Cyber Security Job Vacancies - Research Paper Example

Recruitment Strategies Adults Cyber security jobs vacancies are quite difficult to fill, as there are more than one million unfilled positions in theworld, according to the 2014 statistics. There are strategies for filling the positions by some companies such as Symantec Cyber Security Career Connection in 2014 June to help in offering training and attracting more people to enroll for the course (Schmidtke, 2014). Among the trainees, will be adult women who will help fill the vacant positions globally. Young adult women between the 18 and 23 years of age are the main target of the program, especially in the United States (Bagchi-Sen et. al, 2010). The focus is training for the positions that do not require the candidate to have a college or university degree. The education is very convenient as it takes the form of online training and women can train as they perform their daily duties. Some of the most important training will be in mitigating risk solutions and networks mapping. The training will assist in the protection of the information for various users such as companies, organizations, as well as individuals and governments and ensure that women remain in the cyber security job for long. Cyber crime rates are very high challenging security in many countries including the US and training many adult women is a strategy that will help reduce the menace. The talented women will have all the skills concerning cyber security, which will improve the cyber security and reduce the labor shortage in the cyber security markets. Targeting adult women for the training programs in cyber security is important since most of them will have a chance to further their studies and earn extra income. Adults are also more available and responsible for the job than children in the high school and other levels. Current information on the US professional workforce shows that women comprise a small percentage of the employees in the Information Technology (IT). Targeting adult women for the cyber security training will, therefore, increase the number of women in the sector and encourage more to enroll. One major reason for the few adult women in the cyber security jobs is that lack of focus in education and interest in sciences, engineering, and technology for women. A strategy that targets adult women to join the cyber security course will be very effective, as they will realize their potential and encourage other to venture in the same career. There are several resources available for adult women on such issues as education, training, and careers in cyber security and IT hence strategizing on trading adult women will be a great achievement. Surveys show that young adults have no interest in internet security as many have no awareness of the cyber security profession and the job requirement as asserted by Gurdeepkaur (2009). A good curriculum is important for implementing the programs that allow women with high school diplomas to study and secure jobs in the cyber security, which is creating jobs 12 times faster than any other sector. To fill the numerous cyber security vacancies recruiting adult women in the programs will boost the number of employees seeking recruitment in providing internet security. Many of the adults on the target are those women without college or university education but have a high school certificate. Focusing on adult training will help in attracting many students for the training who can be retained as they may not have any other form of skills. Diversity Diversity in the job market is very important as it encourages the use of different talents leading to innovation. Men have dominated Technology related careers such as engendering, mathematic, and sciences, a factor that hinders diversity in the worker force. Other reasons, why there are fewer women in the IT sector, is the lack of focus on education and science and under-representation of women in the field. The minority group that includes women from African-Americas, in the US, constitutes about 29 percent in the IT and engineering professions (Shumba et.al., 2013). To retain as many women in the cyber security careers diversity is very impotant, which will allow programs that recruit women of different races to join IT colleges. For instance, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics programs (STEM) in the US are recruiting and educating students from the minority groups to study various careers in IT (Hawthorne, 2014). The female students from the groups will boost the programs, as they will get the much-needed chance to study and secure good jobs. Some of the programs that lead to the diversity in the cyber security workforce through recruiting and training women and the minorities are Anita Borg Institute, which recruits, trains, retains, and advance women in the technology sector. Another one is the National Centre for Women and Information Technology, The center of Minorities and People with Disabilities in Information Technology focusing on the groups with under-representation. Other organizations try to diversify employees in the IT and cyber security categories through sponsoring courses and securing jobs for their graduates (Shumba et.al., 2013). Training more disabled women will boost diversity in the cyber security jobs and reduce the underrepresentation in the area. Diversity has various benefits in the IT sector, and the presence of more women of all races will boost the effectiveness of the cyber security. Women have the ability to change an industry such as the IT security where they can work as the security analyst, positions dominated by men according to Henderson (n.d). The other group that will offer diversity in the workforce is the group of the young adults who prefer other fields such as nursing. Training young adults especially women and securing jobs for them will increase diversity and representation of young women in the cyber security jobs. Including women of color in the workforce and training institutions will increase diversity and effectiveness in the cyber security sector. The management can also reduce discrimination and allow all employees to work together. Racial discrimination may lead to the withdrawal of the discriminated individual or discourage others from joining the sector. Some women may shy away from performing certain jobs due to the negative perceptions by some male individuals, which may discourage them and others from seeking employment in the IT security sector. Diversity can also be achieved by encouraging everybody to train in the IT security without religious considerations as a profession (Burley, Eisenberg & Goodman, 2014). Both Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and other religious groups should work as on and show no discrimination. A diverse work group will employ all their skills and defend the cyberspace. Promotion of gender equality and advancement of women technology enhances performance in some companies such as Symantec SVP Company. Cultural diversity is also important in retaining women in the IT security by recruiting employees from all over the world and working as one team regardless of color, language, or race (Dodge, Toregas, & Hoffman, 2012). Through diversity, the cyber security sector will boast of an intelligent and innovative women workforce drawn from several groups without discrimination on race, religion, culture, or age. References Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha et al. (2010). Women In Cybersecurity: A Study Of Career Advancement. IT Prof. (12)1, 24-31. Burley, D. L., Eisenberg, J., & Goodman, S. E. (2014). Would cybersecurity professionalization help address the cybersecurity crisis?. Communications of the ACM, 57(2), 24-27. Dodge, R., Toregas, C., & Hoffman, L. J. (2012). Cybersecurity Workforce Development Directions. In HAISA (pp. 1-12). Gurdeepkaur, G. (2009). Women In I T Security Project Management. Sans.org. Hawthorne, E. K. (2014). WiCyS annual conferences: 2014 and 2015: WiCyS. net. ACM Inroads, 5(4), 79-79. Henderson, T. (n.d). Retaining Women in Undergraduate Information Technology Programs. Schmidtke, C. (2014). Involving Employers in Training Low-Skilled Workers for Technology Jobs: A Chicken-and-Egg Problem. Handbook of Research on Education and Technology in a Changing Society, 441. Shumba, R., Ferguson-Boucher, K., Sweedyk, E., Taylor, C., Franklin, G., Turner, C., ... & Hall, L. (2013, June). Cybersecurity, women and minorities: Findings and recommendations from a preliminary investigation. In Proceedings of the ITiCSE working group reports conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education-working group reports (pp. 1-14). ACM. Read More