobs".

At EthicalJobs.com.au, we have a clear definition of an "ethical job" to guide us in determining the sorts of roles we want to help promote on the site - if we can see how the work of the organisation and/or the job itself contributes to a more just, equitable or sustainable world, we'll post it.

In practice, it's very rare for us to knock back an ad, and we're more than happy to advertise any non-profit, Government or private sector job if it fits the bill. However, we'd expect a fairly robust response from our community of ethical jobseekers and employers if we posted an ad for spies in our Community Development category!