Closing the cybersecurity talent gap

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Despite recent layoffs announced by Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others, some tech professionals remain in short supply, particularly skilled and creative cybersecurity experts. To find the professionals needed to protect their systems against cyberattacks, IT leaders are increasingly turning to various creative approaches.

Qualifications and certifications

As always, the most sought-after cybersecurity professionals are those with the strongest credentials.

Richard said, “certifications such as CISSP and CISM demonstrate that individuals have technical capability and are putting effort into their careers.”

Fresh approaches to candidate searches

It's easy to forget that cybersecurity is still a relatively new field.

He said, “there are many people who couldn’t, or didn't, discover cybersecurity as a first career, but have all the right talents to excel in the field. Retraining programs can find people who perhaps have a first career in marketing or teaching, who can become skilled members of the team and bring wider knowledge and different views from their first career.”

Possible pitfalls

Richard warns, flexibility is essential when searching for cybersecurity candidates. Requiring individuals to meet all of the criteria set can lead to finding nobody or individuals who think alike with similar backgrounds to the person setting the criteria. Meanwhile, flexibility can sometimes lead to pleasant surprises.

He ends with, “often, the best talent ends up missing something you expected in one area but brings something completely new.”