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\n\tIn Britain and beyond, we are faced with a significant shortage of cybersecurity professionals and skills. A <\/span>report by Indeed<\/a> found over 2000 job postings in the field (from 2014 to 2016) received fewer than 1000 clicks – a drastic difference between employer demand and jobseeker interest. <\/p>\n \n\tThe pattern repeats globally: Israel, Ireland and the UK are all affected seriously, and even in the US and Canada, jobseeker interest barely supplies 65% of employer demand.<\/p>\n \n\tSalaries are unlikely to be the issue – the average wage for security analysts sits at <\/span>\u00a357,500 per annum<\/a>. Neither is job stress a likely deterrent – CareerCast<\/a> found IT security roles the least stressful in the industry. The lack of interest has to come from somewhere else: a lack of qualification to pursue the roles.<\/p>\n \n\tFortunately, steps are being taken.<\/p>\n \n\tLocated at the historic \u2018<\/span>home of the codebreakers<\/a>\u2019 in Buckinghamshire, this training college will train gifted and talented 16-19-year-olds in cybersecurity skills. Trainees will be selected through aptitude tests, or exceptional self-developed coding and development skills. <\/p>\n \n\tBacked by <\/span>Qufaro<\/a>, a not-for-profit group formed from the cybersecurity industry (including ourselves), the National College will provide a unified, cooperative attempt to close the skills gap. Other funding and development will come from the Cyber Security Challenge UK<\/a> – a government- and industry-backed not-for-profit which identifies and develops the skills needed to fight cybercrime.<\/p>\n \n\tWhile acknowledging the skill shortage in cybersecurity, IBM claim <\/span>recruitment is part of its own problem<\/a>. In this video, CEO Ginni Rometty describes the need to create and fill \u2018new collar jobs\u2019 that operate outside the usual school > university > job career path.<\/p>\n \n\tInstead of demanding an undergraduate degree or professional certificate, say Rometty and her colleagues, cybersecurity should base its recruitment on hunting for the relevant capabilities and skills, however they\u2019re developed. <\/p>\n \n\tBy exposing cybersecurity issues and skills to students at school – where there\u2019s often a lack of teacher capability and resources to teach on them – IBM hopes to create self-starting, self-teaching, and ultimately self-recruiting security professionals.<\/p>\n \n\tRecruitment to close the cybersecurity skills gap goes beyond the entry level. This Government-sponsored initiative, supported by the <\/span>SANS Institute<\/a>, is designed for adult professionals to retrain and transition into cybersecurity careers.<\/p>\n\n
\n\tNational College of Cybersecurity at Bletchley Park<\/h2>\n
\n\t“The National College will provide a unified, cooperative attempt to close the skills gap.”<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n\t\u2018New Collar\u2019 initiative by IBM<\/h2>\n
\n\tCyber Retraining Academy<\/h2>\n