There’s a shortage of cybersecurity experts. Three of my current customers are struggling with this, even at the CISO level. You can see it by watching how long the postings sit gathering dust on their job boards. I just came across a new report out that puts some numbers on the problem.
Job market analytics firm Burning Glass recently examined nearly 40,000 online job sites and then issued this report: “Job Market Intelligence: Cyber-Security Jobs, 2015″.
Here’s one insightful stat:
Cyber-security jobs account for 11% of all IT jobs, and they have grown three times faster than IT jobs overall from 2010 through 2014.
You can get the entire report at the link above without handing over your contact info. But while the report does a good job of quantifying the problem, I didn’t see any good suggestions for dealing with it. So here’s an strategy that’s worked for me: Recruit from the IT ranks in your company.
Why? In most cases, backfilling the IT job will take less time. And, you’ll have cybersecurity people who are familiar with your own IT practices, not to mention they will bring their own informal network of company contacts with them. It could be a great professional growth opportunity for the candidate, too.
A word of caution: Before you start talking seriously with your internal candidates, be sure to work closely with their supervisors so you don’t damage your own relationships.
Have you tried this approach? How well did it work?
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