Attracting women into Cyber Security
The Cyber Security industry across the UK is around 10% female, yet it’s an area that’s increasingly critical, relevant to all industries or sectors and expanding fast! Cybercrime is increasingly sophisticated, employing the latest technology, bringing huge competitive threat and risk to intellectual property to companies such as yours.
This percentage of females, particularly in more senior positions, is drastically lower than other technology areas. We need to take a look at why this is and how to address the shortage.
Fundamentally, Cyber Security is deemed to be a “Techno Geek” area and one that few females might enjoy, yet the range and diversity of the Cyber Security industry is such that there are 100’s of different career paths and avenues available. Consider:
- Policy & Strategy
- Risk Analytics & Management
- Threat Management & Forensics
- Operations & Security Management
- Research
- Design
- Engineering & Architecture
- Law
- Management Consulting
- Education & Training
Let’s look at a few ways of addressing the shortage of female skills in the industry:
Grass Roots Attraction:
Secondary Schools:
Larger firms employ an agent as School Ambassador whose role is to future proof the attraction of females into the Cyber Security industry. Speaking to local schools and running workshops, events and competitions can be very effective in attracting females into the industry from a grass roots perspective. Setting a challenge that requires conceptual capability and considered thought process would be valuable. Competitions, where they are no right or wrong answers, can work well in identifying suitable candidates.
Cyber Games are a great concept. The best candidates could spend a day with you learning what goes on in the real world. At the very least you have shown that Cyber Security can be exciting and is much more than just a Techno Geek career.
Universities:
This is where the real attraction starts. The Ambassador represents your business and attracting the stars of tomorrow is within your hands. They won’t come to you if they don’t know of you or what you can offer. YOU have to go and get them. With the majority of Graduates unsure of their chosen career path, their final year is the optimal time to engage with local universities. You could run more advanced competitions, workshops and also offer paid short term summer jobs or apprenticeships to those studying the right STEM subjects.
Business Schools and Post Graduate Colleges.
Typically, many of the best students and graduates with some work experience take a Business School Degree, Diploma or Post Graduate specialist qualification.
There is competition to get these people, but working closely with the Business School or College and building a close working relationship with the Principal and his or her staff can help you identify the best female talent. You can then try to engage and attract them by holding recruitment days at the Business School at a time when students are considering their future career path.
Working with those institutions, it may even be possible to hold open days at your premises when female members of your staff can engage with potential candidates to discuss the roles first hand to increase their interest and to build a platform for future engagement.
If you don’t have one already, set up a graduate apprenticeship programme, preferably in conjunction with a University or Business School, tailored specifically at the cyber specialist. Then try to indicate (within legal constraints) that females are particularly welcome.
Marketing
Create a Newsletter for both Schools & Universities to keep them informed of your industry news, and related topics, what’s going on in your company, upcoming vacancies, etc. Feature successful females. This is a great way to promote the challenges of the cyber environment, to keep the engagement and to attract the future stars for your business.
Contact the school directly to see if there will be opportunities to present your company and maybe engage directly with interested students. Then follow up through social media.
Get onto the school’s website or information portal if they have one. There may also be a Facebook or other social media page where you can engage with interesting topics or articles.
It may be possible to make contact and interact with an alumni association or past students contact webpage. Also, professional women’s societies and group are an obvious way of engaging with experienced women in your industry.
Internal and Cross Industry Attraction:
Look internally at your female talent to assess if there is anyone with the core skills and potential who would benefit from a short term exposure or cross departmental transfer into the cyber function. If necessary, a short assignment to another company or consultancy or to a training institution to learn the necessary cyber skills related to your industry could add huge value.
If looking outside, it may be wise to look beyond your own industry. There are many sectors where cyber related skills are well developed and could be applied and transferred very successfully to your industry, albeit with some cross training.
Risk Analytics is one such area. As a core function for all banks, financial institutions and insurance companies, there may well be superstar skills in those sectors that are easily transferable. From our experience, many women who are high performers would welcome an approach to consider a change in industry and a new challenge, although they may not have been considering such a move.
There are also industries around GIS, Risk Analytics, Traffic Management, National Security, etc., where there are potential candidates with transferable skills who could be a very cost effective option and who could bring advanced views and concepts to your business.
In short, I would suggest that firstly you review with your HR team what female potential you have internally, but look for the required intellect and potential – don’t compromise. Get that person up to speed through external engagement and build the cyber function around her. Bring in a short term consultant in support if necessary. Then get her to work on long term succession.
If there is no-one internally, look to the industries where cyber security is well advanced to identify the ideal person and make your approach, through an executive search agent if necessary.
Then build your relationship with high profile colleges and educational institutions to create a pathway to identify the best female talent.
You won’t regret it!
