One of the fasted growing professions in the digital tech sector in recent years has been Cybersecurity and related specialist jobs. Driven by increased threats from criminals, organised crime and even unscrupulous government agencies the requirement for organisations in both the private and public sectors for the need to identify threats and create protection has been on the rise.
Most digital tech recruitment surveys suggest that the increase in demand for cybersecurity professionals and vacancies is outstripping the supply of suitably qualified and experienced talent. The challenges for hiring managers are clear but what about anyone interested in working in this space, how can they break into a cybersecurity position and carve out a career in this expanding sector?
Qualifications.
There is generally a minimum requirement of technical knowledge required and although there are many facets to working in cybersecurity the requirement for programming and coding is only really relevant to engineers but may include the following:
- SQL
- PHP
- JavaScript (CSS and HTML)
- Python
- C and C++
In Addition, completing a degree course in one of the following subjects will help both engineering and analyst roles.
- Cyber security.
- Computer science.
- Forensic computing or Network engineering.
- Networks and security.
- Mathematics, physics or other STEM subjects.
For analysts and more senior positions the requirements are less about coding and more about project management whilst still understanding any technical requirements for testing and project implementations for example.
Experience.
Although some intern and fresh graduate positions can be found most vacancies are for experienced talent. The bulk of vacancies for cybersecurity positions require at least several years of working experience and knowledge. However, in a competitive market where talent is scarce some potential employers may lower their requirements. There are several other ways to build up experience either to complete one’s own cybersecurity project or to perform some kind of unpaid volunteer work.
Employers.
Any organisation that holds personal customer data or processes digital payments is open to attack and as the threats increase the need for a dedicated cybersecurity function increases. Typically, financial institutions have been at the forefront of developing internal cybersecurity functions but this requirement is now widespread across most industries. Any business that relies heavily on an online digital presence, particularly e-commerce, has a need for a cybersecurity function.
With increased data protection requirements coming into force in most countries the requirement to protect customer data and to clearly demonstrate that processes and procedures are in place has in part also driven the demand for cybersecurity roles in numerous organisations. For hiring managers recruiting cybersecurity talent the challenges are numerous and this scarcity makes it more difficult to recruit. Using tech hiring tools can help companies get their open cybersecurity roles filled faster and at reduced costs.
One such company who are game changing the face of recruitment by providing a robust process to ensure more efficient recruitment using any channel is Hire Digital, a start-up recruitment company with a global presence that has invested heavily in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to manage the digital tech recruitment process. Their talent management software platform gives digital talent recruiters a strict criterion for posting job adverts and descriptions and their AI works in such a way that it generates a much smaller more targeted candidate list by using up to 40,000 attributes. They key to this is efficiency, recruiters spend less time generating job advertisements and trawling through hundreds of CV’s to get their shortlist, Hire Digital tech can rapidly access up to 1bn talent globally.
Hire Digital is an AI technology with a human touch that is completely revolutionising the recruitment and selection process. It’s two times faster, 50 % cheaper and ten times more accurate than traditional hiring tech. To find out more speak to Robin Brohl at Hire Digital he is a real person and would love to engage with you and help you streamline your recruitment processes.