Recruiting Security | Recruiters Weekly News
What should you look for when recruiting security personnel? The answers may surprise you.
With digital readiness schemes top of the agenda for 2018, the dash for hard cybersecurity skills is well underway. But a new report by a global consultancy sees the real answer lying in the organisation approach of enterprises.
At the same time, teacher trainers are being coerced into taking up recruitment tasks. But will the strategy improve outcomes – or just spread the blame of falling staff numbers?
Why Cybersecurity must stay top of the agenda
The digital transformation of the workplace is likely to remain a hot topic in 2018. Although the concept is multilayered, data security is among the chief concerns for enterprises adopting a digital readiness programme.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) makes data security a priority for every organisation this year. But GDPR is not the only concern, as French professional consultancy Capgemini highlighted in a report this week.
Cybersecurity talent: the big gap in cyber protection will come as challenging reading for business traditionalists: the report which emphasises agility and responsiveness on an organisational level.
The paper also identifies the breadth of the skills gap in the area of cybersecurity. Of the 1,200 executives surveyed, 70 per cent predicted demand for cybersecurity staff growing every year for five years.
When it comes to recruiting security experts, scarcity is almost guaranteed. The hard digital skills that form the foundation of a digital readiness scheme are in limited supply. Yet this is almost the natural way of the sector, because digital security is something of an arms race. As one threat is resolved, a new threat emerges. Top talent either constantly re-skills – or does not remain top talent for very long.
Analogue answers to digital Problems?
But is there a reprieve for businesses who have failed to pre-empt the dash for requisite skills? The Capgemini report suggests that digital readiness will reside with personnel not appointed primarily for their hard digital knowledge.
Defining eight specific skill sets – which it names soft digital skills – Capgemini places the cultural shift at the centre of digital readiness. The consultancy sees employers placing increasing stock in the soft skills which help build organisational resilience against digital transformation and cybersecurity threats. But what are these eight soft digital skills?
While the terms will provide talent specialists with new target terms, they will be just as popular among professionals writing their resumes in 2018.
Teacher trainers must prove their recruiting credentials
Teacher recruitment has been struggling to hit key targets for some time. Many schools consistently fail to keep teacher intake and retention at required levels.
As a crisis threatens to emerge, authorities have this week taken action. But are their efforts to put pressure on trainers the best course of action?
Ofsted, the schools regulator, has published its inspection handbook this week. In a significant change for teacher training colleges, the regulator will now require them to act as recruiters for schools.
The new guidelines require teacher training organisations to demonstrate steps they have taken to boost the recruitment of trainees. Only by setting out recruitment strategies for inspectors will schools attain the sought after “Outstanding” rating.
Will the initiative prove effective? Or does it simply try to spread blame among one more organisation? Many recruiters will understand the challenges facing industries struck by a skills drought. They will also appreciate the unique skill set required for implementing a successful recruitment drive. It may be that an extra workload for trainers will fail to impact upon outcomes in this overstretched sector.
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