It is estimated that the costs of cybercrime to the UK economy is £27 billion pound per year. That is a staggering figure but as our world has embraced the digital revolution, the risks and threats of it have only grown in volume and will likely continue to do so in the future. As a result, the sector supports almost 6,000 jobs annually which is set only to grow in the coming years.

Therefore, it has become increasingly important that you find the right staff to protect your business, your customers and ultimately your livelihood from cybercrime and finding the right recruitment agency to fill these roles with cyber security professionals is just as important.

What type of people will you need for your cyber security team?

A cyber security team should consist of security architects and security engineers to plan the cyber security system out fully and ensure it is working once in operation. They will need to have the skills to mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities of your systems.

They will need to possess a knowledge of the latest technical, procedural and behavioural controls to keep your business safe, including knowledge of the latest challenges to cyber security such as cloud security, AI and remote working practices which have become commonplace since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indeed, finding a cyber security specialist with the right technical credentials is important. Qualifications such as the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) for networking, the CISMP (Certificate in Information Security Management Principles) qualification for IT security professionals and the CCP (CESG Certified Professional) scheme which is the UK government-approved standard of competence for cyber security, are just a couple of examples.

However, a prospective employee will also need a number of soft skills. They will need good attention to detail in order to spot the diverse range of cyber threats that occur today, as well as communication skills to discuss with you security risks and offer security consulting that you can trust and understand, as well as problem-solving skills and a willingness and interest in staying up to date and upskilling.

Another thought you may have is whether a candidate should have experience in the industry you are in. Whilst there may be some merits to this, overall your talent pool will be reduced as most cyber-security skills are highly transferable and any industry-specific knowledge can be delivered with training.

How can I attract the best talent for a vacancy?

Of course a competitive salary is vital and your offering should be benchmarked against the industry standard for the level of seniority and experience you require for the role.

However it is important to understand many cybersecurity specialists consider their role as part of a career that is separate to a career within your business, so benefits that you should offer should help them to expand on and improve their skillset.

For example, you may want to consider offering to pay for qualifications and give staff time off to take courses. Candidates may also want to attend the latest cyber security conferences and expos to expand their knowledge and share ideas with fellow experts. Indeed investing in your staffs knowledge will keep them motivated and also help your business to stay on top of the ever-changing digital work.

It is also worth knowing that flexible working is often a prerequisite for these roles. Though this may not be something you are comfortable with, especially if your other staff are in a traditional 9 to 5 office based role. However it is also worth considering that in the online world, cyber security breaches can happen anytime, anywhere and you will need staff on hand to fix the repercussions and sometimes these fixes are better done out of hours when systems aren’t being used to prevent data being lost.

Here at Shawthorpe, we understand what is involved to ensure you find the right candidates for your recruitment needs.

About Shawthorpe

Shawthorpe is a professional recruitment agency based in Shropshire, Telford. Our recruitment services are built on four core values of honesty, consistency, dependability and reliability. We have many links to the tech and IT industries in the West Midlands and around the UK so that we can find exceptional people to help your business with talent acquisition.

When we find potential candidates for our role, we also aim to interview every single one before even passing on their details to you so that you can be sure every candidate is of a high quality and is a natural fit to help your businesses long term success. We can also assist you with your recruitment process to make sure that you are fully happy with any prospective candidate.

For example, it may be worth implementing a technical assessment to ensure your staff have technical competencies, as well as coming up with the right interview questions to ensure that they can communicate effectively and that you can dig deeper and find out how effective they are at resolving customer issues.

If you would like to find out more about working with Shawthorpe as your recruitment agency, speak to us on 01952 263973 or fill in our short contact form and one of our team will be in touch to assist you.