The alarming rise in cyber threats each year has increased the urgency for many organisations to find highly skilled cybersecurity professionals to help better prepare their businesses. Unfortunately, for some time now, there has been a critical shortage of qualified security professionals actively looking for positions in the job market.

Interestingly enough, even with this current gap, women are still underrepresented in the industry, only making up 25% of the cybersecurity workforce. As such, the industry could be missing out on an opportunity to foster the kinds of diverse teams that deliver creative solutions to difficult problems.

For those companies competing to create well-rounded, diverse cybersecurity teams, a closer evaluation of recruitment and retention strategies can help impact team makeup for the long term.

The Importance of Cybersecurity Diversity

Creating a more diverse team of professionals is an important catalyst for businesses wanting to improve their cybersecurity efforts. It opens the doors for a variety of different perspectives when addressing critical issues and allows for more creative problem-solving.

By embracing this mindset, organisations can significantly improve their ability to both detect and respond to new emerging threats while building a strong foundation for the organisation to grow on.

Better Teamwork and Improved Decision-Making

Speed and agility are among the most important things a business needs to achieve when driving cybersecurity initiatives. Having a diverse cybersecurity team gives organisations a much more strategic position when leveraging various perspectives and experiences to quickly identify and neutralise emerging threats.

In fact, Forbes research shows that diversified teams are 87% more effective at making decisions and often only need half the time to find effective solutions when presented with new challenges. This shows that adding more diversity to a team can be a strategic business decision.

More Innovative Problem Solving

Many organisations are becoming more reliant on newer technologies to help them improve their cybersecurity readiness. AI-driven tools, specifically, have proven to be highly effective at helping organisations scale their security protocols while eliminating the need for tedious manual processes.

However, while AI tools can mimic certain capabilities, they often fall short when needing to replicate the same value that human collaboration can bring. Gender diversity within teams can help facilitate this while providing real experience and knowledge to solve complex issues for the business.

Strategies for Improving Your Staff Hiring and Retention in Cybersecurity

Below are some of the strategies your business can put in place to significantly improve its cybersecurity hiring processes while helping to maximise employee retention:

Create More Leadership and Growth Opportunities

Organisations have a unique opportunity to help reduce the cybersecurity skills gap by empowering their workforce through ongoing skill development and hands-on experience. 

By identifying opportunities for employees currently in the organisation and providing helpful resources, businesses show their commitment to their employees’ success. These resources can include access to industry certification programs and vendor risk management training, or allowing them to manage essential company projects like coordinating compliance audits and working directly with third-party penetration testing service providers.

Exposing employees to these opportunities can help them gain valuable experience and leadership skills that can advance their careers.

Make Job Listings More Approachable

The gender disparity in cybersecurity industries suggests that many organisations need to reevaluate their hiring practices. Businesses may also have unconscious biases that need to be addressed while recalibrating their recruitment strategies so that they’re purposely designed to be more inclusive.

These strategies can include something as seemingly innocuous as reconsidering  the format of their job listings. Taking a more strategic approach to optimising job descriptions involves striking the right balance between listing essential skills for the job and encouraging candidates who don’t meet “all” recommended abilities to apply.

Businesses should emphasise the importance of soft skills like attention to detail and the ability to adapt and learn quickly to make their job listings more approachable. This can help broaden the appeal of various cybersecurity positions and give organisations a much larger talent pool to work with.

HR teams should also review their job listings for gendered language that could limit candidates’ engagement. Many times, businesses may inadvertently establish a tone that can lead to assumptions about the organisation’s priorities or hiring practices in general. Carefully reviewing job descriptions for these instances and making adjustments as necessary can go a long way when trying to increase the number of resumes received.

Develop a More Balanced Team

Because cyber threats are evolving quickly, businesses need to adopt a proactive approach when improving their hiring and retention strategies. By prioritising bridging the gender gap in cybersecurity roles, companies will be able to attract a wider pool of talent while benefiting from the unique perspectives and industry experiences that more diverse teams can bring. 

About the author
Nazy Fouladirad is President and COO of Tevora, a global leading cybersecurity consultancy. She has dedicated her career to creating a more secure business and online environment for organisations across the country and world. She is passionate about serving her community and acts as a board member for a local nonprofit organisation.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nazy-fouladirad-67a66821