Please find below some comment from Jamal Elmellas, Chief Operating Officer (COO), of Focus-on-Security, the cybersecurity recruitment agency in response to the UK government’s press release on the ‘Embedding Standards and Pathways Across the Cyber Profession by 2025’ consultation it ran with the UK Cyber Security Council.
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The Cyber Pathways promises to bring some much needed clarity to cybersecurity recruitment. To date we’ve seen HR departments with little or no understanding of what hiring managers need to fulfil specific roles. Job postings that seek to overcome the skills shortage by advertising for ‘unicorns’ with skillsets in unrelated disciplines. Posts where experience and credentials eclipse any aptitude or tenacity. This can’t continue at a time when the skills gap is growing at a rate of 14,000 vacancies a year. We must be able to provide employers with the means to speak clearly to the marketplace and attract candidates into the profession by showing how they can progress their career. When I entered the industry there was no clear path to the top. Becoming a CISO would have seemed unattainable. Hopefully this will now change that and the voluntary Register will allow those who do reach the pinnacle of the profession to get the recognition they deserve.