Creative Hiring in Cybersecurity
Creative Hiring in Cybersecurity. Is it even possible?
Today’s lead story in the SANS NewsBites was “White House/DHS Announce New Cyber Skills Pipeline Initiative.” The two statements below caught my attention.
1 – “The Federal Government struggles to recruit and retain cybersecurity professionals due to a talent shortage and growing demand for these employees across the public and private sectors.”
2 – “As agencies prioritize their cyber workforce needs, they will likely need to adopt innovative hiring techniques to ensure the best and brightest cyber talent can seamlessly enter the Federal Government.”
With the cybersecurity talent shortage, influential cybersecurity leaders must get creative about filling our open cybersecurity positions. Many years ago a good friend in the Human Resources department advised me to hire character and train skills. For many years I have experienced success in finding team members. Especially from non-traditional areas and then sending them to learn our craft. Examples include Fraud and Abuse, Help Desk, and Network Operations. I found it interesting to learn from them how their former departments operated and how their department viewed the information security program. Yes, it pays to have thick skin.
It is also important to be mindful of the assumptions you might make when trying to fill or backfill your open cybersecurity positions. What creative hiring in cybersecurity methods have you used in non-traditional areas to find talented members to join your cybersecurity team?
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