Harnessing Apprenticeships in Cybersecurity: Tapping into Untapped Talent
Introduction
The cybersecurity field continues to evolve at lightning speed, shifting the landscape of required skills and breeding enormous talent demand. In response to this growing demand, many organizations are considering paving a new talent acquisition path: cybersecurity apprenticeships.
Craig Barber, the Chief Information Security Officer at SugarCRM, recently joined the CISO Tradecraft podcast to discuss the ins and outs of apprenticeships in the cybersecurity world, presenting them as unconventionally powerful training and recruitment tools.
The Value of Cybersecurity Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships, fundamentally different from internships, offer unique learning opportunities for both employers and potential cybersecurity candidates. Unlike interns, apprentices are paid professionals undergoing on-the-job training, coupled with theoretical instructions. Apprenticeships can provide fertile ground for identifying raw talent and fostering a deep understanding of an organization and its cybersecurity operations.
Barber emphasized that apprenticeships often lead to more employee loyalty due to the value invested in the individual's professional growth. Moreover, apprentices bring diverse, experiential knowledge and new insights to their roles, thus diversifying a cybersecurity team's collective skill set.
Establishing an Apprenticeship Program
One challenge for companies interested in setting up an apprenticeship program is aligning the organization's needs with the incoming apprentices' skills and learning objectives. Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Labor provides guidelines and resources to help businesses structure their programs around certain standards, thereby ensuring the acquired certifications are widely recognized in the cybersecurity industry.
It's wise to connect an organization’s apprenticeship program with mature training companies that can help tailor the program, identify suitable apprentices, and ensure their ongoing support throughout the apprenticeship duration.
Potential Challenges
Possibly the biggest challenge in creating a cybersecurity apprenticeship program is recruitment. When seeking great apprentices, organizations' focus should transcend traditional certification checklists. Instead, businesses should look for individuals' soft skills, aptitudes, and willingness to learn, taking into account different educational backgrounds and experiences.
Apprentices might face challenges too. Financial constraints, training complexity, and the need for ongoing support often pose potential hurdles. However, organizations can offset these challenges by establishing mentoring relationships or a running mate system to ease new apprentices into the role, providing critical support mechanisms to spur their success.
Collecting Untapped Talent
The cybersecurity field is already grappling with an increasing skills shortage. However, Barber posits that there's an untapped talent pool that remains underexploited in the industry. Existing workers in roles unrelated to IT, military veterans, and people from all walks of life who have a knack for tech, may make ideal apprentices. These individuals are already demonstrating valuable transferable skills in their current roles, which could hugely benefit the cybersecurity industry.
Final Thoughts
Cybersecurity apprenticeships can revolutionize organizations' strategy for talent acquisition and knowledge retention. By instilling a strong commitment to apprenticeships, businesses can enhance their cybersecurity pipelines, keep up with changing industry demands, and tap into a largely untapped talent reservoir.
In closing, Barber strongly recommends cyber leaders to consider such program initiatives, seizing the chance to uncork the potential of unconventional cybersecurity talent. The future cybersecurity industry might well be shaped by the apprentices of today!