The ‘great resignation’ currently upending the U.S. labor market is starting to affect cybersecurity programs with a growing number of senior leaders opting for early retirement and mid-level managers leaving in droves for less stressfull, fully remote work opportunities.
About half a million of the total cybersecurity jobs are currently available across all sectors of the industry, according to a Cyber Seek report. The skills gap has been a challenge for the industry for years; however, one area where the talent gap is happening today is the lack of access to non-technical professionals to receive cybersecurity training for the first time.
The churn in the field of cybersecurity
Not only are cyber threats on the rise, they are evolving with advancing technology. Artificial intelligence is as likely to be used to launch attacks as to mitigate them, creating a high need for those tech skills.
Also Read: Strategies to Consider while Moving to Zero Trust Security
At junior and mid-levels, resources are getting frustrated, despite counselling. A few firms are doing ad-hoc counselling, especially mid-level managers in the bigger companies. However, mass-resignations is yet not a big problem at the very senior levels. There sure are some early retirements at bigger companies and some serial-CISOs going the virtual-consulting route, but it’s mostly affecting the junior levels.
Employees have built strong communication channels such as Slack or Discord that are not tied to their employers. This allows disturbed teams to support each other, and as people move, they show that the grass is really green on the other side.
Effects of the great resignation on start-ups:
The ‘great resignation’ is not a great sign for organizations but it does benefit cybersecurity start-ups in the long run. Wages and working conditions get better but small and medium-sized companies will struggle to compete for quality talent. It is very difficult to hire good talent in the first world. Earnings and stock divisions are very broad. Beginners should hire new people and invest in them but, firms do not have them for about five years before they go to a large company. A few companies will always be able to pay better and offer those RSUs that attract top people. Some small companies do not know and that leads to even greater opposition.
Attracting and retaining staff
The challenge for organizations is to recruit talent that suits their needs. Once new appointments are introduced, organizations need to offer them adequate job satisfaction to ensure they stay.
Beware of burnout
The Great Resignation happened because employees realize that there is more to life than spending years in a company that does not value its employees. Cybersecurity was experiencing fatigue at work long before the epidemic, and that added to the talent shortage.
Also Read: Strategies to Automate Security Processes
Fatigue should be taken seriously. Having enough staff is part of the solution. Automatic tools play a major role in preventing fatigue, too.
If organizations can develop robust algorithms and code to handle part of the required tasks, the employees will not need to face excessive work times and burnout and exhaustion. The epidemic could be a turning point in discovering and retaining cybersecurity talent. Long working hours offer flexibility on both sides that were not previously available. And perhaps leadership is learning to better value their employees.
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