MARKET UPDATE - 5 MINUTES WITH JAMES MORRIS
We spent 5 minutes with our Associate Director James for a market update, addressing the hot topics in the industry and how to streamline your hiring:
How is the talent shortage affecting the cybersecurity industry as a whole?
From speaking to cyber security professionals the skills shortage can have a number of effects, depending on how their organisations are set up. The majority of hiring managers have spoken about:
- Not having enough people or the correct skills can lead to huge vulnerabilities
- Overworked staff
- No time for self-development as time is taken up developing/cross-training junior employees
- Less time to build relationships with the business leading to a strain on relationships and in turn a lesser appreciation for what cybersecurity can
Using your expertise as a talent partner, what are you doing / what should be a business's first priority if they're struggling to fill a role?
- Evaluate the skills you’re looking for. If you can’t summarize the role in 2 sentences or less you may be asking for a few too many elements (consider how this will translate to the market as a whole).
- Listen to your recruitment partners (internal or external) – they’ll have some insight that’s very tricky to find on job boards/ general internet research.
- Hiring process: you need to sell what you have, keep engagement high through speed and general interest in the candidate, rapid feedback and clear reasons why each interview stage exists. The most successful processes we have seen have 2-3 stages and last no longer than 2 weeks.
In a candidate short market, what are the pull factors that your candidates are looking for when considering a new role?
What will the role and company do for them? It doesn’t always have to be the most exciting tech stack or even super sexy projects. If your role will offer someone with lesser skills a chance to widen knowledge, better themselves through training or offer a path into a particular industry you have something you can use. Make sure you communicate this to your recruitment partners. If you’re struggling to think of what would attract a candidate to this role, perhaps it’s time to rethink who you’re hiring.
If you're hiring, get in touch with James
6 July 2022
