The Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid While Making Your Next Cybersecurity Hire

Cybersecurity Ventures, the world’s leading researcher for the cyber economy, predicts  that by 2021 there will be 3.5 million unfulfilled cybersecurity jobs globally. This is, in part, fueled by the continued rise in cybercrimes.

The increase in cybercrimes has created a high demand for the limited pool of cybersecurity professionals. This crunch makes it difficult for businesses to find the right candidate because employers want professionals who can quickly jump in to prevent cybercrimes from happening while handling daily IT operations. Companies that are understaffed risk becoming victims of further cyber attacks the longer they take to find the right candidate.

Another difficulty employers face is that they struggle to figure out the role of cybersecurity in their organization and the responsibilities of a cybersecurity expert. While businesses understand the importance and need for cybersecurity jobs, they are still learning more about the field themselves. Thus, adding another challenge in filling these roles.

However, in order to close the cybersecurity job gap, businesses need to look at the mistakes that can occur during the hiring process to avoid them and fill their cybersecurity jobs successfully.

The Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid During the Cybersecurity Hiring Process

The following is a list of the ten most common mistakes that can happen during the cybersecurity hiring process and how to avoid them.

1. Focusing Too Much Time on Trying to Figure out the Best Candidate

Companies want experts who can do everything and solve all of their cybersecurity issues, but they don’t always factor in their actual needs. When businesses spend too much time searching for the perfect candidate, they miss out on many qualified candidates. Nevertheless, this can be avoided by understanding the different roles in cybersecurity to find the candidates that can best fit the responsibilities for each position.

2. Having a Lengthy Recruitment Process

There are many vacant cybersecurity jobs, so it’s beneficial for businesses to have a shorter recruitment process to prevent candidates from accepting offers from competitors. Cybersecurity hiring teams can expedite the recruitment process by ensuring they have the necessary information and budget to prioritize the cyber recruiting process.

3. Hiring Candidates for the Wrong Position

Another mistake in cyber recruiting is not hiring candidates based on their particular skill set. While there is a significant demand for cybersecurity professionals, hiring teams try to fill the open positions as quickly as possible without looking at the candidate’s fit for the position. There may be a strong candidate, but it’s also necessary to have the proper position for each candidate to ensure maximum success. The best way to avoid this mistake is by training hiring teams to thoroughly understand the requirements for cybersecurity roles to hire suitable candidates.

4. Concentrating Only on Education or Experience

Some recruiting teams only look at past experience when hiring for cybersecurity jobs, which can exhaust HR teams. However, the cybersecurity field is relatively new compared to other areas, so many people might not have the background both academically or professionally. Therefore, hiring managers should look at candidates as a whole to see what skills they can bring to the role instead of sorting through unclear resumes and credentials.

5. Not Offering the Proper Compensation or Benefits

Businesses look for candidates with expertise in cybersecurity. Still, some are unwilling to pay for their particular skill set because they do not see the value or have the budget to pay a higher rate. Therefore, a company must look at its budget to re-evaluate the importance of investing more funds in compensating candidates to prevent further, more significant losses.

6. Not Investing in Cybersecurity

Similar to what is mentioned above, another mistake businesses can sometimes make is not investing in cybersecurity. As cybersecurity does not necessarily lead to profit or lead to the business’ overall ROI, companies may not prioritize it in their budgets. Yet, they could end up losing more money and time resolving data breaches or cyber attacks.

7. Viewing Cybersecurity Strictly as an IT Issue

One common misconception about cybersecurity is that it is strictly an IT issue. Yet, it is an issue that affects the whole company as all employees need basic cybersecurity training, and it involves planning to prevent losses from cyber attacks.

8. Inadequate Employee Training

In addition to only looking at a candidate’s experience, employers make the mistake of not offering adequate training. As the field of cybersecurity evolves, training is essential in ensuring employees have the necessary tools to succeed.

9. Expectations for Hiring Entry-Level Positions

Cybersecurity experts are not always trained to tackle every problem since data security responsibilities are different from day-to-day operations. When businesses see cybersecurity as one-size-fits-all, this leads to unrealistic expectations for entry-level positions. However, companies can avoid this mistake by having a clearer understanding of the intricacies of the cybersecurity field.

10. Lack of Diversity and Inclusion

Companies can miss out on great talent by not providing enough diversity in the workplace. Creating a more diverse and inclusive team will expand the applicant pool and reduce the cybersecurity gap. More employees will likely stay with the company due to the right cultural fit.

Expediting and Ensuring the Hiring Process with CyberGEN.IQ

Haystack Solutions has developed CyberGEN.IQ, a non-linguistic based assessment that tests one’s exact cyber aptitude and cognitive abilities that combats all 10 of the common mistakes mentioned above. This test assesses each individual and reveals their natural aptitude across the following four cognitive domains of cybersecurity:

• Initiating
• Responding
• Real-Time
• Exhaustive

One of the main benefits of CyberGEN.IQ is that it can be deployed quickly and effectively for users worldwide, with 97% accuracy in predicting job performance and mapping talent to job roles to help organizations hire the right candidates for each cybersecurity job. Having an assessment test for cybersecurity jobs will help organizations expedite the cybersecurity hiring process.

Hiring managers, HR departments, and recruiters can quickly sort through hundreds of resumes for cybersecurity experts by seamlessly matching the test scores of all applicants with their open job roles. CyberGEN.IQ is also beneficial for understanding the training pathways most beneficial to plan for future and current employees, so no money or resources are wasted on inefficient education or training courses. 

On top of this, CyberGEN.IQ works to eliminate hiring bias and helps to expand diversity and inclusion efforts during the hiring process. At the University of North Georgia, the assessment increased the percentage of women on the cybersecurity competition team from 10% to 20%, increased the overall size of the team by 4x, and expanded diversity within the program altogether.

Cybersecurity experts looking to make a career change can equally benefit from CyberGEN.IQ, as it helps them fully understand their talents and strengths to help them find the perfect job for their abilities and qualifications. No prior technical knowledge is required to take this assessment.

Get a free sample of the CyberGEN.IQ assessment to help your cybersecurity hiring and recruiting needs today!

Quick FAQ:

Is Cybersecurity Just an IT Position?

One common misconception about cybersecurity is that it is strictly an IT issue. Yet, it is an issue that affects the whole company as all employees need basic cybersecurity training, and it involves planning to prevent losses from cyber attacks.

Why Should We Hire for a Cybersecurity Position?

Another mistake businesses can sometimes make is not investing in cybersecurity. As cybersecurity does not necessarily lead to profit or lead to their ROI, companies may not prioritize it in their budgets. Yet, they could end up losing more money and time resolving data breaches or cyber attacks.

Why Has Hiring a Cybersecurity Officer Been Difficult?

Some recruiting teams only look at past experience when hiring for cybersecurity jobs, which can exhaust HR teams. However, the cybersecurity field is relatively new compared to other areas, so many people might not have the background both academically or professionally. Therefore, hiring managers should look at candidates as a whole to see what skills they can bring to the role instead of sorting through unclear resumes and credentials.