Stop complaining about the cyber job shortage: GO FIX IT!

Let's talk about #CyberRecruitment for just a minute. Here's the scary facts according to the amazing folks at CyberSeek (https://www.cyberseek.org/):

• Only 65 cybersecurity professionals are in the workforce for every 100 available jobs
• There are 769,736 cybersecurity job openings listed over the 2022

So what does this mean? Simply this: you're probably not going to fill that role in cyber. Why? The lack of supply and immense demand means that most of you will be bested in salary and comp offers from larger, more resourced orgs.

Do you just give up? HECK NO. Here's the truth, plain and simple: IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO DEAL WITH THE CYBER JOB SHORTAGE. Own it. And I've got some tried and true options to help you.

You need to get creative. And you need to create a pipeline. As a former college educator, here are a few ideas that I know will work:

1. Get involved at the pre-college level

Build exposure to middle and high school students in STEM, especially cybersecurity. Come talk to classes. Invest with others in computer labs and equipment. Allow shadowing. And for the love of God, please do not try and metric this. Understand that 99.9% of impacted students probably won't work for you. And if they do, it's years in the making. But you need to start somewhere.

2. Get involved in your local colleges

Speak at classes. Sponsor fun and creative things like CTFs. Sponsor internships. Go to career fairs. Help the university create a local security conference. Or sponsor them to attend one that already exists. Leverage your network to bring in interesting speakers to the university. Many times a speaker will come pro-bono or at a low cost if they are speaking to students. (I know I will!)

Don't just focus on seniors. Build rapport and relationships with Freshmen on up. Understand that they have the leverage in this market. They don't have to work for you. They'll have options. So go be awesome among them and build some buzz. Allow your employees to truly give back and enable a culture of interest and opportunity for yourself.

3. Get outside the box

Cyber talent doesn't have to come from formalized education. I can't count the number of times it doesn't. Look for #veteran groups, trade programs in high school, and create incentive programs at your company for job referrals.

You can always provide education for your employees. You don't have to put the cart in front of the horse and only hire cyber talent with BS degrees.

4. Are you truly promoting from within?

When is the last time you queried EVERY EMPLOYEE and asked them if they are both happy in their work AND happy in their role? How many folks do you have around the org that might have interest in a transition into cybersecurity? Do you know? Have you asked?

This is one of the safest ways to build that talent. And I know what you're thinking: will they just up and leave soon after they get the work experience?

Maybe. Often, even. But so what? You just made their life better. And you proved you did it once, so do it again. People want to work for a company that gives them opportunity. I've seen this work out successfully many times. And also, you'll always end up with amazing people who also want to stay. They love what they do and who they work for. So regardless of whether an employee stays or goes, you win.

5. Get outside your footprint and build a pipeline.

Go look at the CyberSeek heatmap. Did you notice that some states (like Florida) have huge numbers openings and others (like Wyoming) have less than 1000? At my last org, we had success recruiting talent from a university in eastern Kentucky. They were building a cyber program in an area ravaged by coal mining's decline. And why not? If the economy can't survive on coal mining any longer, can it thrive in remote, work from home fields like cybersecurity? You bet it can.

In today's work from home environment, we were able to build a pipeline at that university and we changed lives and families permanently for the good. It was one of my proudest moments in my tenure at that company.

I'm serious. We were able to take someone from poverty to a high paying job literally in an instant. Cybersecurity can change lives. It can change communities. And you can be a part of that. Look around at other universities in states that don't have the openings your state does. Talk to those universities. You might be amazed at the opportunity that comes from that.

Want to know more? Check out CyberSeek.org for more info! What do you think? What wisdom and successes have YOU HAD in your search for #cybertalent?

And lastly, if you're curious about training your own teams on cybersecurity, check out my new company: Empath Cyber. We're literally leveling up the playing field for EVERYONE in cybersecurity.