Cybersecurity - An Increase In Jobs for the Increase in Threat

Cybersecurity Awareness Month

By NaTyshca Pickett

Held every October, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) is a collaborative effort between government, academia and industry to ensure every American has the resources they need to stay safe and secure online while increasing the resilience of the Nation against cyber threats.

NCSAM provides tips and resources to keep up safe while on the internet, on our smart phones, and using our in-home smart devices. Along with these needed efforts and provisions to protect our privacy, job openings are increasing in the field of Cybersecurity.

Renee Small is the Founder and CEO of Cyber Human Capital, a recruiting firm for those seeking a career in Cybersecurity or those in the field looking to expand their expertise.

“In the pandemic there has been a 400% intake in Cyber Security attacks. Over the last month, there has been a 28% increase in job openings in the field. The job outlook is going to be 3 million opened positions that are unfilled,” Small stated.

Small also stated that there is a lack of diversity in the industry, not just on the surface but in the areas of lived experiences and diversity in thought. 

“There are people of color in IT companies, but they are in the roles of receptionist or operations and not in the role of the tech. They are also not in the room making the decisions. We are missing women and people of color and we need that diversity because this is a white male dominated industry,” said Small.

According to Small, many believe that Cybersecurity is a difficult field to get into. “One of the myths I often hear is that people must be heavy in IT and have a coding background, but that is not the case. People think that you must be a genius or have a degree in technology or engineering. It’s all a big myth. You do have to be analytical or have an analytical mind, but it’s not required to have a background in IT. We have pulled people right from high school,” Small stated.

Small also added, "those in the field of administrative assistant or receptionist are highly needed because they have transferrable skills."

One focus of recruitment that Small is working on is at the high school level to bring awareness to the growing need in the industry.

“I believe there is a huge lack of awareness overall. It’s on us, the people in the Cyber Security community to leave our bubbles and go into those communities and bring awareness to them. We need to go to the schools, for example,  adopt a high school, and go in and show them what we do and how they can have a lucrative career in this field. I am working on partnering with organizations to bring cyber security curriculum into the schools,” Small stated.

Small also has a podcast, ‘Breaking into Cybersecurity,’ where she speaks to experts on this topic. “For the entire month of October, we are doing 30 Days of Cyber. We are going to have experts come in and bring awareness to the industry,” Small stated.

To learn more about Cybersecurity Awareness Month, you can go to 
https://www.cisa.gov/national-cyber-security-awareness-month.

To learn more about Renee Small and her organization, please go to her website www.cyberhc.com. 

For her podcast, 'Breaking into Cyber Security,' go to ​https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-into-cybersecurity/id1463136698.