Suppose you have been keeping a tab on cyber security news over the past few years. In that case, you will have observed variations on the similar story cropping up time and again: employers can’t recruit the people they require for cyber security. Because of this, millions of posts are going blank. The headlines often phrase this as the ‘Cyber Security Skills Gap’.<\/p>\n
But how accurate is this? After all, a skill gap is a mismatch between what employers want or demand particular employees to do and what those people can do when they get into work. If you fail to find someone who knows how to run a penetration test, that’s a skills gap.<\/p>\n
However, suppose an enterprise automatically discards candidates with hands-on hacking skills but with a specific degree. In that case, it’s not a skills gap it faces but a recruiter expectations gap.<\/p>\n
Overly rigid hiring criteria hardly works for anyone. It infers that way too many skilled applicants fall by the wayside, while posts go vacant. Thankfully, however, there\u2019s proof that things are modifying, with an extra 500,000 people entering the cyber security workforce in previous year(up 25% on the previous year\u2019s figures). Employers are being motivated to be more ingenious when the hiring time comes, with more flexibility when it comes to years-of-experience needs and less focus on age-old training routes.<\/p>\n
For intending entrants to the infosec profession, this is indeed very good news. If you can report your current skills, fill the gaps in your insight and opt for the type of practical know-how that\u2019s in need, you should be better placed than ever to bridge the gap.<\/p>\n